The Life Journey of Wealthy Women: Evolving Experiences Around Money, Work, Family, and Life Choices of Ultrawealthy Women

Abstract

This is a study of the values, goals, and life choices of 40 ultrawealthy (net worth greater than $25 million), middle-aged (between 40 and 65 years old) women, focusing on their evolving relationship to their wealth and the role it plays in their decisions about work, family, children, and the community. The study is based on interviews with women who represent three ways of coming into wealth: through inheritance, through marriage, or through working in their own or their family’s business. They give voice to life journeys representing a three-generational perspective on their wealth: from their family of origin, their current family, and the values and patterns that they have set for their children—who range in age from very young to adults with their own children. In listening to them, we learn how the societal changes of the past half century have affected the roles and values of these women in regard to work, money, career, family, and lifestyle.

TOPIC: Wealth management

Key Findings

• • In our study, wealthy women from three wealth origins—inherited, self-created, or through marriage—view their affluence as having a very different place in their lives than men traditionally describe. Rather than viewing wealth as a measure of success, they see it primarily as a means to pursue pathways that align with their deepest values: self-reliance, personal development, and service to the community.

• • They were mostly raised in households with traditional views of a woman’s role, but they emerged with a commitment to develop their professional skills and be viewed as having equal opportunities and status. They want to impart these newer values to their children, though they are not always certain about how to do that effectively.

• • Relationships with their fathers were important to instilling confidence and belief in possibilities, in contrast to the roles and expectations their fathers had of their wives.