BofA finds 2026 inherited U.S. business share jumps to 23%, up from 11%

Bank of America’s Private Bank Study of wealthy Americans is pointing to a real shift in how American businesses change hands. In 2026, BofA projects that 23% of businesses will be inherited among wealthy Americans, versus 11% that are purchased. That is a departure from the prior pattern where purchases dominated inheritance.

The numbers show how big the change is. In 2022, BofA data found 28% of businesses were purchased, compared to just 5% inherited. BofA researchers surveyed 1,400 U.S. adults with at least $3 million in investable assets to understand how high-net-worth individuals save and pass down wealth, with a particular look at businesses: not just money, but operating companies that employ people, create products, and decide whether innovation stays public or gets locked into private ownership.

This is part of what the industry now calls the Great Wealth Transfer: a projected inheritance of between $36 trillion and $124 trillion in assets from Baby Boomers to younger generations over the next two decades. Wealthy individuals matter here because wealth accumulation is highly concentrated toward the top, meaning the way these assets move can tilt economic outcomes. When more businesses are inherited rather than purchased, the transfer is less about new ownership entering markets and more about control being handed down inside families. That distinction sounds “family office-ish,” but it has market consequences.

Jonathan Parker, a professor of financial economics at MIT Sloan School of Management, argues that a higher share of inherited businesses can be a sign of greater wealth concentration. The logic is straightforward: if business creation is strong, wealth tends to skew toward owners. The question is what happens when owners reach the end of their lives, and what share of that wealth gets bequeathed to dependents. Parker points out that, for decades, there has been an inverse pattern between wealth and the number of children one had, with more affluent individuals having fewer kids. Economists have struggled to land on a definitive explanation, but Parker adds that wealth becomes less distributed in a family with one child versus six.

Parker also connects the pattern to broader economic tension, including affordability pressures and what gets described as a K-shaped economy, where richer households keep accumulating wealth while others struggle. In that framing, inherited companies can reinforce “top skewed wealth distribution,” because ownership consolidation can happen even without new capital markets participation. Parker also underscores that businesses changing hands can illuminate broader economic patterns, because businesses are one of the mechanisms through which wealth becomes power: governance, strategy, and access to future opportunities.

There’s also a market-structure angle that helps explain why inheritance might be rising. Parker notes that companies staying private longer may be part of the story, because private firms are harder to cash out of. Apollo chief economist Torsten Slok, citing economist and “Mr. IPO” Jay Ritter, points to a rise in the median age at which companies go public since 2022, when the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates. Higher rates tend to make public-market exits less attractive and financing conditions tougher, while private capital has boomed. The source ties that to venture capital and private equity raising billions through private funding rather than public markets, which can extend the time between founders getting liquidity and heirs taking over.

If the clock for exiting shifts, the estate-and-tax rules matter even more. Parker says the U.S. is in a “very strange situation” regarding the taxation of inherited wealth. Over the last 25 years, the U.S. has essentially overhauled its federal estate tax, most recently raising the exemption to $15 million per person under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. At the same time, the U.S. has kept the step-up in basis on capital gains at death, a provision that eliminates capital gains tax on appreciation that occurred during the lifetime of the original owner. Parker characterizes it as a tax benefit, a giveaway of taxes to people who pass it on to heirs.

Taken together, this can incentivize wealthy Americans to hold assets longer before passing them down, prolonging the Great Wealth Transfer while maximizing gains for the next generation of heirs. While BofA did not provide specific data on how long original owners were holding their businesses and other assets, the report said a “notable portion” of business owners had no plans to transition out of their businesses, and the majority planned to eventually transfer or sell ownership to family heirs. Parker suggests that could explain why people hold on longer and then hand them down, with heirs able to make businesses public, sell them, or keep them.

For executives, board members, and investors, the strategic stake is obvious but easy to miss: ownership transitions can change control dynamics, exit timing, and the flow of companies into public markets. If more businesses are inherited and fewer are purchased, “who drives the next chapter” may shift from founders and outside buyers toward heirs and private-market continuity. That could affect valuations, deal volume, and even how quickly operating strategies get refreshed. The Great Wealth Transfer is not just a cash story. It is an operating-company control story, and BofA’s projected jump to 23% inherited businesses in 2026 is the kind of signal that markets, regulators, and corporate leaders should take seriously now.