Women shaping family wealth
Estate planning and investing for matriarchs
Women are quickly assuming greater wealth and greater responsibility within families than at any other point in history. With different objectives and instincts than men, they look to make a difference on their own terms.
Learn about the tools and strategies that women can use for fine-tuning their estate and legacy planning over time
To create legacies aligned with their own visions, women can benefit from strategies to fine-tune their estate and legacy planning. And in overseeing their families’ wealth, they can make use of a comprehensive framework and investment options to fashion portfolios to their specific requirements.
The net result? Greater confidence in shaping their estate planning and investing according to their preferences and values.
Maximizing a family’s chances of success
With so many women in charge of the family wealth, they are frequently responsible for the family legacy. As of 2020, women in the US controlled $11 trillion, about a third of financial assets, and that number could reach $30 trillion by 2030.1
Matriarchs have a variety of strategies to make their estate planning more effective, including:
Reviewing long-term trusts: Trusts are not always set in stone. The agreement itself and/or state laws can allow for aspects to be changed and optimized in alignment with changing family circumstances. You may want to consider:
- Amending trusts to last for the beneficiary’s lifetime
- Providing increased creditor protection
- Creating "silent trusts" which delay communication to the beneficiaries until later in life
- Moving a trust from a high-tax state
- Planning for a grantor trust that allows a grantor to swap assets from an estate for other trust assets
Planning ahead for flexibility: As you think about the financial legacy you want to create, there are a host of flexible options to consider incorporating in your will and trusts, including:
- Powers of appointment that allow a beneficiary to divert trust assets from where specified under the terms of the trust
- 5x5 power that allows a spouse or other beneficiary of a testamentary trust to withdraw the greater of $5,000 or 5% of trust assets annually
- Remove/replace power that allow a trust beneficiary to hire and fire trustees
Future philanthropic planning informed by the past: Matriarchs can influence the future of a family’s community engagement through their own philanthropic involvement and their communication with loved ones, including:
- Specific conversations about charities and organizations that have been supported in the past
- Open dialog about how and in what areas children and grandchildren are likely to focus philanthropic efforts in the future
A distinct approach to investing
As women build businesses, accumulate wealth and inherit assets, they are demanding a new way of investing that’s longer-term and more closely matched to their personal as well as financial goals.
In particular, women are focused on the impact their wealth will have on themselves, their family, and their community. Rather than tradition investment benchmarks, they tend to measure their success against alternative benchmarks, such as the impact or legacy they want to create:
- Liquidity to help provide cash flows for short- and medium-term expenses
- Longevity for longer-term needs
- Legacy for needs that go beyond one’s own
As a matriarch, you have an opportunity to safeguard the financial well-being off your family and lead by example when it comes to investing. UBS Wealth Way offers you a framework to guide decisions and tailor a portfolio to the financial and personal goals that are important to you.
For more detailed information, please see the complete whitepaper, Matriarchs on the rise: Refined approaches for estate planning and investing.
Purpose of this material.
The information on this page and in the attached document is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It should be used solely for the purposes of discussion with your UBS Financial Advisor and your independent consideration. UBS does not intend this to be fiduciary or best interest investment advice or a recommendation that you take a particular course of action.
No tax or legal advice.
UBS Financial Services Inc., its affiliates and its employees do not provide tax or legal advice. You should consult with your personal tax and/or legal advisors regarding your particular situation.
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