For every keynote, the Valuegraphics Research Company uses our database of a million conversations with people about what matters most to them – what they value – to help me prepare. Then I show my audience how to engage and influence whoever they want to reach. For a recent keynote on the next generation of wealth, you cansee the data dashboard here.
If you work anywhere near financial services, you can feel the shift in the air. A massive transfer of wealth is underway, and it’s bringing a massive transfer of expectations with it. The inheritors stepping into financial power are building different lives, different definitions of success, and different relationships with the people who claim to serve them.
The only way to understand that shift — truly understand it — is to look at their values. Because our values drive everything we do and who we are and who we will become.
To prepare for a recent speaking engagement with the CIBC Wealth Advisors team, I went deep into the Valuegraphics data about the people who will define the next chapter of wealth. Three shared values – valuegraphics – rise above the noise. These values explain what matters most to these folks, what they’ll respond to, and how to build trust in a world where trust feels increasingly scarce.
Those values are Financial Security, Wealth, and Personal Responsibility. And like all the values in the Valuegraphics Database, each one has a specific meaning for each group of people we profile with our work.
For wealth management professionals and financial advisors preparing for the great wealth transfer, understanding what the next generation of high net worth clients truly values is essential.
Here’s what the data for the folks we call The Inheritors reveals, and how to put it to work.
1. Financial Security: The Launchpad for a Dream Life
For the next generation of wealth, Financial Security is a stable foundation strong enough to support whatever life chapter they want to explore next.
They imagine big things:
- moving their family abroad for a few years,
- starting ventures that reflect who they are,
- building legacy projects that feel meaningful,
When you speak to this audience, speak to that foundation. Speak to the life on the far side of the spreadsheets. Forget the products and services you have to sell, and help them focus on the life they want to lead.
One idea: create Dream Life Deep Dives — guided conversations about the futures your clients envision and the scaffolding required to make those futures real. These sessions demonstrate that you understand people's goals and values at a deeper level, long before you discuss products or strategy.
When people feel seen, trust and loyalty get an enormous boost. Both are good things
2. Wealth: A Story They’re Curating in Real Time
This generation treats Wealth as a narrative, and a way to signal progress in the communities they care about most.
Their definition of wealth includes:
- visibility,
- proximity to interesting people,
- access to ideas that elevate their worldview,
- participation in communities that reflect who they are becoming.
This is why invite-only gatherings resonate so strongly. They’re about belonging to a circle that matches their ambitions.
Think curated dinners, private learning salons, and intimate conversations with innovators. Think experiences that feel hand-picked, not mass-produced.
Done well, these gatherings become signals, and those signals matter. Those signals show them that you "get them," and that working with you is an obvious choice.
This is just one idea. What else could you do, now that you know how the value of Wealth drives these people, and what it mean to them?
3. Personal Responsibility: Showing Up When It Counts
One of the most powerful values in the data for The Inheritors is Personal Responsibility.
This value grows from their powerful desire to be the person others can count on — someone who shows up, follows through, and leaves a mark people remember.
People who share this value – with this specific meaning – want support that helps them display that responsibility in the world. They want tools, platforms, and partnerships that amplify their ability to take action and create impact.
One idea: build a Leadership in Action platform. A space for clients to showcase the projects they’re leading, the work they’re proud of, and the impact they’re creating in their communities. Add an annual recognition dinner or lunch, and you’ve built something even stronger: a network of responsible leaders who see each other, inspire each other, and take each other seriously.
It's more of the same, really. Just make what you do about them, and what matters most to them, and they will see that you are part of the story that they can't live without.
This research is critical for anyone in financial services, from banking to insurance to financial planning, who wants to build lasting relationships with affluent clients.
Why This Matters Right Now
Values aren't fluffy and aspirational anymore: we changed that. They’re data now, based on a million surveys, in 152 languages and 180 countries, and they map exactly what motivates people and how they will behave next.
Values reveal who people are. And behavior follows values every time.
The next generation of wealth holds three clear drivers:
- Financial Security,
- Wealth
- Personal Responsibility
When you speak to these values, you earn trust. When you design experiences around these values, you build stronger relationships. And when you anchor your strategy in these values, you stop guessing and start knowing how to work with the next generation of wealth, and Change What Happens Next.
For everyone, not just The Inheritors, this is where the world is going: leadership, engagement, and influence powered by shared human values. It’s the core of our work and the heart of our mission — turning values into the most powerful decision-making tool organizations have.
If you want to Change What Happens Next, start with what matters most. And that’s always going to be about what people value.
Values are the answer. It’s up to us to put them to work.
Download free tools, data, and reports atwww.davidallisoninc.com/resources
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