BlackRock Finds Advice Gap Among Affluent Women Represents Opportunity for Advisor Growth and Retention

• New Future of Wealth research finds nearly 40% of affluent women remain unadvised.
• Meanwhile, nearly 40% of advised women with $5-$10 million in assets report the highest likelihood of switching advisors, creating both a significant acquisition and retention opportunity.
• Nearly 60% of advisors surveyed identify earlier engagement with women, before a significant wealth transition, as the largest gap in their relationship-building efforts.

BlackRock today launched Future of Wealth: Women, Money & The Growing Opportunity for Advisors , a report examining the perspectives of more than 1,000 affluent women and more than 400 financial advisors across the country who serve a range of affluent and ultra-high-net worth clients. The findings suggest the next era of growth in wealth management will require the industry to understand their clients not only through the portfolios they hold, but through the lives they lead, the wealth they are building and the increasingly complex financial needs they are trying to solve.

Future of Wealth is BlackRock's new research and advisor enablement platform focused on understanding the forces reshaping wealth creation, investing and financial advice, following the launch of BlackRock's 2026 Advisor Trends Survey .

Projections show women are expected to control $34 trillion in U.S. investable assets by 2030 ¹ , while trillions of dollars in wealth continue to be created — and change hands — through entrepreneurship, career earnings and wealth transfer. Yet BlackRock's research suggests significant growth opportunity remains untapped for advisors.

The research challenges several long-held industry assumptions about women and wealth and the optimal time for financial advice. While the wealth management industry has often associated women with major life transitions, like divorce or widowhood, women's paths to wealth are more diverse than advisors perceive. Career earnings are the main source of women's wealth, cited by nearly 80% of female respondents. Among high-net-worth women, equity compensation rises to the third most common source of wealth, cited by over 40%.

The findings also showed a disparity in what advisors believe women prioritize versus women's actual wealth priorities. While advisors ranked preserving wealth as most important, women cite growing their wealth as their #1 priority, while advisors believe it ranks #8. Tax management and tax outcomes are also areas where women expect their advisor to help them, with 41% prioritizing better tax outcomes versus only 12% of advisors who believe this is a key priority.

"The research underscores a broader shift reshaping the future of wealth," said Jaime Magyera, Head of BlackRock's U.S. Wealth and Retirement Businesses. "Women are not a niche segment of investors but a leading indicator of where investor expectations are headed. The same priorities women are expressing today – strong investment outcomes, tax-smart strategies and expert advice that connects the different dimensions of their financial lives – reflect what all investors will expect tomorrow. Advisors who understand and deliver on these expectations may not only be better positioned to serve the fastest-growing segments of wealth creators, but to prepare their businesses for the future of advice itself."

The opportunity for advice and the role of an advisor persists across the wealth spectrum, but surprisingly even more significant at higher wealth levels, 45% of women with $10 million or more in assets and nearly 40% of women with $5 million or more in assets indicate they are not working with a financial advisor. At the same time, many women currently working with advisors report unmet needs around tax planning, coordinated advice and holistic financial guidance. Of those surveyed, 35% report they are planning on switching their advisor over the next two years due to unmet needs for coordinated advice and over 25% plan on switching their advisor over the next two years due to unmet tax-related needs.

While 92% of advisors serving high net worth clients report being frequently asked for tax guidance, only 17% say after-tax returns are a primary driver of portfolio decisions, highlighting a meaningful opportunity to better retain and attract clients as their wealth grows.

The findings point to both a growth and retention opportunity and provide a roadmap for advisors to solve a meaningful advice gap. Advisors acknowledge room to improve, with 45% identifying prospecting and connecting with women as a leading challenge, with nearly 60% pointing to earlier engagement before a major wealth transition as the largest gap in their relationship-building efforts. Interestingly, among advised women under the age of 45, over 40% are considering changing advisors over the next two years, particularly as wealth levels increase and financial lives become more complex.

About Future of Wealth

Future of Wealth is BlackRock's advisor enablement, research and insights platform focused on understanding the forces reshaping wealth creation, investing and financial advice. BlackRock aims to help advisors better understand the changing ways wealth is being created, managed, transferred, and the evolving expectations investors have of financial advice.

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About BlackRock

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