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So women are controlling ever greater sums of money around the world, setting the stage for major shifts in wealth management and philanthropy. In the US alone, McKinsey expects women to control thirty four trillion dollars are roughly thirty eight percent of investable assets by twenty thirty. That's close to double last year's total. The figure was just seven point three trillion. That was twenty nine percent. That was about ten years ago.
Tim, the world of finance, wealth management, and banking are all recalibrating for this great wealth transfer. With more in our new weekly discussion on Women, Money and Power, where we explore the economic implications of these changes and how
to navigate them. We welcome April Rudin, founder and CEO of The Rooting Group, and Nick Rice, director at Brunswick, are the co authors of the forthcoming Wealth Management With the Difference, Your Guide to achieving client, generational and business success. It comes out late next month. They both join us here in the studio. Welcome to both of you. We've been talking about this great wealth transfer for quite a
bit of time. I mean purely demographics when we think about aging baby boomers and then who ends up receiving those funds. I want to start with you, April, the economic implications of these changes and what it means for new trends when it comes to investing, saving, and of course giving.
Well, it's huge. It's as you said, it's the intersection of all of these different factors coming together. There's never been a better time to be in wealth management. I would say the opportunities for financial advisors and for all firms that are serving in financial services. That sector of women is gigantic because you have financial advisors that are retiring, you have women inheriting more money. It's actually more of a wealth transition going to talk about rather than a
wealth transfer. Is actually vertical. Right, Women live longer, and so before that wealth transfer has happened, there's going to be a wahy Is.
That an important distinction?
So I started my firm seventeen years ago talking about the wealth transfer, it actually hasn't really happened. You still from those McKenzie stats, you have people still talking about it's going to happen. It's happening, is it happening? And now? And people were under the impression that the transfer was also going to go to gen Z, right, But actually it's going to go to gen X, and gen X are now in their sixties and approaching retirement themselves, some
of them. So I think it's more complicated than what people think, and so it's important to pull it apart and understand more about what's happening.
Nick, I want to bring you in, So how much do things change when it comes to the investing world and the approaches, Like how much is going to be different? Because I you know, it's interesting that you know, we sometimes men for swimmen and the distinctions, but is it all that different?
Yes, so that it's going to be significant change. I think all the data shows that women are very, very passionate about using their investments and their philanthropy to fulfill specific purposes and to ensure that they have impact in a way that might not have happened in the past, or they might not have had the tools to do that.
Always in the past, there's been a strong trend towards philanthropy among older generations, but female clients, particularly a younger generation are more focused on measuring that impact, generating that impact, and also making money through purpose driven activities.
So where on the impact side of things, where does that end up going? So it varies, right.
So you can look at it through a sustainability framework. A lot of clients prefer to look at a sustainability framework, targeting things like the environment or social causes that.
We stopped caring about that.
Well, some clients don't choose to look at it through sustainability. It varies depending on the client, but a lot of clients target the same underlying causes whether or not they use the sustainability framework. You can target healthcare as a client through your investments, through your philanthropy. You can use the sustainability framework to do that, or you cannot use the sustainability There are various different ways of cutting the pot I want to bring.
You in on the same thing, like, you know, why is it so different? But we hear from Nick that yes, it will be different.
Also to your point, I think sometimes US is very US centric, and whereas that might be true in the US, our book is for a global audience and that has not died down in Europe and Asia. Impact investing and sustainability is really hot and is something very important.
I love that you went there. We're just coming off the U in General Assembly and we did a big broadcast last Wednesday from the Plaza. Bloomberg does a big event, a global forum, and I felt like most of who we talked to, a lot of European officials and yes, talking about alternative energy, renewables, how it financially makes sense, that nothing's changing, and that really struck me in those discussions.
Well it struck us because here in the US we are the changing administration has really changed the tone when it comes to renewables and also when it comes to foreign aid, and pretty much every guest we spoke to Carol at that event was talking about how to maximize the impact of foreign ad and how to maximize the return from renewables.
Yeah, I think it's kind of fascinating.
So that's one of the reasons why we went global on this book, and we spoke to eighty senior leaders across the world, because more and more firms are global in nature, and more and more people are mobile in nature, and so having a better understanding of what our world is and technology connecting us is truly important. Even visiting some of the headquarters of some of the firms and you can see a huge difference where some firms are very traditional in the way that they look. Other firms
have a more sustainable approach. As Nick was saying, you see firms that have more green, more exposed brick. You know, they in London, They've purchased a building and have redone. It's something we don't really see here in the US, where we're just going to, you know, knock the building down and build something back up again. But there's an effort to create sustainability and demonstrate it through their brand.
What does this mean in terms of money flows? So we are Bloomberg and that is something whether it's a fun advisor or whatever. You know, Tim and I constantly talk about, so where the money goes? So where does the money go? Potentially as we see this money, this wealth transition, where does it go? Is it green or sustainable efforts? Is it more global efforts? Like how do you see it playing out?
I think alternatives are a big piece of this. We're seeing increasing capital flow towards alternative investments, specifically right credit and things like predvate markets, but also digital assets, right, And we've seen the rise in vehicles that will enable that, right, be those through new types of vehicles that wealth management clients can more easy access, or also increasingly through retirement plans.
Right.
We saw the executive orders the other week. That's an important part of it. Also, international is a very important part of it. I think people thought with the globalization that it would just make people more domestic. In reality, it makes your international footprint more complicated, and we're seeing a lot of wealth managers retool in order to account for that greater international footprint.
Hey, I want to.
Finish where we started with you, and you said that there's been no greater time to be in wealth management. If you would have told me ten fifteen years ago that that would be the case for twenty twenty five, I wouldn't have believed you. Because we saw the rise of robo advisors, passive investing, the idea of setting it and forgetting it, which I thought millennials would be doing, make the argument and make the case that people are paying that higher fee to get that personalized advice.
So it's really the confluence of all these different things happening. It's more and more advisors retiring, it's volatile markets. As the mother of two gen Z kids, I'll tell you that they're more conservative than what people think, and I think they want to have bigger brands that they rely on, so I think there's an opportunity there. I think that there is a general need for more financial literacy and
amen around that, because even for financial advisors. I was just going to add one more thing which Nick and I always talk about. There's been a real shift in who is a financial advisor and how to recruit people into it. Only fifteen percent of the workforce is women, and traditionally finance majors have been recruited and now not so much.
We have to leave it there. I hope we can continue in the future. April Ruden of course of the Rudent Group, Nick Rice of Brunswick and check out their book Wealth Management with a Difference. And also we have a special event in London women Money and Power. Be sure to check it out.