A major wealth event can arrive in many forms. It might be the sale of a business you built over decades, an unexpected inheritance, a divorce settlement, or equity that vests before you’ve had time to plan for it.
What each of these events has in common is that they convert something illiquid — a business stake, inherited property, or a concentrated stock position after an IPO — into cash or investable capital, making it a liquidity event. In each case, the financial decisions that follow tend to feel like they arrive faster than expected.
The stakes can be high. Decisions made in the first 90 days after a liquidity event can shape your finances for the next decade. Yet many women enter these transitions without a plan in place.
- Women are on track to receive a substantial portion of the estimated $124 trillion in wealth that will change hands through 2048.¹
- Nearly half of women have yet to have critical conversations about estate planning, leaving inheritance plans unclear or vulnerable when a wealth transfer takes place.²
- 55% of women feel overwhelmed when it comes to managing their finances — a gap in confidence that a major wealth event can quickly expose.³
Wealth event planning for women isn’t about reacting to a crisis. With the right framework and support team, you can approach the event strategically, protect what you’re building, and put the proceeds to work in ways that reflect your goals and align with your values.
In this article we look at some of the major wealth events and outline three key windows of financial opportunity: before, within the first 90 days after, and between three to six months after an event.
What counts as a major wealth event?
Not every wealth event follows the same script, but they each have a similar key characteristic: a major, often sudden shift in your wealth’s size, structure, or source. Understanding the consequences of an event helps you select the right planning strategies before and after the wealth transfer.
Below are some of the wealth events you might experience.
Business sale or equity exit
Selling a business — or watching it go public through an initial public offering (IPO) or special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) — is one of the most complex financial transitions you can encounter. Business sale financial planning for women in this situation often begins with a tax strategy, many aspects of which are time sensitive. It also involves diversifying concentrated wealth and preparing for the shift from operating income to investment income, a change that can reshape your entire financial future.
Inheritance or estate distribution
Inherited wealth or a spousal death benefit for women comes with its own timeline and complexity. Distribution of an estate can stretch across months, even years, involve illiquid assets, and trigger unexpected tax obligations. More than
95% of the estimated $54 trillion in spousal wealth transfers between 2024 and 2048 will flow to women.⁴ The amount of money in motion makes inheritance planning one of the most important areas in wealth planning today.
Divorce settlement
A divorce settlement can result in a meaningful transfer of assets but, like inheritance, can also involve illiquid assets, like a primary home, and an extended timeline. The money management often shifts to someone who wasn’t previously managing the household finances in detail, so navigating that change with sensitivity is critical. Wealth transition planning in these circumstances requires clarity, context, and patience.
Real estate sale, restricted stock unit (RSU) vest, or large bonus
Concentrated asset positions present both opportunity and risk, whether they’re in real estate, RSUs, or a large cash event. Concentrated wealth diversification strategies can help you reduce single-asset exposure while managing the associated tax consequences.
1. Before the event: The planning window many women miss
Preliquidity event financial planning is a high-leverage opportunity many women never use. When the wealth transfer is complete, some of the most effective tax and estate planning tools are no longer available. Acting before the event or transaction, even weeks before, can help improve your outcome.
Tax strategy before the transaction closes
Tax planning for a liquidity event is essential. If you are a qualified shareholder in a small business and you sell your shares, eligible company stock may allow you to qualify for the qualified small business stock (QSBS) exclusion under Section 1202 of the Internal Revenue Code.
Charitable vehicles such as donor-advised funds (DAFs) and charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) may be funded before closing to create a current-year deduction and help reduce taxable gain. With a CRT, you can transfer appreciated assets into a trust, defer capital gains tax, and receive income over time.
Estate planning updates
A sudden wealth event for women is a natural trigger to review and possibly rewrite your estate plan. Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and insurance policies can override your will, and outdated information can become a costly mistake, so updating beneficiary designations can be critical and usually requires a simple form or online adjustment.
Trust structuring before a wealth transfer can also affect how proceeds are titled, taxed, and ultimately transferred. Revocable living trusts, spousal lifetime access trusts (SLATs), defective grantor trusts (DGTs), irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs), and family limited partnerships (FLPs) each serve different functions. The structures that are appropriate for your wealth plan depend on your goals for the wealth.
Defining your post-event financial identity
One of the most overlooked questions in windfall financial planning is the simplest: What does this wealth need to do for me? The answers define the entire allocation framework that should follow. Maybe you want to take this opportunity to pivot and do something new. Maybe you want to support causes that are meaningful to you. Maybe you want to set aside assets to help your children. Or maybe you want to save cash for the down payment on a vacation home.
