Women in the United States are set to control $34 trillion of investable assets by 2030, a figure McKinsey & Co. puts at close to 38% of the national total and almost double what women held only last year. Set against the $7.3 trillion, or 29%, they held a decade ago, the pace of that change is striking, and it marks a lasting move in who holds the country’s wealth.

What makes this more than a milestone for women is how widely this benefits both women and men. Money that is actively invested, instead of left sitting in savings, helps companies expand, keeps markets liquid and generates returns that ripple through the wider economy. As women take charge of a larger share of capital, they are becoming a growing force behind that activity.

A force of change

This has been decades in the making, built on steady gains in education, earnings and the law, and it carries real opportunity for the women now holding and directing that wealth. More women are moving into senior, better-paid roles and building wealth through their own careers and companies, while longer lifespan and family inheritance contribute to this too.

Women in the US could not open a bank account or credit card in their own name 50 years ago, and today they are positioned to direct one of the largest pools of private capital in the country. Progress on that scale explains why the effects are being felt so widely.

Patterns of inheritance have changed alongside the law and the workplace, which has widened the group of people able to build and deploy serious wealth. Family businesses and fortunes that once passed almost automatically from one generation of sons to the next are increasingly entrusted to daughters and wives, and a growing share of new wealth is being created by women outright. The result is a broader and more capable base of capital holders than the economy has known before.

The rise is being felt right across the wealth spectrum, as the share of women worth at least $30 million climbed to 11% in 2023 from 6.5% in 2010, according to Julius Baer, driven by a healthy mix of inheritance and self-made success. At least 62 women now sit among the world’s billionaires, holding around 11% of the $9.9 trillion tracked by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Europe shows a similar and equally encouraging story. Women there hold about a third of all managed assets, worth around 4.6 trillion euros, and McKinsey expects that share to reach 45% by 2030. With their assets set to grow at 8.1% a year, women are on course to hold close to half of the region’s managed wealth within the decade.

A boost for the wider economy

The most far-reaching benefit of all this sits with the economy as a whole, well beyond the individuals who own the money. Much of women’s wealth has traditionally sat in cash and low-interest savings, so as more of it flows into investment, both markets and long-term returns stand to improve. That capital helps fund growing companies, keeps trading healthy and rewards the savers who put it to work, a gain shared far more widely than any single portfolio.

How women in business can make the most of it

The same changes reshaping the industry hand women in business a real say in how they are looked after, which is an opportunity worth grasping. As a fast-growing group of clients, they are well placed to choose advisers who work the way they prefer and to expect a service designed around their goals. When demand grows this quickly, firms tend to follow, so the preferences of women who lead companies and hold wealth will increasingly set the standard.

With so much women’s wealth still sitting in cash and low-interest savings, women in business are well placed to invest in markets, in their own companies and in others, growing their own returns and their wider impact at once. The European figures, where women’s assets are set to grow at 8.1% a year, hint at what steady, confident investing can achieve.

Firms are competing hard for a client base they expect to keep growing, which puts women in a strong position to negotiate terms, ask more of their advisers and back the ventures and causes they believe in. Taken together, these openings let a generation of women turn growing wealth into real and lasting influence.