The Wealth Is There.
The Conversation Isn’t.
American household wealth has reached record levels, built on rising portfolios and real estate values that span every generation. The conversations families need to have about that wealth have not kept pace in many cases. And the distance between generations on how to use it, invest it, and give it away appears increasingly pronounced.
There is a particular kind of tension that builds quietly in families over time. Assets grow. Real estate appreciates. Retirement accounts compound. The financial picture becomes, by most measures, a success story. And yet the conversations needed to manage that success, to plan across it, to make sure it reflects what the family actually values, tend not to grow at the same rate. Often, they don’t happen at all.
That tension is not abstract. It shows up in estate plans that go undiscussed until a health event forces the issue. It shows up in inheritance expectations that no one has ever spoken aloud. It shows up when adult children, aging parents, and the core household each hold fundamentally different views about what wealth is for, and no one has ever sat down to reconcile them.
The data suggests this gap is widening. And the stakes, given how much wealth is now at play, have rarely been higher.
If any of this sounds familiar, the rest of this piece explores why it happens. Part 2 examines what a more coordinated approach looks like, and the role a fiduciary can play in bridging the gap. If either prompts a question about your own family’s situation, we’d welcome the conversation.
The Wealth Picture
Record Levels of Household Wealth, Built Across Two Asset Classes
By the second quarter of 2025, U.S. household net worth had reached $176.3 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve’s Financial Accounts of the United States. That figure reflects a sustained run of appreciation across the two asset classes that matter most to most families: financial portfolios and real estate.
Equity holdings surged nearly 10% in Q2 2025 alone, continuing a pattern of equity-led wealth growth that has compounded meaningfully over the past decade. Real estate values, after a brief softening earlier in the year, climbed to $49.3 trillion by mid-2025, another record according to the Federal Reserve’s Z.1 release. Retirement accounts, including 401(k)s, IRAs, and pension plans, have also reached new highs, with the average IRA balance hitting $266,953 as of Q2 2025, according to Empower.
The Wealth American Families Are Now Navigating
Statistical references are sourced from third-party research and provided for informational purposes only.
This is not a story about the ultra-wealthy. The appreciation in equity markets and real estate values has touched a broad range of American families, including the senior executive households we work with, where concentrated equity positions, deferred compensation balances, and owner-occupied real estate have all grown substantially. Many families are now managing a level of financial complexity, and a level of wealth, that has outpaced the planning conversations surrounding it.
The Communication Gap
Families Are Not Talking About the Wealth They Have Built
The Nationwide Retirement Institute found that 47% of investors have not had conversations with family members about retirement finances, and 17% say they don’t believe those conversations are necessary. The Milken Institute has reported that more than a third of Americans, 35%, say they don’t plan to discuss the transfer of their wealth with their families at all, despite nearly half planning to leave an inheritance. A CNBC survey found that 56% of Americans say their parents never discussed money with them while they were growing up.
Perhaps most telling: a U.S. Bank survey found that Americans are more comfortable discussing their choice of presidential candidate (68%) than their personal finances (55%) with their own parents. Money, in many households, remains one of the most difficult conversations families face.
Families are sitting on record levels of wealth. The conversations needed to plan across it, share it thoughtfully, and reflect shared values are largely not happening.
The reasons vary by generation. Fidelity’s research found that one-third of Baby Boomers don’t feel that having a formal financial plan is even necessary. Many of that generation built their wealth independently and are inclined to keep the details private. Younger generations, by contrast, are often more willing to talk, but they don’t always know how to initiate the conversation, or what to do with the distance they find when they try.
A Widening Divide
Each Generation Has a Different Answer to the Same Question
Even when families do begin to talk about wealth, they often discover that the generations around the table are not simply at different stages of a shared journey. They hold fundamentally different views about what wealth is for, how it should be invested, and what role it should play in the world.
The Bank of America Private Bank 2024 Study of Wealthy Americans found that older and younger generations are “surprisingly far apart” on investment issues, with diverging views on portfolio construction that may reshape allocation patterns as wealth changes hands over time.
The Schwab 2024 High Net Worth Investor Survey found that younger wealthy Americans are more than twice as likely as Baby Boomers to prefer sharing their wealth with the next generation during their own lifetime rather than through a traditional estate transfer.
Where the Generations Diverge
Three Dimensions of a Growing Gap
| Topic | Prior & Core Generations | Next Generation |
|---|---|---|
| Investment approach | Built wealth through traditional stocks, bonds, and real estate. Tend to favor established asset classes and more conventional portfolio construction. Skeptical of newer asset categories. | Favor a broader investment universe including private equity, alternative assets, and digital assets. More willing to allocate to higher-risk categories and newer asset classes. Less anchored to traditional portfolio construction. |
| Transferring wealth | More likely to favor traditional estate transfer: wealth passes at death, through wills and trusts, with an emphasis on tax efficiency and asset protection. | More than twice as likely to prefer transferring wealth during their own lifetime, wanting to see the impact of their giving and support younger generations while they can. (Schwab, 2024) |
| Charitable giving | Give in larger dollar amounts. Motivated by a sense of obligation and long-term relationships with established institutions. Tend to support a narrow set of organizations. (Giving USA, 2024) | 74% consider themselves philanthropists, vs. 35% of Baby Boomers. (BofA Private Bank, 2024) Give based on causes and values, not institutions. Want active involvement, not just financial contribution. Giving is part of identity, not obligation. |
| Role of an advisor | 1 in 6 Baby Boomers want an advisor to facilitate family financial conversations. (Nationwide) Many prefer to keep financial details private, even from their own families. | 60% of Millennials want a financial advisor to serve as a facilitator for family financial discussions. (Nationwide) View an advisor as a collaborative resource, not just a portfolio manager. |
Sources: Schwab High Net Worth Investor Survey 2024, Bank of America Private Bank Study of Wealthy Americans 2024, Giving USA / Dunham + Company 2024, Nationwide Retirement Institute. All statistics sourced from third-party research and provided for informational purposes only.
These are not small differences of degree. They reflect distinct frameworks for thinking about what wealth means and what it should do. When those frameworks collide, as they do in any family conversation about an estate plan, a gifting strategy, or a charitable commitment, the result is often not a productive disagreement. It is frequently a conversation that doesn’t happen at all, or one that ends without resolution.
Rising wealth raises the stakes of every planning decision. Generational differences in values and priorities make those decisions harder to reach. And the cultural reluctance to discuss money across generations means that many families may not fully surface those disagreements until they are forced to.
Each of these factors is significant on its own. Together, they describe a planning environment that has grown substantially more complex, and that most families are navigating without a structure for doing so.
Authors
Start the Family Conversation
Reach out to your KinneyMunro advisor to discuss whether the KM Circle is right for your family’s situation.
Contact KinneyMunroWhen the Gap Is Bigger Than the Numbers
In Part 2, we examine the role a fiduciary can play in bridging generational differences around wealth, and how the KM Circle is designed to provide that structure across every generation of the family.
Part 2 — Don’t Miss ItThis material is provided for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. There is no assurance that any investment, plan, or strategy will be successful. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal.
Tax and estate planning strategies should be developed in consultation with qualified tax and legal professionals. MPS does not provide tax or legal advice.
Investment advisory services offered through Mariner Platform Solutions (MPS), an SEC-registered investment adviser. KinneyMunro Wealth Advisors and MPS are not affiliated entities. For additional information about MPS, including fees and services, please refer to MPS’s Form ADV Part 2A, available at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov. Registration of an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training.