The Great Wealth Transfer and What We Can Do About It
By Lou Davis and Allen Davis, Davis Financial Group
Published In Northampton Living | February 2026
We are in the midst of the greatest intergenerational transfer of wealth in history. “The Cerulli Report – U.S. High-Net-Worth and Ultra-High-Net-Worth Markets 2024” estimates that $124 trillion in personal wealth will transition to the next generation, creating an opportunity for the inheritors to put their stamp on managing and allocating the family wealth they are soon to be responsible for.
Our clients tell us that they are looking for much more than management of their investments. That’s what was available for their parents, but inheritors who may be new to the need to manage wealth are apt to look for a more holistic and psychologically in-tune financial planning approach that offers a broader palette of services, products, approaches, integration, coaching and education.
Supporting the Next Generation
We have found that financial planning done well could be perfectly suited to helping support “next-gen” clients as they try to avoid the hazards of their new fortune: a sense of guilt or shame; feeling inadequate; having a bewildering array of options; and the weight of the obligation to become good stewards of that wealth and honor their parents, the wealth creators. It often takes a lot for them to see clear of these tangles and tripwires brought about by impending wealth and be able to get their bearings, develop and articulate their sense of purpose, and seize the opportunity to align it with important decisions about what to do with their new wealth and how to live their lives.
For many of our clients that sense of purpose includes an obligation to deploy their wealth in ways that help create a better world, whether that means the planet, or their own little corner of the world – where they work, what they buy, how they manage philanthropic opportunities, and, significantly, how they invest.
Lou Davis
Financial Planner
Davis Financial Group
413 584 3098
ldavis@davisfinancialgrp.com
davisfinancialgrp.com
Toward that end, over the past 35 years, there has been a corresponding development in the investment world. First known as Socially Responsible Investing, it is now most often referred to as ESG investing, which considers environment, social and governance factors. In addition to increasing the source of capital for companies that “get it right,” Socially Responsible Investing and now ESG investing show us how we invest can have a positive impact on the way companies we invest in make decisions, manage their resources and people, affect the multiple communities they are part of, and promote planetary sustainability. With the potential influx of some of those trillions waiting in the wings, and with a measure of optimism, one can imagine a new era of increasing corporate responsibility and perhaps look forward to prospects for a more sustainable world.
In what many see as a dark and pivotal moment in world history, this is a welcome development. We are bullish on the inheriting generation’s ability to help turn the tide and save the world – we all need it!
Other Articles from This Issue…
