Generation X will supplant baby boomers as the wealthiest generation over the next 25 years as $68 trillion in wealth gets passed down to heirs and charities, a new report says.

The report by Cerulli Associates provides greater detail on what has become known as the "great wealth transfer"—the expected transfer of trillions in dollars of assets as wealth is passed from one generation to another.

Baby boomers are expected to be responsible for 70 percent, or $48 trillion, of the total wealth transfers, with nearly 93 percent of the assets being transferred at death and the rest donated to charity and gifted to heirs during benectors' lifetimes, the report said.

While the transfer will be gradual, and span decades, it's important for advisors to start preparing for the massive shift in wealth now, according to Cerulli.

“This multigenerational shift in wealth will reshape the wealth management landscape over the next quarter century and will force firms to alter their existing business models and services,” Asher Cheses, an analyst at Cerulli, said in a prepared statement. “Gen Xers stand to be the primary beneficiary of wealth transferred from baby boomers.”

As the transfer plays out, advisors need to make sure their practices have a multigenerational focus and are attuned to the needs of clients from Generation X, which comprises people born between 1965 and 1985, he said.

Advisors also need to prepare themselves to help families plan and implement the wealth transfers, the report noted.

"Despite the fact that it will take some time for these households to outgrow the baby boomer generation, building genuine and longstanding relationships with this cohort of inheritors needs to be top-of-mind among wealth management executives,” Cheses said.

Cerulli estimated that of the $68 trillion expected to be transferred, nearly $60 trillion will go to heirs and $8 trillion will go to charity.

The report also noted that baby boomers are still accumulating wealth. Over the next 10 years, in fact, the generation is expected to receive the majority of the wealth that is passed down to heirs—mostly from the Silent and Greatest generations.

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