Top 10 trends in private wealth for 2025
Insight

As we settle into 2025, I have pulled together the key trends which are likely to impact wealthy families, and those of us who work with them, in the coming year.
1. The Times They Are A-Changin’
Last year 76 countries, representing half the world’s population, went to the ballot box. Two key themes emerged.
First, a rejection of incumbents (Democrats in the US, Conservatives in the UK, Macron in France and so on).
Second, a rejection of centrist government. The polls suggest that this trend could continue into 2025, with the governments of Canada, Australia and Germany among those looking likely to lose power in the coming months.
What does this mean for clients and their advisers? Inevitably, there will be new policy approaches and new legislation to respond to. In the UK, the Labour Government is set to scrap the non-domiciled basis of tax from 6 April 2025; in the US, Trump is proposing to repeal estate and gift taxes.
With the economic and social factors that led voters to turn against incumbents in 2024 set to persist for years to come, clients and their advisers should prepare for even more change in the years ahead. Clients who have moved to low tax jurisdictions may need to move on in a few years, and clients who restructured their affairs to respond to new legislation will no doubt need to do so again.
2. Bad actors, bad outcomes
The rise in nationalism and turning away from liberal values have not only resulted in surprises at the ballot box, but also created a world that is increasingly vulnerable to geopolitical shocks.
Over the last few decades, the US has – for better or worse – assumed a leading role in global leadership and enforcement of “Western” values. As it withdraws from this role, will a vacuum be created that can be further exploited by bad actors, whether states or terrorist (and whether by physical attacks or cyberattacks)?
This will no doubt have direct results on our clients and our practices. The last few years have seen the invasion of Ukraine, bringing a reassessment of the place of Russian wealth in private wealth, and the events of 7 October, whose repercussions continue to re-shape the political contours of the Middle East. What might 2025 bring? While we wait to see, the demand will only increase from clients to create structures designed to diversify and protect their wealth.
3. Larger debts, higher taxes
Amidst all this geopolitical uncertainty, one thing looks very likely: in most developed countries, there will be tax increases.
One driver for tax rises will be the widening of the fiscal gap prompted by bigger government and smaller economic growth (lingering consequences of the 2008 credit crunch and Covid-19). The club of European countries with government debt-to-GDP ratios over 100% is growing, and the problem is likely to be compounded by increases in defence spending as the world becomes a more volatile place and Trump insists that NATO members “pay their share”.
The other main driver for tax increases is the populist cry to tax the wealthy, the “cost of living crisis” having fed the sense of economic alienation felt by vast swathes of the population.
In the UK, populist sentiment can be seen in the reform to the non-dom regime. Independent economists indicate that the new tax regime will result in a net reduction of tax revenue in the medium term as wealthy people simply leave the UK.
These sentiments also fuel cries for a coordinated international approach to taxing the wealthy. As part of its Presidency of the 2024 G20 summit, Brazil sought to impose a 2% wealth tax on the world’s billionaires. The initiative failed in the face of opposition from a number of developed countries, and it is unlikely we will see a coordinated international wealth tax any time soon. But the G20 finance ministers did agree “to engage cooperatively to ensure that ultra-high-net-worth individuals are effectively taxed”, so is the time for an international wealth tax coming closer?
4. The Great Transfer
Connected with these changes in attitudes is the “Great Wealth Transfer”, the passing on of assets from the current owners of wealth (Baby Boomers and Gen X) to the next generations. 2025 will see an acceleration in this trend.
According to UBS’ Global Wealth Report 2024, $83.5 trillion of wealth will be transferred to the next generation within the next 20 to 25 years. Millennials will hold five times as much wealth by 2030 as they do today, but significant wealth will also pass to Gen Z.
All of this requires wealthy families and their advisers to plan carefully for the transfer of wealth. It also signals a change in mindset. Studies indicate that more than half of new inherited billionaires are breaking away from their family businesses in order to pursue other career ambitions.
With the succession of assets and power to the next generations, attitudes to wealth itself will inevitably change too. Galvanised by the new “science of happiness” (which is now taught even in Ivy League universities), many of the next generation are taking a more holistic approach to the role the accumulation of wealth plays in their lives.
The Great Transfer is also happening inside our offices. Millennials are assuming senior management positions in our organisations and bringing their own values with them. If we are to engage effectively with the next generation of clients and employees, that can only be a good thing.
5. Not just new money, but neurodiverse money
As wealth generated from technology gains pace, we are also seeing that wealth creators bring new approaches. These creators of wealth are increasingly diverse in terms of gender and race, but they are also increasingly neurodiverse.
