Morgan Stanley’s Ellen Zentner: Women are reshaping the economy. Markets haven’t caught up
Source: Fortune ·
Women stand to inherit trillions. Few firms are ready.
From the source
Far less attention goes to a structural shift in economic power: the growing wealth women are building and inheriting, and the businesses and services that stand to benefit. Women’s homeownership has risen from roughly 25% to 50% over four decades, reflecting their ability to accumulate assets independently. That trend is likely to continue: Cerulli Associates projects $124 trillion in U.S. wealth transfers through 2048, including $54 trillion passing between spouses, more than 95% of it to women. Traditional advisory relationships often center on the primary earner, overlooking the spouse who may ultimately inherit and manage the assets. That creates an opening for firms that engage spouses earlier and build longevity and lifetime income planning into their advice. A new class of financial decision-makers Inheritance will add to a shift already underway: more women are earning and accumulating assets in their own right. Cerulli estimates that nearly $40 trillion will flow to widowed…