People with higher incomes have more expectation of generational wealth

The Ipsos Consumer Tracker asks Americans questions about culture, the economy and the forces that shape our lives. Here's one thing we learned this week.

Why we asked: We keep hearing that this will be the largest transfer of wealth in human history…  

What we found: First, ever notice how sometimes everything you read about a “trend” quotes the same study? For a while everyone was using one estimate of the metaverse economy. In this case, pretty much every news story on the first few pages of Googling “generational wealth transfer” all use a figure of $84 trillion from the same source. Now, sometimes those numbers are spot-on. Sometimes they’re just convenient to find and get repeated. Sometimes they’re maybe mythological. You might have heard that only 3% of agency creative directors are women. That stat spawned a group called the “3% movement.” I spent quite a bit of time trying to track down where that stat came from and finally asked Kat Gordon, the founder of this group. She had no idea…. 

Anyway, $84 trillion seems like a lot of money. Even if it’s $60 trillion or $42 trillion, that’s still… a lot of money. So it’s interesting that almost six in ten Americans (and fully two thirds of lower-income Americans) expect to see any of it. One in four say they have already received an inheritance of some sort (concentrated with 42% of those 55 and older). Only 18% expect to receive one at some point (concentrated in younger Americans).

Of those who have received an inheritance or expect to, there’s an even split on whether or not it’s important to their standard of living. Only 22% say it’s “very important.” Which would seem to indicate that it’s not life-changing, job-quitting, globe-trotting levels of money for most folks. At least not yet. 

And one in three don’t expect to have much wealth to pass on, including half of lower-income Americans. One in five older Americans say they won’t have much left over. Kids and grandkids are the primary beneficiary for most. 

Regardless of the extent of this transfer or how much time it’s spread out over, or how well distributed it is, these are important conversations to have with family members to plan and level-set. 

More insights from this wave of the Ipsos Consumer Tracker:

The shifting political landscape of what we trust 

Fewer think AI is coming for white collar jobs

Many report economic anxiety and spending shifts during election season

One in ten think the Supreme Court will decide the Presidential election

The Ipsos Care-o-Meter: What does America know about vs. what does America care about?