The Rise of Generational Wealth

On behalf of Quintet and BlackRock, Ipsos has conducted an online survey to understand High Net Worth Individuals’ attitudes towards their finances and their future plans. The research aimed to understand how respondents view their wealth, covering both the upsides and downsides of wealth. It also looked at how people think their wealth will change in the long term, and how prepared they are.

Key findings include:

• 3 in 4 (76%) HNWIs agree they trust their abilities to make smart financial decisions, and a similar proportion (78%) believe in their ability to control the preservation of their wealth.
• There is some uncertainty, with 1 in 2 (49%) agreeing they are not always certain whether they’ve made a good financial decision or not, and a similar proportion (44%) find it stressful making decisions about preserving their wealth.
• The majority (80%) of HNWIs plan to pass on their wealth to their children/heirs in some capacity, yet over 1 in 4 (27%) of these people don’t have an inheritance plan in place yet.
• There is also a lack of readiness when it comes to retirement plans – with one in three (33%) of those not yet retired admitting they have not yet started making retirement plans, including 16% who haven’t even started to think about it.
• Despite this lack of readiness, outlook for the future is positive, with almost 4 in 5 (78%) believing their personal wealth will increase over the next 5 years. This positive outlook is mainly driven by the performance of their investment portfolios (52%) and their perceived confidence in managing their wealth (51%).

Technical note

This report is based on research conducted by Ipsos UK on behalf of Quintet Private Bank and BlackRock between 19th August and 27th September 2024.

The subject of the survey is the behaviours, perceptions and intentions related to wealth management. Specifically, the research focused on uncovering: (i) Wealth background and attitudes towards wealth, including goals for the future (ii) Plans for passing on wealth, with a focus on passing wealth to the next generation and expectations of the next generation (iii) Retirement plans amongst those who are not already retired. 

The survey was an online self-completion survey conducted in four countries, with a total of 595 adults aged 30 and over completing the survey: 165 in the UK, 147 in Germany, 169 in the Netherlands and 114 in Belgium. Quota sampling was applied. Respondents who chose to take part in the survey, who claimed to have at least £1 million (UK) / €1 million (DE, NL, BE) in liquid/investable assets, are defined as ‘High-Net-Worth’ (HNW) individuals throughout this report. Data has not been weighted and is not nationally representative of any market to the known adult population on any demographics.

Within this report we show figures at an aggregated level across all markets. These figures are a straight average across all countries surveyed with no weighting by country. Differences between countries and groups of interest are based on two-tailed significance tests with 95% level of confidence.

Definitions

Adults referred to as coming from ‘generational wealth’ have been defined as those who selected the code ‘I come from a family, going back at least one generation, that has been successful in creating, preserving and/or growing wealth’  when asked which answer option best describes their wealth background. Adults who are referred to as ‘first-generation wealthy’ have been defined as those who selected code: ‘I am the first-generation in my family to have created wealth’ in the same question.

Adults defined as ‘having plans to pass on their wealth to their children/heirs’ are those who selected any of the following codes at question ‘NG1. Thinking about your plans for the future, which of the following, if any, do you intend to do with your wealth?’: NET of ‘Gift it to children and/or relatives prior to my death’ + ‘Leave as an inheritance’ + ‘Ensure my children are financially comfortable without spoiling them’ + ‘Enhance the standing of our family name’.

Adults who are said to have “alternative investments” refers to those who selected the code “Invested in alternative investments e.g. private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, etc.” 

Where adults are said to “agree” with a certain statement, e.g.  “41% agree their wealth could easily disappear”, this refers to the NET of those who selected the codes “strongly agree” or “somewhat agree” on a 5-point agreement scale.

About Quintet Private Bank:

Quintet Private Bank (Europe) S.A., founded in 1949, is headquartered in Luxembourg and operates across Europe and the UK. Widely recognised as a private banking leader, Quintet serves wealthy individuals and their families, as well as a broad range of institutional and professional clients, including family offices, foundations and external asset managers. Quintet’s family of private banks includes:

• Brown Shipley (UK)
• InsingerGilissen (Netherlands)
• Merck Finck (Germany)
• Puilaetco (Belgium)
• Quintet Danmark (Denmark)
• Quintet Luxembourg (Luxembourg)

For further information, please visit: www.quintet.com

About Brown Shipley, a Quintet Private Bank:

Brown Shipley, with a heritage dating back to 1810, is a wealth manager offering clients informed financial advice and tailored services on all aspects of wealth planning, investment management and lending. Brown Shipley has offices in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds, Edinburgh, Norwich and Nottingham.

Brown Shipley’s parent company is Quintet Private Bank, which from Luxembourg heads a European group of private banks and wealth managers. Brown Shipley is a trading name of Brown Shipley & Co Limited, which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England & Wales No. 398426.

For further information about Brown Shipley, please visit: www.brownshipley.com

About InsingerGilissen, a Quintet Private Bank:

InsingerGilissen, the Dutch branch of Quintet Private Bank, offers personalized client service and comprehensive financial advice to high net worth individuals and families, entrepreneurs, foundations, associations and institutional clients as well as specialized services to independent asset managers. Founded in 1779 and headquartered in Amsterdam, InsingerGilissen also has offices in Eindhoven, Groningen, Rotterdam, The Hague and Zwolle.

For further information, please visit: www.insingergilissen.nl

About Merck Finck, a Quintet Private Bank:

Merck Finck, the German branch of Quintet Private Bank, was founded in 1870 and serves wealthy individuals and their families, medium-sized companies and institutions such as churches and foundations. Headquartered in Munich and operating from nine other German cities, Merck Finck extends a wide range of holistic wealth management and asset management services.

For further information about Merck Finck, please visit: www.merckfinck.de

About Puilaetco, a Quintet Private Bank:

Puilaetco, the Belgian branch of Quintet Private Bank, was founded in 1868 and has been serving wealthy individuals and their families for five generations. Services include wealth management, financial and estate planning, credit and fine-art management. Headquartered in Brussels, Puilaetco also has offices in Antwerp, Hasselt, Liège, Namur, Sint-Martens-Latem and Waregem.

For further information about Puilaetco, please visit: www.puilaetco.be

About BlackRock:

BlackRock’s purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being. As a fiduciary to investors and a leading provider of financial technology, we help millions of people build savings that serve them throughout their lives by making investing easier and more affordable.

For additional information about BlackRock, please visit www.blackrock.com/corporate

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