Wealthy Americans in 2025: Turning stress into strategy

Nerre: Welcome back to Building More Than Business. Today, we're diving into the Beyond Wealth report. It's our annual look at how wealthy Americans and business owners are feeling about their money, their businesses and their plans for the future. So we're going to break this into a two-part series.

In this episode, we're focusing on how wealthy Americans are managing and safeguarding their money in 2025. And then in our next episode, we'll bring Ann Lucchesi back—our usual cohost—and we'll talk specifically about business owners. But today my conversation will be between my colleague, Marc Horgan—an executive director here at First Citizens Wealth—and myself as the authors of the Beyond Wealth report. We've worked together for 9 years, Marc, so I'm really excited to share this platform with you today. I think it'll be fun.

Marc: It's very exciting to be here too, Nerre, so thanks for including me.

Nerre: There's some eye-opening stuff in this year's findings, so let's get into it. This year, we surveyed 1,100 wealthy Americans, including 500 business owners. So that's a little different than last year's cohort, but we do have some data that trends. It actually gives our listeners an opportunity to hear how their peers are doing—what are they doing to manage and grow their money—and the challenges they're facing. And that's so key because, when it comes to finances, we can all get really isolated. Oftentimes, we don't know what other people are feeling and doing about finances. So this survey gives our listeners a chance to compare how aligned we are and maybe spark ideas for their own plans.

Marc: Well, Nerre, we're going to speak openly then. I really like the Beyond Wealth report because it shows us how wealthy Americans are feeling about the environment around them—and most importantly, how best to support them as we go forward.

Nerre: So the thing I want to start out with is that many wealthy Americans are drawing from multiple overlapping income streams. Marc, do you want to elaborate on that?

Marc: Yeah. This year it's really interesting. Those respondents could select multiple responses, and what we found is that most individuals rely on income from employment—which is expected—and also from their investments. But half of them are business owners, and they're getting money from their own businesses—but a quarter of them are receiving from inheritance. So all of that is as we expect. The thing that I'll call out is that employee stock options, or equity compensation, rose dramatically from a year ago at some 30% to a point of 43% are claiming that their compensation is coming from either one of those two sources—which was very surprising.

Nerre: That is surprising. Wealthy Americans appear to be diversifying income, and so you've talked about a number of different factors. They're getting it from different income streams, and it's more diversity against risks and economic uncertainty. And then the last thing you said about people receiving stock options, that was really interesting. It could be more startup businesses, which are typically the ones that offer equity compensation, but maybe even traditional businesses are offering this as a benefit to include their key talent in the company's growth. Participating in the growth gives an incentive to drive the companies' upward trajectory.

So let me shift the conversation a little bit to economic factors and trends—how people are feeling about the economy. Financial stress through the results of our survey is high this year. More than half of wealthy Americans feel somewhat or very stressed about their finances.

Marc: Yeah, that stress is being fueled by macroeconomic factors, the things that are outside of their control. So nearly half cited stock market volatility and changes in economic policy—things like tariffs—as a large stressor. Interest rates were another common cause of stress, but by far the biggest concern that came out of the survey sat with inflation—62% say it is their top stressor.

Nerre: That is a bit of a surprise because that stress is not reflected in the markets, right? And it's also interesting because I would've guessed we would see more of that stress next year when some of those 2025 policy changes, especially the ones that happen in the One Big Beautiful Bill [tax] Act, are more fully implemented, but we're seeing it now. So these macroeconomic concerns are clearly driving people to take action.

Marc: Yeah. Many are taking proactive adjustments and things like cutting back on luxury vacations while boosting retirement contributions and increasing savings and investments.

Nerre: Well, I'm proud of our respondents because that's a sensible response. Cutting back if things seem to be developing headwinds, and that conservatism is also reflected in the approach they're taking to investing.

Marc: Yeah, look, investing is taking a lot of different approaches this year. Many portfolios have things like stocks, ETFs and real estate throughout their makeup. Less than half are investing in private equity, and a third are dipping their toe into cryptocurrency. Years ago, this question wouldn't even have surfaced. But the generational differences stand out. Millennials are more likely to hold private equity and crypto, while baby boomers are leaning more toward CDs and money market accounts—a more stable type of an account.

Nerre: I'm really interested in the generational difference between millennials and boomers. Just looking at it at face value, it makes sense because both private equity and cryptocurrency have a lot more volatility than, say, a certificate of deposit. And so the younger folks—millennials, maybe even Gen Z—choosing to invest in those types of assets have more time to work through any dips or volatility that that investment may provide.

For listeners who may see themselves in these findings, Marc, what steps can they take to feel more in control?

