If Wealth Managers Stay Silent, They Will Lose the Argument—and the Next Generation

Why the Wealth Sector Must Change Its Story

Across many developed markets, the wealth management industry is operating in an environment that is increasingly suspicious of great wealth and those who serve it. From political debates about wealth taxes to cultural portrayals of the ultra‑rich as detached or exploitative, the sector’s traditional low‑profile approach is colliding with a new era of public scrutiny.​

The risk is not only higher taxes or regulatory pressure; it is a slow erosion of the industry’s social license to operate. Unless private banks, wealth managers, and family offices can explain their contribution to entrepreneurship, capital formation, and financial capability, they will increasingly be defined by their loudest critics rather than by their actual work.​

Rising Hostility to Wealth and What’s Driving It

In markets such as the UK and parts of Europe, hostility to great wealth has become politically salient, with wealth taxes and higher levies on capital repeatedly floated as tools to address inequality and fiscal gaps. While the number of countries operating formal net‑wealth taxes has actually fallen—from around a dozen in the 1990s to four by 2025—the political appeal of targeting the ultra‑rich has grown.​

This trend is amplified by younger generations who associate current economic outcomes with systemic unfairness. The combination of post‑crisis ultra‑low interest rates, elevated house prices, and high barriers to asset ownership has left many young adults skeptical that the current model will ever work for them. If the primary experience of “capitalism” is unaffordable housing, precarious work, and bailouts for poorly run institutions, it is not surprising that alternatives gain traction.​

The Generational Shift: Why So Many Young People Prefer “Something Else”

Attitudes toward capitalism and wealth are shifting fastest among younger cohorts. Polling by the Institute of Economic Affairs in the UK found that 67% of people aged 16–34 would prefer to live in a socialist economic system, with majorities blaming capitalism for issues such as the housing crisis and climate change. Parallel research and commentary highlight similar patterns across Europe and North America, where younger respondents increasingly associate capitalism with “unfairness” and “exploitation” rather than opportunity.​

At the same time, financial literacy remains low, particularly among younger adults. Santander UK research shows that only 26% of 18–21‑year‑olds recall receiving any financial education at school, and most have never set a budget, paid a bill, or built an emergency fund. A 2023 Eurobarometer‑based analysis found that only 18% of EU citizens have high financial literacy, with low capability linked to weak participation in capital markets. This combination—skepticism about the system and limited financial capability—is combustible for an industry that is both symbol and servant of concentrated wealth.​

The Great Wealth Transfer Backdrop

Overlaying this political and cultural mood is a historic intergenerational wealth transfer. Globally, estimates suggest that between $83.5 trillion and $124 trillion in wealth will pass between generations over the coming decades, much of it in developed markets. In the UK and Europe, this is playing out against stagnant productivity, fiscal pressure, and infrastructure deficits, making questions about who owns assets—and what they do with them—more pointed.​

For wealth managers, it is tempting to view this transfer primarily as an asset‑gathering opportunity. That mindset misses the moment. To maintain legitimacy, the sector must show how it helps turn inherited capital into productive investment: backing entrepreneurs, funding public goods, and expanding opportunity, not just preserving private lifestyles.​

Positioning Wealth Management as a Builder, Not a By‑stander

If the dominant narrative is that the wealth industry exists to shelter assets and minimize taxes, it will remain an easy political target. The alternative is to make visible the ways in which private capital, when intelligently advised, enables innovation, job creation, and long‑term growth.​

This means leaning into stories and structures that “connect the dots” between high‑net‑worth portfolios and real‑economy outcomes. The clients that many private bankers serve—founders, investors, family business owners—are often exactly the “builders” that young people say they admire when they talk about innovation and meaningful work. The sector’s task is to show how its expertise helps these builders scale, globalize, and professionalize, rather than quietly managing the proceeds after the fact.​

Case Study: Capital Markets, IPOs, and London’s Challenge

The UK’s attempts to revitalise the London Stock Exchange offer a concrete example of how wealth management can align its narrative with broader economic goals. Measures such as time‑limited stamp duty relief on IPO shares are designed to make listing and investing more attractive, particularly for high‑growth companies that might otherwise choose private capital or overseas venues.​

Wealth managers are natural conduits between private clients and these opportunities. By helping entrepreneurs prepare for listing, allocating client capital to public offerings, and providing research‑driven guidance on newly listed firms, the sector can position itself as a critical bridge between savings and productive enterprise. The more visibly these links are articulated—in public commentary, case studies, and partnerships—the harder it becomes to caricature the industry as purely extractive.​

Financing Infrastructure, Security, and Innovation

Developed economies face mounting challenges: ageing infrastructure, energy transition, defence requirements, and underfunded research. Governments alone cannot credibly finance all of this on‑balance‑sheet without higher taxes or borrowing, both of which have political and economic limits.​

This creates space for targeted instruments and vehicles where private wealth can play a visible, positive role. Ideas include:​

Thematic bonds

• “Infrastructure bonds” to modernise transport, digital networks, and utilities in partnership with the state.​
• “Defence bonds” for governments facing rising security commitments, with structured oversight and transparency.​

