Surveys emphasize a rise in the percentage of women assuming high-net-worth and suggest a continuity in the influence given the significant opportunities. It is prominent that the ratio of high net worth men is still far more; those having the US $5 million or more don’t show much difference of 22% vs. 27%. Millennial women have been growing their assets faster, and they beat The baby boomer women by 32% compared to 22%.
whereas the share of men with more opportunities to generate wealth than people in prior generations. 83% is only slightly higher than the share of women saying the same at 78%. 21% of women with US $5 million or more in investable assets are the owners/founders of businesses or entrepreneurs, while 16% of HNW women with lower investable assets.
Younger women, more often than older women, have earned their wealth through business rather than inheritance. Half of the millennial women reported that they acquired their wealth through trade, and half said they had inherited money. By contrast, more than half of Baby Boomer Women (56%) inherited money, while only 37% gained wealth through business. While we see Baby Boomer Women identify resources and opportunities as the key to wealth generation, younger women emphasize resources to start successful businesses.
The geography of women’s wealth is diverse, with the U.S. having the largest share of women with between the US $1 million and $5 million in investable assets. Being able to earn more wealth, we see they are more often declaring themselves as decision-makers in finance-related issues. Less than half of baby boomer women say they are their household’s primary decision-maker for financial planning than millennials; the figure rises to 72%.
women with more than US$5 million in assets are more often the primary decision maker than HNW women with lower investable assets. The difference is widespread in financial planning, where 69% of women report as the primary decision-maker, compared with just over half of HNW women. Fifty-three percent of HNW women say their partner has more influence while 47% o the wealthiest women agree. Younger women less than often say their spouse has power over their wealth planning than Baby Boomers, 41% vs. 54%. Forty-nine percent of men, by comparison, say their partner has the most influence on the decision-making.
In addition to owning and controlling wealth, women are also changing the decision of wealth management and wealth creation goals. High-net-worth women tend to start and run businesses and direct their wealth building. The more wealth they generate, the more independently they control their wealth and legacy planning and the more they would influence.