Marc: Nerre, look, everyone's situation's unique, but I do think that there are some best practices that we can certainly highlight. And first, it goes to that reserve pool. As a general rule, look for 3 to 6 months of living expenses in that reserve. Another might be just to review where their cash is going, where are they spending and really identifying the makeup of their spending plan so that if they want and choose and need to make adjustments, they can make adjustments because honestly, Nerre, small adjustments can make a big difference.

And finally, if you're feeling the stress, we recommend visiting your portfolio and making sure that your investments match your long-term goals and the risks that you're willing to take. If you want to know more about some of those situations or things that can educate you around the macroeconomic issues affecting those portfolios, check out our podcast series called Making Sense. It's hosted by our Chief Investment Officer Brent Ciliano and Phil Neuhart, our Director of Market and Economic Research. And they do a great job of cutting through the noise and breaking things down in ways that help clients make more informed decisions and ultimately put them at ease.

Nerre: So I want to move down the track to discuss something that we talk about frequently, and that's retirement planning. Because based on the survey, those expectations look different this year. One thing we did track in a trend year over year is how much respondents believe they'll need to retire. Marc, which way did that go: down, up or plateaued?

Marc: Yeah, on average, respondents say that they'll need about $4 million to retire comfortably, and those that responded said $6 million to retire comfortably and pass on their wealth. What's striking is that their actual retirement saving hasn't changed. Wealthy Americans reported actually having about $1.6 million, both in 2024 and in 2025. So the delta between what they need or what they think they need and what they've actually saved is pretty significant.

Nerre: That's huge. They're thinking that they need three times more than what they've saved and what they saved hasn't changed since last year. And we know that the markets are doing great. So clearly that stress is based on something real, whether it is inflation or other things like increased costs from tariffs—we know that people are feeling that strain.

Marc: Well, Nerre, one other thing I want to point out that we found interesting around the retirement conversation was timelines that folks are considering. Last year, wealthy Americans said that they fully expected to retire at the age of 64. This year, it increased to 65. One year in a period like this, that is significant. And what's even more interesting is that the ultra-high-net-worth Americans don't expect to fully retire until age 69.

Nerre: I'm glad you pointed that out because the ultra-high-net-worth number retiring at 69 is probably more a reflection of people at that level of wealth are choosing to work rather than having to work. So maybe they're doing something they enjoy. It could be that it is a reflection of financial stress or just changes overall in our population. So life expectancy is longer, right? We are going to live a much longer time, and I don't think people view the 50s and 60s ages as time to wind down that maybe our parents or grandparents did.

When it comes to retirement, it's not an on-off switch. Many people phase out, so they may want to work part time for some time, and that could explain the change in numbers. The other thing that we found is 27% of retirees say they wish they'd started saving for retirement sooner, and a quarter wish they saved more. And that really kind of aligns with the thing we do in every episode where, what would you do differently? This is clearly something that they wish they had done differently.

You know, I think we all want to be consistent about savings, but life is messy. You may take money out of your 401(k) to buy a home, or you may put it on hold to pay off student debt or start a family and get married. And balancing those competing priorities is tough. I mean, we don't advise anybody to spend down all their debt and then when that's done, start saving because you would've lost valuable time in the compounding interest and appreciation of those savings. So Marc, what are some actionable steps listeners can take to get their savings back on track and not fall into that place of regret?

Marc: Yeah, look, there's a few steps that anybody can make. First, you've got to start. And so, when I say that, what I'm referring to is start, if you have the ability, by maxing out your contributions. Those contributions to your 401(k) or to your IRA limits, it's really an important part and it shows that you're serious about tackling it. If you're over 50, take advantage of those catch-up contributions, especially if you saved less in the earlier years of your career. Also, there's a super-catch-up contribution. So if you're of the age of 60 to 63, there are some qualifications that would allow you to contribute even more. And the last thing I'll say is that consistency is critical. Steady contributions over time will get you much further than starting and stopping, starting and stopping. It's a commitment that you're making—make it to yourself—and sustaining that plan is really what moves you closer to those retirement goals.

Nerre: Those are great points, Marc, and I'm glad you brought up the catch-up contribution because I feel like I don't hear enough people talking about it or even being aware of it. And one thing that's changing come January 1st, 2026, is that the SECURE Act 2.0 made some changes to those catch-up contributions. So if you earn more than $145,000 a year, you can't make those catch-up contributions pretax as you could this year and in years past. They have to be after tax, meaning it goes to a Roth account like a Roth 401(k) or a Roth IRA. So that's going to have an impact. You're not going to have as low an income tax burden as you normally had it. It may be higher, although there are some benefits because, with those Roth accounts, distributions are income tax-free.