Innovation and R&D vehicles

• “R&D bonds” or blended‑finance funds focused on critical technologies where private capital can accelerate progress.​
• Public‑private partnerships that channel HNW and institutional capital into university spin‑outs, climate tech, and life sciences.​

When wealth managers curate and advocate such structures, they demonstrate that their clients’ capital is helping to solve visible public problems, not just compound quietly in tax‑efficient wrappers.​

Tackling Financial Illiteracy: From Jargon to Clarity

One of the industry’s least controversial contributions could be its most powerful: improving financial literacy. Surveys show persistent gaps in basic financial knowledge, even in mature markets. Only about 18% of EU citizens demonstrate high financial literacy, and nearly 40% of adults in the UK do not feel confident managing their money.​

Young adults in particular report limited exposure to formal financial education and heavy reliance on social media for advice. Santander’s research suggests that 79% of respondents aged 18–21 had never created a budget, while many were turning to online content creators for guidance on debt and investing. At the same time, two‑thirds of young Britons say they use AI or digital platforms for financial information, often without clear quality filters.​

Wealth managers, industry associations, and banks can address this by:

• Stripping away unnecessary jargon from client‑facing materials and public communications.​
• Partnering with schools, universities, and community organisations to deliver practical, curriculum‑aligned sessions on budgeting, saving, compounding, and risk.​
• Creating “show, don’t tell” content—real case studies of entrepreneurs, families, and investors—that illustrates how capital is built, lost, and rebuilt.​

The goal is not to turn every student into a private banking client, but to build a baseline of financial capability that makes the broader system more resilient and less susceptible to populist caricature.​

Outreach, Role Models, and Culture

The cultural narrative around wealth is shaped as much by television and social media as by policy debates. Fictional depictions of ultra‑wealthy families in shows about dysfunctional dynasties or luxury resorts reinforce the idea that wealth is synonymous with detachment, conflict, or excess. Meanwhile, online “finfluencers” fill the education gap with content that ranges from genuinely helpful to dangerously misleading.​

Wealth management professionals rarely appear in these cultural spaces—and when they do, it is often as caricatures. Changing that requires intentional outreach:​

• Encouraging younger professionals and women in the sector to speak at schools, universities, and community events about what they actually do.​
• Opening offices to carefully designed “open days” or immersion visits for students near financial districts who have never set foot in a bank or family office.​
• Participating in or partnering with credible digital creators to raise standards for online financial content, rather than leaving the field to unregulated voices.​

When students and early‑career professionals meet real wealth advisors—people who help finance businesses, structure philanthropy, and stabilise family finances—the industry becomes less abstract and more relatable.​

Explaining Why the Sector Matters Beyond the 1%

For many citizens, wealth management appears to be a service only for a narrow elite, which makes it easy to dismiss or attack. The industry must articulate, in plain language, how its activities support broader prosperity.​

Key messages that can be substantiated with data include:

Efficient intermediation

• Wealth managers connect savings to productive investment, increasing the pool of capital available for businesses and infrastructure.​
• Deeper capital markets correlate with higher innovation and productivity, which raise living standards over time.​

Tax base and public services

• When portfolios fund growth, they generate corporate taxes, payroll taxes, and VAT, increasing government revenues without necessarily raising rates.​
• Stable, long‑term private capital can underpin pension systems and social spending by supporting robust capital markets.​

Risk management and resilience

• Professional advice can help households avoid catastrophic financial mistakes, making economies less fragile in downturns.​

These arguments must be backed by concrete examples—companies brought to market, infrastructure financed, jobs created—rather than abstract claims. Done well, they shift the conversation from “how do we cut the wealthy down to size?” to “how do we harness private capital better for shared goals?”​

Practical Steps for Leaders in the Wealth Industry

For CEOs, CIOs, and partners in wealth firms, this is not just a communications challenge; it is a strategic one. Over the next 12–36 months, leadership teams can:​

• Map where their clients’ capital is already supporting visible public benefits—jobs, infrastructure, innovation—and tell those stories responsibly.​
• Commit to a clear financial literacy agenda, with measurable outreach hours, partnerships, and content that reaches beyond existing clients.​
• Develop policy‑relevant proposals (for example, targeted bonds or blended‑finance schemes) that align private capital with national priorities.​
• Encourage staff participation in education, mentoring, and outreach programmes, particularly from more diverse cohorts.​

There are legitimate reasons why firms may not want to take high‑profile positions on tax policy or redistribution. Yet there is ample room to be more vocal and visible about the positive role well‑allocated private wealth can play in economies under strain. Doing nothing effectively cedes the narrative field to critics and sensationalist portrayals.

Wealth Sector, Public Perceptions, and Strategic Responses

The table below consolidates key statistics, perceptions, and potential sector responses relevant to the wealth industry’s current legitimacy challenge.

For the global wealth industry, this is not a temporary reputational squall; it is a structural inflection point. Firms that embrace education, transparency, and visible contributions to real‑economy outcomes will be far better positioned to navigate the next decade than those that hope the storm simply passes.