Great Wealth Transfer
Last updated 17 July 2026
The Great Wealth Transfer is the movement of wealth now underway from the baby boomer generation and their elders to younger generations, expected to play out over the coming decades. Its defining feature is scale: estimates published in 2024 put the total to be passed on globally at more than US$80 trillion, an amount with no historical precedent. The phrase covers both transfers at death and the growing share of wealth being handed over during the giver's lifetime. A large portion of it sits in operating businesses, real estate, and other illiquid holdings, which makes the mechanics of transferring it far harder than moving a securities portfolio.
For wealth-owning families, the transfer is not a single event but a long transition in which ownership, control, and decision-making authority move to people with different expectations and often different values.
Why it matters for family offices
The transfer converts abstract succession questions into operational ones. Structures built around a founder must be reshaped for a wider, more dispersed generation of owners. Heirs need to be prepared, not just named, which is why family wealth education and governance forums have moved up the agenda across the sector. The industry context sharpens the point: research has repeatedly found that heirs frequently change advisers after inheriting, so relationships and reporting built for the founder cannot be assumed to survive the handover. Inheritors who grew up with on-demand digital services expect the same visibility into family wealth, which is accelerating the retirement of the quarterly PDF report in favour of live, accessible views.
How it shows up in practice
Consider a family whose founder is in his late seventies. The office's transfer agenda runs on several tracks at once: estate structures are reviewed with counsel, the two adult children join the investment committee as observers, a family education programme introduces the grandchildren to the basics of the balance sheet, and reporting is modernised so that every branch of the family can see what it owns without having to ask. None of this changes who holds the wealth today. It determines whether the enterprise arrives intact, with prepared owners, when the transfer completes, and it explains why succession readiness has become a standing item on family office agendas rather than a one-off legal project.
Related terms
Generational Wealth Transfer
The passing of assets, ownership stakes, and financial responsibility from one generation of a family to the next. Done well, it combines legal structuring, tax planning, and deliberate preparation of heirs over many years. Done poorly, it is the point at which most family fortunes fragment, which is why family offices treat it as a core discipline rather than a one-time event.
Next-Generation Inheritor (Gen 2)
A family member who inherits rather than creates the family's wealth and must grow into the role of steward. Gen 2 principals typically face different challenges from their parents: managing a diversified portfolio rather than an operating business, coordinating siblings and cousins, and professionalising governance. As a group, they push family offices toward digital tools, transparency, and values-aligned investing.
Succession Planning
The deliberate process of preparing for the transfer of leadership, ownership, and wealth to the next generation. In a family office context, it covers who will lead the office, how assets and entities will pass, and how heirs are prepared for their responsibilities. Families that start early and document their plans dramatically reduce the risk of wealth destruction during transitions.
Family Wealth Education
The structured preparation of family members, especially the next generation, to understand, manage, and take responsibility for wealth. Programmes range from financial literacy basics to shadowing the investment committee, running philanthropic budgets, or participating in a family bank. Families that invest in education consistently outperform in preserving both wealth and family unity.
Estate Planning
The legal and financial arrangement of a person's assets to ensure they are transferred according to their wishes, with minimal tax friction and family conflict. Tools include wills, trusts, holding structures, and lifetime gifting strategies. For UHNW families, estate planning is a continuous discipline that must keep pace with changing laws, asset values, and family circumstances.
Further reading
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