Forget Gen Z, This is Where the Real Influence lies....

Welcome readers, I've had a busy couple of weeks recording Season 2 of It's All Relative (launching in June), filming for my YouTube and TikTok channels as well as numerous live events which are back to their pre-pandemic levels.

This edition features an exclusive preview of a piece born out of a research project with Schroders Bank on the rising influence of widows in society. 

Up until the point her husband died, Mary, 72, had never paid a bill in her life. ‘I was part of that generation who left all the financial decisions and admin to our husbands’. When Mary became a widow, it was a rude awakening. She discovered her husband had left unpaid debts, had loans from friends she never knew about and a chaotic financial situation that took two years to sort out. She was at her lowest ebb but she emerged a different woman; 'I feel empowered like never before’ she said.

It is little recognised but widows like Flora are fast becoming the most important powerbrokers in society. By 2025, 60% of the nation’s private wealth will be in female hands, with most of this inherited wealth from a deceased spouse. We hear much about the Great Wealth Transfer across the generations (estimated to be worth around £5.5trillion over the next thirty years) but there’s a more immediate transfer happening right now, a Great Wealth Transfer flowing between the genders. Two thirds of Baby Boomer wealth is owned by joint households and with many women outliving their husbands, they are set to be the major beneficiaries over the next decade – before their children get a look in.

These women may have seen the flourishing of the feminist movement in their youth, and many worked before and after marriage, but when it came to major financial decisions and investing wealth, their husbands remained firmly in charge. So what happens when this cohort of women inherits their family wealth? I spent part of last year interviewing these women trying to get a sense what this Great Gender Wealth Transfer will mean for these widows, their families and for the economy at large. 

Women, as we know, have historically been the great caregivers in society, but arguably this generation have performed these duties more profoundly than any other demographic before them.  This has meant not only offering both financial assistance and a home to their millennial kids (who have had a stunted path into adulthood) but quite often chief caregiver for elderly parents - 13% of Baby Boomers spent lockdown looking after older relatives. Let’s also remember the care responsibilities many women have towards in laws, distant relatives and friends. I spoke to Lyn, 75, who had inherited £350,000 from a friend whom she had nursed through a terminal illness. “It doesn’t feel like my money’ she confessed. Forecasters talk much about the inheritance economy, but in an age of longevity, increasing care and parental dependency, this is overwhelming a female inheritance economy. 

Women are more likely than men to pass on their money while they are still alive. This may mean that millennials have access to their inheritance sooner than they might think but with the added pressure of mum looking over their shoulder watching (and potentially having a say) in how they spend it. Little wonder then that we’ve seen so many millennials moving to be nearer grandma and the rise of multi-generational households and holidays. 

Forty per cent of grandmas in the UK provide regular childcare and we are seeing millennial parents increasingly reliant on grandma to co-fund their parenting; paying nursery and school fees, tutoring, activities and school trips. It could be that the real benefactors of the Great Wealth Transfer are not millennials at all, but younger generations: Gen Z and Generation Alpha. ’Be nice to grandma’ may well become the family mantra. 

 While many of the women I spoke to felt an obligation towards the immediate financial needs of their adult children, these women seemed far less concerned about their own long term care needs. With women outnumbering men 3:1 in nursing homes, the social care crisis is overwhelmingly a female problem, so why aren’t women planning for the inevitable? “I feel too young to be thinking about it” said Joy, 60. In the 21st century when sixty is no longer considered elderly, Joy’s words are a sign of society’s progress but also denial around old age. 

Women make up 50% of landlords in this country indicating the historic tendency of women to put their money in what was considered a ‘safe bet’ - property rather than investments. Women are often categorised as risk averse when it comes to money and yet the bankruptcy rate amongst female baby boomers has increased by 88% over the last decade. Let’s not assume that this inherited wealth is ‘safer’ in female hands. But one area that these widows are likely to channel this investment is in setting up their own businesses. Barclays has seen a dramatic 132% increase of women over-65 opening business accounts, the biggest leap of any demographic.  

The phenomenon of the wealthy widow is unjust, uneven but also temporary. The younger cohort of women coming through are undoubtedly better educated, many with professional careers and years before marriage being financially independent but they have nothing like the wealth of the Boomers. Families too are changing, with rising divorce, remarriage and step-children complicating the inheritance economy even further. The women in their fifties that I spoke to had earned more of their own money but also seemed more preoccupied in spending it on themselves while they could still enjoy it rather than saving it for their children. This is played out in the statistics; in the US, 50+ women make up the largest demographic of incomes over $100,000, controlling 95% of household purchasing decisions and 80% of luxury travel purchases. 

The Sex and the City Generation X of women are not as rich as the Baby Boomers and are more likely to spend what they do have on themselves

Despite the obvious trauma and disruption of losing a spouse, widowhood is so often a moment of empowerment for women. For Mary, it may have taken two years to sort out her finances after her husband died but since then she has been determined to embrace new challenges: ‘I went with four other women to inner Mongolia to live in yurts with the locals, owls and the camels - it was amazing!’ said Mary who is now planning on purchasing a house ‘my husband would have hated’. Marketeers, financial advisors and advertisers trying to lure Gen Z on TikTok may be better off directing their energies towards Grandma on Facebook for that’s where the real influencers lie. 

Stuff I've Consumed.... 

1.  What's beyond Beyond Burger? Food futurologists explain air protein and the future of food. 

2. Robots are writing poetry and many people can't tell the difference. Think creators are safe from automation? Think again. 

3. You may or may not be glued to the Heard v Depp trial, but this is a good take on why the Gen X generation of bad boys have had their day in the sun. 

4. What's the best way that an organisation can support their employees' mental health? The answer is obvious but few companies will want to engage with it. Clue: it's not more mental health awareness days

 A Feast for the Senses

READING:  Living Better by Alastair Campbell. Like him or loathe him, this is an intelligent, inquisitive and self-reflective book about mental health. 

LISTENING:  Marcus Buckingham on the Diary of a CEO podcast. Every employer and employee should listen to this at least twice.  Invaluable advice for those disillusioned at work or those in charge of managing anyone. 

WATCHING: Jimmy Saville: a British Horror Story. You may feel that you know enough about this story but this documentary is shocking, harrowing and extremely revealing on the extent of the cover-up.  

VISITING: virtually Dubai, Mumbai and Belgium all from the comfort of my office.  

Thanks for reading, Eliza