2. The first 90 days after a wealth event: What to prioritize
What NOT to do first
In the first 90 days after a major wealth event, the most frequent and costly mistakes often stem from moving too quickly. Making large purchases, committing to significant gifts, or placing assets into long-term structures before completing thoughtful planning can create tax complications and reduce flexibility. During this period, holding additional cash in a savings account or money market fund may be a prudent temporary step while you work through a deliberate planning process. Post-event financial planning can provide the clarity and context needed to make confident, informed decisions.
Building your advisor team
Smart wealth management usually requires complex coordination. You should have a team of professionals who specialize in financial planning, investment management, tax planning, estate planning, and insurance solutions. An approach where your wealth advisor is coordinating directly with each member of your team can help reduce the risk of costly gaps or competing strategies. Consider an advisor who has experience working with women going through life and financial transitions. At Mercer Advisors, women comprise nearly half of our client-facing team and a third of our senior leadership team — we’re distinctively positioned to help more women achieve financial success.
Liquidity vs. long-term allocation: A sequencing framework
When a significant amount of capital arrives at once, it can be tempting to invest it immediately. However, your near-term cash flow needs, medium-term income requirements, and long-term growth goals each operate on different timelines. A single allocation may not serve all three effectively.
A tiered approach can help align your portfolio with those timelines. This framework preserves flexibility and liquidity for near-term needs while allowing long-term assets to remain invested for growth. It can be especially valuable for women transitioning from business income or salary-based compensation to investment-driven income for the first time, as it feels different to not get a paycheck.
3. Medium-term priorities (three to 12 months post-event)
Investment management and asset allocation
Start with a planning-led investment strategy. Your investment strategy should reflect your objectives, risk tolerance, time horizon, and any important constraints. By first clarifying your broader financial plan and goals, you can make more informed decisions about the management of your wealth going forward. Without that foundation, allocation decisions are more likely to be made reactively rather than strategically.
Wealth diversification is often addressed at this stage. Strategies may include staged selling, hedging, tax-efficient diversification such as exchange funds or long-short solutions, and charitable giving. These approaches can reduce concentration risk over time.
Charitable giving strategy
If you want your wealth to reflect your values, consider a thoughtful giving strategy. A DAF lets you make a charitable gift of appreciated securities, creating a dedicated pool of assets for your charitable giving goals. The potential tax benefits are a tax deduction in the year you make the contribution and tax-free diversification by reducing concentration without having to sell and pay capital gains tax. You make grants to qualified charitable organizations at your own pace.
A CRT also provides an income tax deduction and diversification, but it also creates an income stream over a period of time while ultimately transferring assets to charity. Both can be integrated with your broader tax and estate strategy to help reduce risk while advancing causes that matter to you.
Legacy and generational wealth planning
A major wealth event often prompts women to think seriously about generational wealth planning for the first time.
Many women want to leave a legacy for the next generation while ensuring appropriate safeguards are in place to protect and preserve that wealth.
The right structures with guidelines for distributions to the beneficiaries and protection from divorce or creditors can give you reassurance that your assets will pass on to the next generation according to your wishes and not what probate laws dictate. Having guidance from your advisory team can provide you with the context you need to be thoughtful and intentional with your legacy building. Mercer Advisors offers a family office approach which manages the financial and investment needs of an individual and their family, including generational wealth and estate planning.
4. Long-term priorities (one year and beyond)
Ongoing engagement
You might experience a single wealth event or multiple wealth events over your lifetime, but life transitions are certain, whether you navigate divorce, retirement, a new career, the death of a loved one, or an empty nest. Making sure your wealth plan and your portfolio continue to be aligned are critical for long-term success. Staying engaged with your family office so you can continue to make smart decisions proactively can help give you reassurance as your life evolves. You deserve to be able to focus on what matters most.
Help for women through every type of wealth event
Whether you’re preparing to sell a business, handling an inheritance, or working through a divorce settlement, your decisions matter. The choices you make are significant and often time sensitive.
Mercer Advisors has an integrated team of financial planners, tax and investment professionals, , estate planning strategists, and insurance specialists who can work alongside you. Working together, they can identify opportunities, risks, and planning strategies that may be difficult to uncover from any one discipline alone. We offer guidance before, during, and after a wealth event to help you protect what you’ve built and pursue what comes next.
If you want to explore financial planning for major wealth events or simply have a conversation about your financial situation.
