It’s a provocative title, and Dr. Eliza Filby, the author of Inheritocracy: It’s Time to Talk About the Bank of Mum and Dad, says that she deliberately chose it to get readers to think about the way inherited wealth is transforming society.
“A meritocratic society is based on reward for hard work,” says the English historian, speaker and author. “An inheritocracy is a society where opportunity is not defined by what you earn, not by what you learn, but whether you have access or not to the bank of Mum and Dad.”
Filby, whose book (her third) became a Sunday Times best-seller after its publication in the UK last fall, was the keynote speaker at the annual Minerva Summit in Toronto last month. Presented by Burgundy Asset Management, the summit is part of a decade-long initiative to educate and financially empower women.
During her talk, Filby discussed the social and financial effects of what she calls the inheritocracy economy. They don’t just apply to the one-per-centers, as one might assume. Rather than ultra-high-net-worth families, Filby says it is the mass-affluent baby boomers who have benefited most from sustained social mobility during their formative years. Today, however, that social mobility has stalled, and boomers’ Millennial children are looking to their parents for support.
The public discourse about intergenerational inequality usually focuses on the disparities between baby boomers and Millennials. As just about anyone under 60 will tell you, baby boomers got all the lucky breaks—affordable education and housing, jobs with pensions, a rising stock market—while the Millennials got the leftovers of higher housing costs and stagnant wages. But Filby argues that there should be more focus on the intragenerational inequality fostered by the inheritance economy.
“It’s much simpler to frame it as baby boomers versus Millennials,” says Filby. “But the bigger and harder truth is inequality within generations. The Millennials who bought a home at the right time versus those who didn’t. The Gen Z students who graduated debt-free versus those drowning in loans. The siblings with generous parents versus those with parents who cannot help. This is where the tension really lies, and it’s where family strategy and public debate should be focused.”
Filby ascribes the rise of inheritocracy to a number of social and economic trends. One is, ironically, more access to education. During the past century, education has been the major driver of social mobility, and credentials, not just family connections, were the stepping stones to building wealth. However, as more people went to college, the value of having a degree decreased. Credential inflation—employers demanding post-secondary degrees as table stakes—led to a massive increase in demand for post-secondary education, which has driven up costs. Today, it is not uncommon for students to obtain second or third degrees to stand out in a competitive labour market. Student loans provide access to higher education to those without family support, but they can also burden graduates with enormous debt at a time of stagnant wage growth.
Parents have become gatekeepers to their children’s adulthood.
Dr. Elisa Filby
Rising education and housing costs put extra pressure on parents to financially support their adult children over a longer time. A recent survey from TD found that three in five Canadian parents expect to be a long-term source of funding. Not all parents are able to do so, which decreases social mobility. And despite the emphasis on a “good” education, it is no longer the key springboard to wealth. According to a study by UBS in 2023, global billionaires on average gained more wealth through inheritance than through entrepreneurship.
“Looking ahead, I see sharper divides between those with family support and those without,” says Filby. “Even with two good salaries, a middle-class life is becoming harder to build without parental or grandparental help.” Family elders who enjoyed economic tailwinds may not understand why their sons and daughters cannot seem to make ends meet or get on the housing ladder on their own.
“The cost is both financial and emotional,” says Filby. “Parents are working longer, delaying retirement and sacrificing experiences because they are still paying for children and even grandchildren. Many give without clear boundaries, and what starts as generosity can become expectation. Families need to talk openly about what can and cannot be given. Parents must secure their own future first, before trying to underwrite everyone else’s.”
The financial media has highlighted the massive transfer of global wealth to Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z. According to the UBS Global Wealth Report 2025, over the next 20 to 25 years, US$83 trillion will move sideways, first to spouses (US$9 trillion), then down the generational ladder (US$74 trillion). Yet the overemphasis on inheritance may lead younger adults to postpone buying a house or starting a business until the big payday arrives.
By default, “parents have become the gatekeepers to their children’s adulthood,” says Filby. Financially bankrolled by parents and grandparents, young adults are enjoying a newfound level of freedom sometimes referred to as “kidadulting.” Some are staying in school longer, getting second or third degrees or switching programs. They are delaying growth into traditional adulthood, and that causes other challenges, particularly for women around issues of fertility.
As lifespans and health-spans increase, an inheritance may not come until the children themselves are in their 50s or 60s. And the amount may be far less than the life-changing sum they envisioned. In the meantime, they will have missed out on creating meaningful work and personal experiences while they played the waiting game.
“We talk about a vast transfer of wealth as if it will land in everyone’s lap. The truth is that some will inherit a lot, most will inherit very little, and almost all will inherit far later in life than they might expect,” says Filby. “Many Millennials are already deferring life decisions, from buying a house to starting a family, on the assumption of future help. That’s risky. Families need to be clearer and more honest about what’s realistic: what is a gift, what is a loan, and what might never come.”
And here, Filby believes, is where family offices can play a vital role. “Family offices have the chance to be more than money managers,” she says. “They can be facilitators of difficult but vital conversations. They can help families map not just assets but also roles, responsibilities and likely futures. They can encourage women and younger generations to take part in decision-making now, not just later.
“By guiding families to create charters around values and planning for the first months after a death, they help wealth become more than money. They help it become security, opportunity and connection across generations.”
Rita Silvan, CIM®, is an investing, personal finance and speech writer based in Toronto. She is the former editor-in-chief of ELLE Canada and Golden Girl Finance magazines. She is a regular columnist for Canadian Moneysaver Magazine, and her work has appeared in The Globe and Mail, Financial Post, RBC’s Inspired Investor, CFA Intitute’s Enterprising Investor, Benefits and Pensions Monitor, and AIMA Journal, among others. Her clients include Royal Bank of Canada, Penderfund Capital Management, ETF Capital Management, Manulife Financial and Tangerine Bank. She has appeared on BNN Bloomberg, CBC Newsworld, and BreakfastTV.
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