Passing wealth to a new generation takes more than a well-drafted trust, according to Michael Gold Westport , who has spent recent years reshaping his Westport firm around that idea.
Gold, founder and CEO of Gold Family Wealth, points to demographic pressure building across his industry. Nearly half of financial advisors plan to retire by 2035, even as an estimated $84 to $120 trillion is projected to move between generations over the next two decades, with the transfer expected to peak this year. That combination, he says, leaves many families without a steady hand exactly when they need one most.
Closing the Gap
To address the shift, more advisory firms, including Gold’s, are hiring younger advisors specifically to bridge the cultural and communication gap between wealth creators and their Millennial and Gen Z heirs. The goal, Gold says, is continuity: keeping a family’s relationship with its advisory team intact even as control of the assets passes to a new generation with different expectations and communication habits.
Process Over Personality
Gold’s method for managing that transition mirrors how he approaches every major decision with clients. He often recalls his own three spine surgeries, during which doctors never asked for his opinion before acting. Instead, they ran a complete set of tests and presented every option, from conservative to aggressive, letting expertise rather than preference guide the outcome.
He applies the same discipline at his Westport office, where his team is built to help families define what outcomes actually matter, coordinate specialists into one aligned plan, and make decisions with confidence rather than guesswork. That structure, Gold argues, matters most during generational handoffs, when family dynamics and legacy goals collide with real financial stakes. As trillions of dollars begin changing hands in the years ahead, he believes firms that invested early in multigenerational teams will be the ones families trust to see the transition through. Visit this page on LinkedIn, for additional information.
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