For decades, many Americans built wealth by investing in stocks and bonds and holding them through market ups and downs. But wealthy Americans under 44 are now turning to a different approach.

Fidelity’s 2026 Investor Insights Study surveyed 2,652 investors in a blind online poll conducted between March and April 2026. The research found that wealthy Gen Y and Gen Z households are seeking advisory services that go beyond portfolio management. 

Fidelity defines these investors as those holding at least $1 million outside a primary residence and retirement savings.

Among that group, 76% said they want advisory services that go beyond standard portfolio management. Tax planning, estate strategy, healthcare guidance, and real estate ranked as the most sought-after additional services.

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Young millionaire investors are already breaking from tradition

Fidelity’s research found that 82% of artificial intelligence (AI)-savvy wealthy next-gen investors use AI tools for financial purposes, a sign that early adopters in this cohort are integrating the technology into how they manage wealth.

Gen Y and Gen Z represent 42% of the national population but account for just 14% of advisory clients at most firms, the study found. These households already inherit an estimated $541 billion each year, or 30% of all wealth transferred annually.

Caleb Silver, Senior Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of Investopedia, said that even with crypto prices basically cut in half from their highs, it is still a meaningful asset that will be a part of our financial infrastructure for the foreseeable future.

Silver’s view tracks with Fidelity’s finding that wealthy next-gen investors get financial content mainly through video, podcasts, and online forums rather than the white papers and in-person seminars that older clients rely on.

That shift in how they consume information extends to how they choose advisors: most of these investors plan to consolidate their accounts with a single provider, meaning the firm that speaks their language first is likely the only firm that gets the assets.

Bank of America data corroborates the generational investing divide

A 2024 study from Bank of America Private Bank surveyed 1,007 respondents aged 21 and older with at least $3 million in investable assets. The results showed the generational divide in starker terms.

That study found 72% of respondents aged 21 to 43 believed earning above-average returns through stocks and bonds alone is no longer realistic. Just 28% of respondents over the age of 44 shared that view. Younger investors allocated 17% of portfolios to alternatives, triple the 5% held by older investors.

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93% of younger wealthy investors planned to increase their allocations to alternatives over the following years. Crypto and digital assets ranked as the second-largest perceived growth opportunity, trailing only real estate, the study confirmed.

That preference cut across all risk profiles, Bank of America found, with young investors at every level maintaining a roughly even spread across asset classes. Younger investors held just 47% in traditional stocks and bonds, compared with 74% for those over 44.

Bank of America finds younger wealthy investors favor alternatives, with 93% planning to increase allocations and crypto ranking second for growth opportunities.

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A $61 trillion inheritance could change portfolio construction for decades

These preferences have outsized consequences given the volume of capital heading toward younger generations. Gen Y and Gen Z stand to inherit $61 trillion through 2048, according to the Fidelity study.

Mike Pelzar, Head of Investments at Bank of America Private Bank, told The Daily Upside that the reallocation will deepen as heirs who already treat alternatives as a core holding take control of inherited portfolios.

<strong>As younger, alternatives-oriented investors assume control of more assets, it is reasonable to expect that alternatives will represent a meaningfully larger share of wealth portfolios over time,</strong>

Cerulli Associates, a research firm, projected total wealth transfers will reach $124 trillion through 2048, with $105 trillion flowing to heirs and $18 trillion to charity. Millennials alone are expected to receive $46 trillion, the largest share of any single generation.

If heirs move even part of their inherited stock investments into alternative assets and cryptocurrencies, trillions of dollars could shift away from traditional markets.

Yet 52% of wealthy respondents surveyed by Bank of America in 2024 lacked all three basic estate-planning elements: a will, an advance healthcare directive, and a durable power of attorney. 

The gap between how current holders allocate and how heirs intend to invest suggests portfolio construction across the advisory industry could look fundamentally different within a generation, Bank of America concluded.

How families can prepare for an inheritance that looks nothing like the original portfolio

Fidelity’s insight data makes one point clear for families navigating wealth transfers: the generation receiving assets is unlikely to keep them in the same vehicles. 

Preparation is as much the grantor’s responsibility as the advisor’s, and Cerulli Associates has outlined several key actions that can significantly influence the success of the handoff.

Bringing heirs into estate-plan conversations while the benefactor is still alive is an important first step, Cerulli reported.

Clients who meet the benefactor’s financial advisor for the first time after inheriting are less likely to continue working with that advisor, even when the advisor understands how the inheritance was structured.

John McKenna, a Research Analyst and Retail Investor at Cerulli Associates, has described the window for extending that relationship into the next generation as “brief,” meaning the lead-up to the transfer is where the retention outcome is decided.

Current clients who want advisors to articulate the plan behind the transition directly to their children give those advisors a materially higher chance of securing the relationship into the next generation, the National Association of Plan Advisors reported.

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