Great wealth transfer poised to leave advisors chasing inheritance conversations

Trillions of dollars in home equity are set to move between generations over the next two decades, but a persistent communication gap is leaving families and their advisors poorly prepared for what may be the largest private asset shift in American history.

A new study from LendingTree estimates that homeowners aged 65 and older could pass down roughly $17.2 trillion between 2026 and 2045, an average of $859 billion a year.

The projection, built using Federal Reserve data on household net worth and Social Security Administration mortality tables, paints a detailed picture of where that wealth is concentrated and when it is likely to move.

California alone accounts for an estimated $3.4 trillion of that total, nearly $1 in every $5 transferred nationally, more than the combined projected transfers for Florida at $1.6 trillion and New York at $1.2 trillion.

At the household level, older homeowners in Hawaii carry the highest modeled transferable wealth at $3.1 million per household, with California following at $2.9 million and the District of Columbia at $2.8 million.

The numbers underscore a generation-defining opportunity for wealth managers. They also expose a stubborn disconnect that threatens to disrupt both family finances and advisor relationships.

The expectation gap

Overall, 33 percent of Americans younger than 65 expect to receive an inheritance or financial gift in the future, a figure that rises to 53 percent among those earning $100,000 or more.

However, just 43 percent of Americans aged 65 or older say they plan to give an inheritance or financial gift. That 10-percentage-point chasm between expectation and intent, drawn from LendingTree's survey of 1,585 U.S. consumers, is precisely the kind of misalignment advisors are being urged to address.

The problem is not limited to one data point. Fidelity Investments' 2025 Family & Finance Study, which surveyed parents aged 55 and older with at least $500,000 in investable assets along with their adult children aged 25 to 54, found that despite widespread acknowledgment that estate discussions are important, many families remain silent. More than half of parents have not shared their net worth, and 68 percent have not discussed what their children may inherit or when.

A separate LegalShield survey of over 1,000 U.S. adults, conducted in June 2025, found that nearly one in five Boomers and Gen Xers admit their family doesn't even know if they have a will. Warren Schlichting, LegalShield CEO, put it plainly: "The greatest risk to this $84 trillion wealth transfer isn't taxes — it's silence."

Advisors at a crossroads

Firms that fail to engage heirs and surviving spouses risk losing client assets at precisely the moment those assets are at their largest. Research from Orion's inaugural investor survey, cited in InvestmentNews coverage of multigenerational planning strategies, found that 18 percent of investors are likely to switch advisors when inheriting between $500,000 and $1 million and that likelihood climbs to 24 percent for those inheriting $1 million or more.

Millennials represent a particular retention risk. The same survey found that cohort expressed a 37 percent likelihood of finding a new advisor upon receiving an inheritance of $1 million or more.

RBC Wealth Management's survey of wealthy individuals across Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials found that across all three generations, financial advisors are identified as the primary resource for guidance on inheritances, cited by 78 percent of Boomers, 71 percent of Gen Xers, and 67 percent of Millennials.

That positions advisors well…if they act. The RBC data also revealed a significant planning gap: just 17 percent of Baby Boomers say their heirs are "very well informed" about their level of wealth, and while 89 percent of Boomers agree it is important to talk about an inheritance with those who will receive it, only 39 percent have actually provided guidance to their heirs about their intentions.

What advisors should be doing now

Cerulli Associates estimates heirs are currently inheriting approximately $2.5 trillion annually, a figure the firm projects will rise to more than $3 trillion annually by 2030 and exceed $4 trillion around 2036.

The practice management resources available at InvestmentNews have repeatedly emphasized that advisors who initiate estate conversations proactively rather than waiting for clients to raise the subject, are better positioned to build cross-generational relationships that survive a transfer event. That means engaging adult children and surviving spouses before the wealth moves, not after.

With the average transferable wealth running into the millions per household in high-cost states, even clients who do not consider themselves wealthy may be sitting on assets far larger than their heirs expect.

The real estate component alone adds complexity. Home equity is illiquid, often emotionally charged, and subject to stepped-up basis rules that require careful planning.

Advisors equipped to walk clients through the tax implications of a property transfer, the timing decisions involved in estate planning, and the mechanics of titling and trusts will find that these conversations build trust faster than almost any other client interaction.

As InvestmentNews has reported on the growing role of wealth-transfer technology platforms, the firms gaining ground are those that combine estate planning with family communication tools; recognizing that the financial plan and the family conversation are inseparable parts of the same problem.

The message from the data is unambiguous: $17.2 trillion is moving. The only question is whether advisors will be part of the conversation when it does.