Generational Wealth: 5 Common Planning Barriers & Solutions

My father opened Aliciene Tax & Financial Solutions in 1969 in our family home in Pittston. Today I work alongside my son, Joey, the third generation of our family to serve this community. So, when I talk about generational wealth, I don't think of it as a buzzword. I think of it as something families build, protect, and hand down on purpose.

Yet more than half of Americans haven't put that plan on paper. In Gallup's most recent polling on the topic, only 46% of U.S. adults said they had a will.1

Generational wealth isn't reserved for the ultra-rich. Here in Northeast Pennsylvania, it usually looks like a paid-off home, a pension, a 401(k), a family business, or decades of company stock. Here are five barriers we see most often, and how to clear them.

1. “We don't have enough to plan for.”

It's the reason I hear most. Gallup's polling shows upper-income Americans are much more likely to have a will than lower-income Americans, as if planning were only for the wealthy.1 But once you add up the house, the retirement accounts, the employer stock, and the life insurance, most families are surprised by the total.

Solution: Start with a simple inventory: every account, policy, and property, how each is titled, and who it is set to go to. You can't plan for what you haven't counted.

2. Nobody wants to have the conversation.

Money, aging, and death are three topics most families would rather skip at the dinner table. The result is heirs who inherit assets without the context: where the documents are, who the advisors are, or what Mom and Dad wanted.

Solution: Hold a family meeting before there's a crisis. It doesn't have to cover dollar amounts, just the plan, the people, and where to find things. For most families, having a trusted advisor in the room makes them much easier to start.

3. Documents and beneficiaries that haven't kept up with life.

A will written when the kids were in diapers may not fit a family with grandkids, a second marriage, or a business. Beneficiary designations matter even more: on retirement accounts and life insurance, the name on the form generally decides who receives the money, no matter what your will says.

Solution: Review your will, powers of attorney, and every beneficiary form after any major life event (marriage, divorce, a birth, a death, retirement, or a business sale) and every few years otherwise.

4. Taxes that quietly shrink what gets passed on.

First, the good news. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the federal estate and gift tax exemption rose to $15 million per person in 2026.2 Most families will never owe federal estate tax.

Pennsylvania is a different story. Our inheritance tax applies no matter the size of the estate: 4.5% on transfers to children and grandchildren, 12% to siblings, and 15% to most other heirs, with 0% to a surviving spouse.3 Retirement accounts add their own wrinkle. Most non-spouse heirs must empty an inherited IRA within 10 years, and if the original owner had already begun required distributions, heirs must also take annual withdrawals, often during their own peak earning years.4

Solution: This is where tax-intelligent planning earns its keep. Annual gifts of up to $19,000 per recipient in 2026 move assets without touching your lifetime exemption.2 Roth conversions in lower-income years can leave heirs a more tax-friendly account (the conversion itself is taxable, so timing matters). And because life insurance proceeds are exempt from Pennsylvania inheritance tax, a properly structured policy can help cover the bill, so heirs aren't forced to sell.5

5. A business, or a single stock, with no exit plan.

For many of our small business clients, the business is the family fortune. Without a succession plan, a sudden death or disability can force a sale at the worst possible time. The same concentration risk applies to longtime employees whose savings are heavily tied to one company's stock.