John E. Chapman Chief Executive OfficerAs trillions of dollars change hands, the bigger story may not be how much wealth women inherit, but what they choose to make possible with it.
In my 25+ years in the financial services industry, I’ve seen the conversation about women and wealth change significantly. Early in my career, much of the focus was on financial literacy, encouraging women to save, invest, and understand their retirement accounts. Those components are important, and they helped move women financially forward.
Today, my conversations with women are different. They’re more personal, more complex, and I believe more powerful.
The women I work with aren’t simply asking me to help them understand their money. They’re asking me to help them understand how to put their wealth to work.
- “Will I have enough?”
- “If something happens to my spouse, will I know what to do?”
- “Can I retire and still live the life I’ve worked hard to create?”
- “How can I help my family without jeopardizing my own financial security?”
- “How can I make a greater impact with my money?”
The evolution from understanding wealth, to having confidence in it, to deciding how to use it, is one of the most significant changes I’ve witnessed in my career. And why I believe the next great story about women and wealth won’t simply be about how much women inherit. It will be about their influence.
The numbers are enormous but not the whole story.
Cerulli Associates estimates that approximately $124 trillion will transfer through 2048, with $105 trillion expected to pass to heirs and another $18 trillion to charity. Yet one of the most interesting parts of that transfer may happen before wealth ever reaches the next generation.[1]
Cerulli estimates $54 trillion will transfer between spouses. Because women tend to outlive their husbands, nearly $40 trillion is projected to move to widowed women in the Baby Boomer and older generations. Think about what that means.
Millions of women may find themselves responsible for financial decisions that will affect not only their security, but their children, grandchildren, communities, and ultimately the generations that follow. For me, that’s where the conversation gets much bigger than inheritance.
Receiving wealth and being prepared to lead with it are two very different things.
The advice women need has evolved.
My work with women frequently intersects with transitions such as divorce, the death of a spouse, an inheritance, retirement, a career change or the increasing responsibility of caring for an aging parent. These moments bring financial complexity, and they also bring very human questions.
I’ve sat across the table from accomplished women – executives, professionals, business owners, mothers, and community leaders – who are highly confident in virtually every aspect of their lives, but find themselves asking the same question: “Am I going to be okay?”
Helping answer that question is fundamental to what I do as an advisor.
In wealth management, we analyze assets. We model income; we evaluate investments, taxes, estate considerations, and risk. We help replace uncertainty with clarity and create a financial plan for the future. But I don’t believe our work should end there. Because once a woman knows she’s going to be okay, an entirely different conversation opens up.
The most rewarding part of my work begins by asking, “What do you want your wealth to make possible?” That’s where financial planning moves from security to influence.
Wealth creates choices, and influence is what we do with those choices, and it can take many forms.
- It may be deciding to help her adult children rather than leaving everything to them someday in the future.
- It may mean helping a grandchild graduate without student debt.
- It might be caring for an aging loved one while establishing boundaries that protect her own retirement.
- It could be supporting an organization she believes in or investing in her community all while teaching the next generation to become thoughtful stewards of family wealth.
Sometimes influence means giving yourself permission to use your resources for your own life to retire, travel, change careers, start something new, or simply have great freedom over your time. There is no single definition of a meaningful financial life.
That’s why the conversation matters.
There is another side of this story that is personal to me and my own definition of leadership has changed because of it.
Women are poised to assume significantly greater responsibility for wealth, yet we remain dramatically underrepresented among the professional advising it.
According to BlackRock’s 2026 Advisor Trends research, women make up just 18% of the financial advisor population[2] . I’ve spent almost three decades building my career within that environment. In my earlier professional years, I thought a great deal about earning my seat at the table by developing expertise, establishing credibility, producing results, and demonstrating that I belonged in the room.
Today I think differently. Getting into the room has become less valuable to me than what I can do once I’m there.
- “Who else can I bring?”
- “Whose career can I help advance?”
- “What connections can I make?”
- “What doors can I open?”
Asking these questions is how mentorship, leadership, and developing other women within the profession have become increasingly important parts of my career.
In addition to advising clients at Clearwater Capital Partners, I’ve intentionally invested in a broader role within the financial services ecosystem, mentoring and developing professionals, creating networks and opportunities for women to connect. I’ve taken leadership roles in industry organizations committed to the advancement of women.
Through my involvement with organizations including Women in ETFs[3] and Women in Insurance and Financial Services[4], I’ve had the opportunity to connect with women across the industry, from advisors and asset managers to executives and emerging leaders. Along the way, I’ve recognized that what I’m doing professionally isn’t all that different from the conversations I’m having with clients. Like invested dividends, influence compounds, too.
The most powerful wealth transfer may not be financial.
When we talk about multigenerational wealth, we tend to focus on transferring assets. I believe families should think just as intentionally about transferring confidence, values, and financial capability.
A successful wealth transfer shouldn’t simply result in the next generation receiving money. Ideally, it creates people who are prepared to steward it.
- What did it take to create this wealth?
- What does the family value?
- What responsibility comes with financial resources?
- How do we help our children without removing the experience that allows them to become capable adults?
- What do we want our wealth to make possible for our family and beyond?
These aren’t simply investment questions. These are family questions with financial consequences. And I believe one of the most important roles a wealth advisor can play is helping families have those conversations.
I encourage you to have a different conversation with your advisor.
Perhaps instead of beginning with “how did my portfolio perform?”, consider going further.
- “What is my wealth capable of doing?”
- “Would my spouse feel prepared to manage our family’s financial life without me?”
- Are my children prepared to not simply inherit our wealth, but steward it?”
And ultimately, “What do I want my influence to be?”
I mentioned that early in my career, leadership meant earning a seat at the table. That seat gives access, much like your wealth. It’s not just having it; it’s in what you do with it.
Accumulating wealth is an accomplishment. Having the confidence to understand and manage it creates independence. Using wealth intentionally to create choices, strengthen a family, empower the next generation, and support another to rise up is influence.
That’s the conversation I believe women are ready to have, and it is the conversation I’m having with my clients. It’s the work I’m doing within my profession, and it’s an area I’m proud to help lead at Clearwater Capital Partners.
Because the next great wealth story won’t simply be about what women receive. It will be about what they make possible.
[1] https://www.cerulli.com/press-releases/cerulli-anticipates-124-trillion-in-wealth-will-transfer-through-2048
[2] https://www.blackrock.com/us/financial-professionals/insights/women-financial-advisor-growth
[4] https://www.wifsnational.org/
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