-
Resist moving quickly on major financial commitments. Place proceeds in a short-term, FDIC-insured account while assembling your advisor team — a financial planner, a CPA with transaction experience, and an estate planning attorney. Your priorities area tax projection to understand your liability and a review of your estate plan before any funds are allocated to long-term investments.
-
Tax planning at the time of a liquidity event, ideally before a wealth transfer is complete, is essential. Strategies may include funding a donor-advised fund or charitable remainder trust with appreciated assets before the sale, using QSBS exclusions if eligible, harvesting losses to offset gains, and timing the receipt of income across tax years. Working with a CPA alongside your financial advisor is the most effective approach.
-
The most frequent errors include acting too quickly on large financial decisions, neglecting to update beneficiary designations and estate documents, holding too much in cash without a long-term allocation plan, and working with advisors who don’t coordinate across financial planning, tax, and estate disciplines. A deliberate pace and an integrated team tend to produce better outcomes.
-
There’s no universal timeline, but a tiered allocation approach helps. Divide proceeds into near-term liquidity reserves, medium-term income capital, and long-term growth capital — and deploy each tranche on its own timeline. Rushing into long-term investments without an investment policy statement can result in an allocation that doesn’t match your goals or risk profile.
-
Before, whenever possible. Trust structures that are used to hold assets before a wealth transfer have the potential to provide estate planning benefits, asset protection, and, in some cases, tax advantages that aren’t available after a sale closes. An estate planning attorney working in coordination with your financial advisor and CPA can help determine which trust structures are appropriate for your situation.
-
Qualified small business stock (QSBS) refers to shares in a qualified small business corporation held for more than five years. Under Section 1202 of the Internal Revenue Code, eligible shareholders may exclude capital gains from federal income tax up to the greater of $10 million or 10 times their adjusted basis in qualifying stock. Eligibility depends on various factors, including the type of business, when shares were acquired, and how the stock was held. A tax advisor should review your specific situation well before the wealth transfer is complete.
-
Sudden wealth — whether from a business sale, an inheritance, or a divorce settlement — often requires redefining your relationship with money. The source of your income has changed, and the skill set that built your previous wealth may not directly translate to managing investment capital. Defining clear goals, building a written financial plan, and working with an experienced team that understands your specific transition can help you develop a new framework for decision-making.
-
A donor-advised fund (DAF) is a charitable giving account that allows you to contribute assets, receive an immediate tax deduction, and recommend grants to qualified nonprofits over time. A charitable remainder trust (CRT) is an irrevocable trust funded with appreciated assets; it provides you or designated beneficiaries with income payments for a period of time, after which the remaining trust assets pass to charity. DAFs offer simplicity and flexibility; CRTs offer income generation and can be more effective for large, highly appreciated positions. Both can be integrated with your estate and tax strategy.
- “Women Will Get Most of the $124 Trillion ‘Great Wealth Transfer,’ Studies Show. Here’s Why.” CNBC, March 12, 2025.
- “Fidelity® Study Finds the Great Wealth Transfer Leaves Families Poised to Build Stronger Financial Futures — If They Talk.” Fidelity Investments, Nov. 13, 2025.
- “2024 Women and Investing Study.” Fidelity Investments, July 2024.
- “Cerulli: Women To Receive Much of Wealth Expected To Change Hands Through 2048.” Wealth Solutions Report, Jan. 23, 2025.
All expressions of opinion reflect the judgment of the author as of the date of publication and are subject to change. Some of the research and ratings shown in this presentation come from third parties that are not affiliated with Mercer Advisors. The information is believed to be accurate but is not guaranteed or warranted by Mercer Advisors. Content, research, tools and stock or option symbols are for educational and illustrative purposes only and do not imply a recommendation or solicitation to buy or sell a particular security or to engage in any particular investment strategy. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, investments mentioned in this document may not be suitable for all investors. Investments are subject to market risk, including the possible loss of principal. Portfolio management strategies such as diversification, asset allocation, and rebalancing do not ensure a profit or guarantee against loss.
Mercer Advisors is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice to clients. All Estate planning document preparation and other legal advice are provided through select third parties, with which Mercer Advisors has a contractual relationship. Mercer Advisors Tax Services, LLC, does not provide financial audit, assurance, compilations, or forensic accounting services. Insurance products are provided by Mercer Advisors Insurance Services, LLC (MAIS), which places individual life, disability, long term care coverage, and property and casualty coverage through select insurance companies. Trustee services are offered through select third parties with which a client would sign an additional agreement, and additional fees may apply.
