There are four major trends I see occurring culturally and generationally that I anticipate will have major ripple effects in terms of how families engage in wealth management, philanthropy and impact investing.
Women controlling wealth
Whether from divorce or from women’s tendency to live longer, or women founders and investors (finally) reaching the highest levels of financial success, meaningful amounts of wealth are increasingly in the hands of women. And women, once they have wealth, have a higher tendency to invest it in their communities.
Family foundations losing their shine
Family foundations have been popular for a while now, but more and more we see family members chafing at the lack of autonomy they have when roped together to make joint giving decisions with their extended family.
I’m already seeing an increase in the desire to restructure foundations in favour of flexibility and autonomy for family members (even if they get along) and a growing preference for Donor Advised Funds from the start.
A cultural shift regarding wealth accumulation
There’s a growing disinterest in maintaining extreme wealth. People are seeing a world full of economic inequality and a planet on fire, a system that is, of course, ultimately unsustainable. They don’t want to be part of the problem, and many have growing concerns about giving their descendants obscene amounts of money when the urgency to solve these problems is so great. I think we’ll see more money invested differently and donated earlier, and less passed down to heirs through perpetual endowments or estate transfers.
The rise of integrated living
The new generation of investors isn’t limiting their values to their philanthropy. They want the work they do and the lives they lead to be consistently reflective of their beliefs. These investors don’t want to compartmentalise or live with the dissonance of building a company or earning investment returns in a way that contributes to some of the problems they see in the world. They want a more holistic, integrated life.
About Sharon Schneider Sharon Schneider is an entrepreneur, philanthropy expert and strategy consultant to the next generation of social impact founders, businesses and family offices, including Giving Pledge signatories, Forbes 100 members, private foundations, and single-family offices.