The Growth of Women and Wealth

For years, the discussion about Australian women and wealth has been framed primarily as a deficit story: lower earnings, lower superannuation balances and fewer opportunities to accumulate capital. Those issues remain material, but they are no longer the whole story.

Australian women are increasingly becoming creators, owners, inheritors and decision-makers of significant wealth. That shift has implications not only for individual investors, but also for families thinking about succession, governance and the long-term stewardship of capital.

The relevant question is therefore broader than how to close a historical wealth gap. It is how to structure, protect and deploy capital through a financial life that may include career interruptions, business ownership, inheritance, family transitions and a longer retirement horizon. For many women, the challenge is not simply accumulating enough. It is being prepared for a growing level of financial responsibility, often across several structures and generations.

The earnings gap still matters to compounding

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency reported an average total remuneration gender pay gap of 21.1% for 2024-25. On WGEA's measure, women earned 79 cents for every dollar earned by men, with an average annual remuneration difference of $28,356.

For wealth accumulation, the significance is not simply the annual income differential. Lower remuneration can reduce compulsory superannuation contributions, borrowing capacity and the surplus capital available for investment. The opportunity cost can compound over decades, particularly during the years when earnings, business equity and investment portfolios have the greatest capacity to grow.

Career structure also matters. WGEA's Ages and Wages research identifies a turning point in the early to mid-thirties, when the gender pay gap accelerates, and highlights the limited availability of part-time management roles as one of the contributing factors. It also points to differences in bonus and overtime outcomes. These cumulative dynamics contribute to women retiring with around one-third less superannuation than men.

Superannuation, however, is only one expression of that compounding effect. Career interruptions or fewer years in senior roles can also influence access to equity participation, incentive remuneration, partnership interests, borrowing capacity and the ability to build assets independently. For business owners and executives, a relatively short period away from full-time work can coincide with years in which ownership, remuneration and investment decisions have outsized long-term consequences.

That makes career decisions financial planning events as well as personal ones. The objective is not to attach a financial penalty to caring responsibilities or flexible work. It is to understand the balance sheet effect early enough that contributions, investment strategy, ownership structures or family cash flow can be adjusted deliberately rather than repaired later.

Longevity changes the planning horizon

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports life expectancy at birth of 85.1 years for women and 81.1 years for men, a four-year difference. For wealth planning, four additional years are not a footnote. They affect the duration of portfolio drawdowns, liquidity requirements, health and aged care funding, housing decisions and the period over which one person may ultimately become the sole financial decision-maker.

Longevity also changes the way risk should be framed. A longer retirement creates more exposure to inflation, market cycles and the possibility that spending needs change materially over time. At the same time, being too defensive too early can increase the risk that capital loses purchasing power across a retirement that may last several decades. The task is therefore not simply to reduce investment risk at retirement, but to match different pools of capital to different time horizons and purposes.

For families with substantial assets, longevity can extend the period over which capital is expected to serve multiple objectives at once: lifestyle, family support, philanthropy, business succession and intergenerational transfer. It also increases the importance of understanding who can make decisions if capacity changes, how assets are owned, and whether the estate plan reflects the way wealth is actually structured. The quality of the architecture around the assets can become as important as the level of the assets themselves.

The next wealth transfer changes the conversation

The most significant shift is the changing ownership of capital. JBWere estimates that women will become custodians of more than 65% of an expected $4.9 trillion intergenerational wealth transfer across Australia, with women poised to take charge of approximately $3.2 trillion in the next decade.

That capital may arrive through inheritance, but the responsibility that comes with it is broader than receiving a portfolio. It can involve control of family companies and trusts, property, private investments, philanthropic structures and assets carrying tax, governance or succession considerations. In some families, the transition is gradual. In others, ownership and decision-making responsibility can change quickly following death, incapacity or a major transaction.

The key distinction is between inheriting wealth and being prepared to steward it. Preparation can include understanding the entities that hold family assets, clarifying who controls them, establishing an investment policy, reviewing liquidity needs and ensuring estate arrangements remain aligned with the family's intentions. It can also mean building direct relationships with the family's accountant, lawyer, adviser and investment professionals before a transition occurs.

There is also a family governance dimension. Significant wealth rarely belongs only to the person whose name appears on an account statement. It may be expected to support a spouse, children, future generations or philanthropic objectives. Clear conversations about purpose, decision rights and expectations can reduce the risk that a transfer of wealth becomes a transfer of unresolved complexity.

Life events can transfer control unexpectedly

Wealth can also change hands outside a planned succession process. Divorce, separation and bereavement can shift responsibility for substantial assets quickly. JBWere's research notes that higher divorce rates, particularly among older generations, are contributing to high-net-worth women being required to navigate wealth management, at times without prior experience or established relationships with professional advisers.

The challenge in these situations is rarely capability. It is that complex financial decisions may need to be made at the same time as legal, family and personal circumstances are changing. A portfolio may need to be divided, property retained or sold, cash flow reset, trust or company control reconsidered, and estate arrangements rewritten. Decisions that would normally benefit from time and deliberation can suddenly become urgent.

The stronger position is to have visibility over family assets, liabilities, structures and professional relationships before they become critical. Even where one partner has historically taken the lead on financial matters, both should understand where key assets are held, how ownership and control work, what major liabilities exist and who to contact. Financial resilience includes the ability to take over decision-making when circumstances require it.

From wealth accumulation to wealth stewardship

None of these issues should be modelled in isolation. Career decisions influence the capital available to invest. Longevity changes the duration and purpose of that capital. Inheritance can alter ownership and control. Divorce or bereavement can change who is responsible for the entire financial architecture.

The planning task is therefore increasingly one of integration. Portfolio construction, tax structuring, superannuation, estate planning, succession, liquidity and family governance should be considered as connected decisions rather than separate technical exercises. The same applies to advice. A technically sound investment portfolio can still produce a poor family outcome if ownership, tax, estate or liquidity settings are misaligned.

At Core, we increasingly approach these transitions as part of one connected strategy. Investment decisions, superannuation, tax, estate planning, insurance and family objectives can all influence one another, particularly when ownership or control of wealth is changing. Our role is often to work alongside a family's existing accountant, lawyer and other advisers so that decisions are coordinated rather than made in professional silos. That relationship-led approach has been shaped over more than 20 years of working with clients through changing markets and life stages.

It is also useful to distinguish between wealth creation and wealth stewardship. The skills required to build wealth through a career or business are not identical to those required to manage a diversified portfolio, govern family entities or transfer capital effectively. Recognising that distinction can make it easier to identify where specialist advice, education or a more formal decision-making framework adds value.

The next chapter of women and wealth is not simply about catching up. It is about a growing cohort of women controlling significant capital and making decisions that can shape families, businesses and communities for decades. The advantage lies in putting the right structures, information and relationships in place before the point of transition, so that wealth can be managed with intent rather than in response to circumstance.

References and sources

1. Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA). WGEA Gender Equality Scorecard 2024-25, 27 November 2025.
2. Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA). Ages and Wages 2025.
3. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Life expectancy, Measuring What Matters, released 15 September 2025.
4. JBWere. The growth of Women and Wealth: A closer look at Australia's growing cohort of high-net-worth female investors.
5. Core Wealth Advisors. Corporate Brochure and B2B Services Brochure, 2026.

Sources accessed 11 August 2026. Data and regulatory settings may change over time.