What Women of Wealth Want

By Dian Vujovich

Hot off the press from Wilmington Trust is research regarding uber-wealthy women and their relationships with money. Uber here refers to those with $25 million or more in assets. The relationships part has to do with everything from where they got it to how it gets doled out.

Data in the study titled, “The New Wealth Paradigm: How affluent women are taking control of their futures” was collected from 40 women between the ages of 40 and 65 with at least one child or step-child.

More than half of these women held master’s degrees, 35 percent were married more than once, 47 percent inherited their money, 27.5 percent obtained their wealth through their spouses and 25 percent created it on their own.

What I found particularly interesting about these women is their money values. To me, they weren’t that far off the mark from those an average income working woman would want to pass on to her children.

Here’s a listing of what this group of 40 thought were important money values. The order reflects the number of times mentioned by the group:

•Generosity and giving back to the community.

•Respect for people of all wealth backgrounds.

•A strong work ethic and skills, with the capacity to earn their own money and to find work they care about and at which they can succeed.

•Self-esteem, independent of wealth.

•Financial literacy and learning how to handle money.

•Responsibility associated with wealth and not being spoiled by affluence. Wealth is a tool, not an end in itself.

•Frugality and prudence about spending.

•Pride and appreciation for the opportunity wealth offers.

While my lineup might be different, the content wouldn’t change a bit. So since I’m uber-less, it looks like there’s more to wealth that merely having oodles of money.