Many of these creators have been quick to link their syndromes to their management style. Discussing his Aspergers syndrome, Elon Musk commented “I reinvented electric cars, and I’m sending people to Mars in a rocket ship. Did you think I was also going to be a chill, normal dude?”. Some have also linked their syndromes directly to their success. In the words of Virgin founder Richard Branson: “My dyslexia has given me a massive advantage in life. It helped me think creatively and laterally, and to simplify things.”
If we are going to win, keep and (most importantly) do our best for our new clients, we will need to change the way we do things ourselves. We are already seeing the demand for quick calls, text exchanges, decision trees and infographics to replace detailed memos of advice.
And, as with the changing of the generations, if we are to best understand this new type of client, it will be important for us to make room in our workforce for neurodivergent colleagues.
6. Reputations lost
In today’s world of social media and “cancel culture”, missteps will result in reputations being lost overnight. But what will tomorrow’s world look like? It is increasingly clear that reputations risk being ruined not only by mistakes but also misinformation.
The rise of social media has created an environment in which misinformation rules. We are already seeing AI-generated disinformation impact both personal reputations and national elections.
Reputational experts have been advising clients for many years on the importance of putting measures in place to manage online presence and to control the media narrative. But, on top of that, every wealthy individual and family should have a crisis plan in place to be in the best position possible to respond quickly if and when a reputational attack occurs.
7. A question of capacity
One clear long-term trend is the rise of mental incapacity. All the money in the world can do little to prevent dementia. There are almost 55 million people worldwide living with dementia and that figure is expected to reach 78 million by 2030 as the elderly population grows.
On top of this, there is an increasing awareness of the impact that personality disorders and addictions have on mental capacity.
This presents a day-to-day challenge for private wealth advisers. What do we do when our clients (to whom we owe a duty of care) need our advice but are no longer able to provide instructions reliably? And how do we balance the need to give prompt advice, implemented speedily, with the caution we must necessarily take with clients (particularly elderly ones) who are on the edge of losing mental capacity?
The position is even more challenging for trustees. How much weight can a trustee place on the wishes of a settlor, or consents of a protector who is on the edge of losing mental capacity?
The problem is compounded by the lack of consistency around the requirements necessary to establish capacity. The precise test will vary according to the nature of the act (making a gift, executing a Will, settling a trust, selling a property etc) and the relevant jurisdiction(s) involved.
Private wealth professionals will have to be increasingly agile to balance our immediate duties to our clients with the risks which might arise to our clients and ourselves in the future from any suggestions around lack of capacity. (For some further thoughts on this, see A Lasting Legacy)
8. Artificial intelligence and emotional intelligence
A discussion of trends cannot ignore AI. It is hard to recall that ChatGPT was only launched in November 2022.
Studies indicate that the professional services sector is particularly vulnerable to the automation of work. We must embrace AI or risk obsolescence. While all law firms are busy establishing policies for the use of AI, and some are investing in the technology itself, the precise impact AI will have on our clients and our industry remains to be seen.
What is clear is that we can best prepare for and protect ourselves against AI by reflecting on what it means to be human. In a world in which the answers to our clients’ most technical questions will be accessible to all, what will make us stand out is our ability to ask the questions the clients should be asking but are not, and to identify the ambition and fears our clients should be expressing but cannot. In the past, an ability to be collaborative and emotionally intelligent has distinguished the best private wealth professionals from everybody else. In the (near) future we simply will not have careers if we do not display these qualities.
9. The environment
2024 was the hottest year on record. At the time of writing, floods are subsiding from parts of the UK and wildfires still burn in Los Angeles. It is inevitable that protecting the planet will play an ever-larger part in our lives.
The increasing controversy around private jets means that clients who are in the public eye would, in 2025, be advised to think twice before using them.
As social and corporate attitudes change, a conversation is also beginning in corporate circles as to how necessary and appropriate air travel is. To date, this has largely translated into corporate policies restricting the use of business travel (on the grounds that business class consumes more carbon per passenger). But, as the damage done to our planet becomes clearer in the years to come, it is unlikely that the pushback against air travel will stop there.
The private client industry is international and sociable. Travel and conferences are at heart of how we develop relationships and business. The Covid-19 period showed us that virtual meetings have their place, but that nothing compares to face-to-face contact. Time will tell how our working practices will change, but it is certain they will.
10. Surprise!
One thing of which we can be certain in 2025 is that it will bring surprises.
The world is becoming increasingly unpredictable. 2024 saw wildfires obliterate whole towns in one of the world’s wealthiest communities, exploding pagers re-shape the Middle East and a starship caught in the mid-air by giant chopsticks.
What will 2025 bring? It has never been more important to remind clients, however deeply established in society and however wealthy, of the need to plan for the unexpected.
This publication is a general summary of the law. It should not replace legal advice tailored to your specific circumstances.
© Farrer & Co LLP, January 2025