ust months before he died last year aged 98, Goh Cheng Liang, one of Singapore’s richest men, made six of his grandchildren billionaires.
The Nippon Paint tycoon, who built his business empire from a single shop trading cheap goods bought from the British Army, was worth $US13 billion ($19 billion) at the time of his death.
But instead of taking the traditional route when it came to his inheritance, Goh decided to skip a generation with a significant part of his estate. He gave his son control of the family business and endowed his grandchildren with his financial assets, enriching a group in their 30s who include an academic in New York, a charity worker in Bali and an urban-farming entrepreneur.
“They can then do what they like – buy expensive properties, set up their own businesses or do their own investments – without putting the future of the company at risk,” says Melvyn Goh, the unrelated founder of consultancy Succession Advisory Partners.
The story of the Goh family inheritance is part of a global megatrend now under way. More than $US60 trillion of wealth in the US alone will pass into the hands of Gen Z and Millennials before 2048, according to one estimate from Cerulli Associates.
That shift – dubbed the great wealth transfer – is already disrupting the businesses in the US and beyond dedicated to helping the ultra-wealthy preserve and grow their fortunes. The worst may be yet to come.
While a large share of wealth is expected to pass first to spouses and older heirs, it will subsequently cascade to younger generations. At the same time, rapid developments in AI and a flurry of initial public offerings are expected to breed even more millionaires and billionaires.
Changing fortunes for generations
That will expand the target population of young, rich clients for those who manage money, but those same technological advances are enabling the wealthy to be more independent in managing their fortunes – threatening an industry that has relied on long-cultivated human relationships.
Cheaper platforms and DIY services that have proliferated recently are adding to fee pressures already faced by incumbent wealth managers, just as they are spending more on their own tech and AI capabilities to keep up.
Source: https://www.afr.com/wealth/investing/how-the-great-wealth-transfer-is-rewriting-the-investment-playbook-20260701-p60blm