However, as nice as this sounds, it's very likely the inheritances will not be evenly distributed and, ultimately, will remain highly concentrated among the family of top income-earners, who also tend to be top income-earners themselves. According to the CFA Institute, after removing the inheritance of the top 10% wealthiest Americans, the median inheritance for the rest of America is almost nothing.
Impacts of the Great Wealth Transfer
For the heirs of roughly 22% of baby boomers who intend to leave an inheritance behind, the impact may be significant, depending on their financial situations at the time of the inheritance. This is certainly an opportunity for them to invest their found money, but Bank of America reports that millennials are losing faith in traditional stocks and bonds, with 75% believing it's not possible to achieve above-average returns with these financial instruments.
A full 25% of these people are looking to private equity for better returns, though all of this can change when they finally have their inheritances in their hands and are faced with a difficult choice of what to do with it.
These younger investors do seem to be more concerned with the effects of their investments, with 73% reporting that they hold sustainable investments in their portfolios, as well as real estate holdings.