So as we move on, I want to add a third party to the mix in talking about our clients' investments and retirement savings, and that's the advisor. The advisor can be helpful to those who are feeling behind on retirement savings.

Marc: Absolutely. One finding that I hope people will forgive me for mentioning, because it's a not-so-subtle plug for our business—but also for our industry—is that over half of the wealthy Americans said that working with an advisor helps them feel better prepared for the future. And 43% said it helps them reduce stress. It's a go-to. It's a reference point. It's a resource that folks can rely on.

Nerre: And that's exactly why so many people work with an advisor, isn't it? It's more than just financial expertise. I mean, it's nice to have that person to run your ideas by: "Hey, I'm thinking of investing in this. What do you think?" or "I need some more liquidity, what are my options?" But it's also somebody that can help you know what's going on with your peers. They work with a lot of different people, so they can tell you what's going on with people in a similar situation with you and help you step over some of those pitfalls that maybe other people before you have fallen into in the past.

Marc: Exactly. You now, what we found is that three-quarters of our respondents say they have an advisor, and the top reason to get one is to grow their wealth. And often the real driver for making the move is around complexity. Their lives become bigger or more difficult to wade through by themselves, and they need help, they need guidance. And for instance, they might be juggling multiple income sources like when we talked about earlier, or trying to balance saving for retirement against paying off debt, and how do you evaluate that.

Nerre: So we're talking about planning, and one thing that advisors do is help you address gaps. I mean, there's so much to be aware of in planning: changes in taxes, changes in the economy, changes in investments or products that you can invest in. I mean, every time that we get a new executive administration in our government, they pass a big tax law, and that means monetary changes for all of us. So advisors help you stay on top of that and make sure that there are no gaps.

Marc: Yeah, as we discussed earlier, gaps are important, and we talked about them in retirement planning, but there's also another big one: estate planning. This year, over half of our 1,100 respondents said they don't have a formal estate plan, and more than a third haven't even created a will. So our respondents have either hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to protect. They might even have businesses that they'd like to pass on to future generations, and wills are necessary for this audience. So I was really, really surprised to see this response. And yet the vast majority—87%—felt, quote, prepared to pass on their wealth. So again, that's another one of those big gaps around what they're saying and what they might actually have in place.

Nerre: And we've seen the results of that gap when someone passes away or is injured. They've got a lot of wealth, and they don't have the plan to select someone to take care of that wealth, someone trustworthy. And it can result in conflicts between family members and in even estrangements when they have competing philosophies about how much they're entitled to or what to do with that wealth. So documenting it is really important.

Marc, you've talked about a lot of different things—a lot of information that our survey uncovered that is a reflection of things people are feeling—financial stress is high, key planning gaps exists and most importantly, having professional guidance can really make a difference. Marc, can you share some key takeaways for our listeners?

Marc: Nerre, look, you raised very valid points, and we've had a great discussion today and talked a lot about a lot of data, but I think it's more than just data. There are signs showing where planning is needed most. When I take a step back, there's a couple of themes that really stand out.

The first one is around stress. It's high, but that stress is driving action, which is a good thing. And macroeconomic factors like inflation or market volatility are a concern, but many wealthy Americans are responding to that. They're cutting back on luxuries or boosting savings or even diversifying income sources.

Second, there is some retirement gaps that are widening and timelines that are being pushed later. So take advantage of those contributions, max them out when you can, take advantage of the catch-up opportunities and above all else, stick to the plan. Steady progress will always beat the start-and-stop approach.

And third, proactive planning is important. It will help you overcome your financial stress. And look, I'd encourage folks to visit their financial plan annually. Think of it like your checkup when you go to the doctor. You don't need to visit it every day or every month, but when there's an event, a life event, take advantage of it, look at it, make sure that it matches the priorities that are still relevant today.

Nerre: I really like that analogy, Marc, because going to the doctor is something that we can all relate to. A regular check-in can make all the difference. You've given us a lot to think about and a lot of good action steps. So thanks for joining us, Marc.

Marc: Oh Nerre, it was my pleasure thank you for having me.

Nerre: And thank you for listening to Building More Than Business. In our next episode, as I said, we'll be focusing on business owners and the unique challenges they're facing. To give you a sneak peek, they're making moves like delaying exits, changing retirement timelines, and they're showing a lot of resilience in how they adapt.

If you'd like to dig deeper into what Marc and I covered today, we've included a link to our full Beyond Wealth report for wealthy Americans in our show notes. And don't forget to follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube Music. And please, share the episode with someone who might benefit from these insights. It may enable you to have an open conversation about your finances. We'll see you next time. Thanks for joining us.

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