American households became wealthier overall in 2024, but high-net-worth individuals with $5 million or more in assets did disproportionately well

The financial insights and consulting firm noted that U.S. household wealth rose 16% year-over-year in 2024 to $90 trillion

American households became wealthier overall in 2024, but high-net-worth individuals did disproportionately well, according to new research from Cerulli Associates.

The Boston-based financial insights and consulting firm noted that U.S. household wealth rose 16% year-over-year in 2024 to $90 trillion, which should be a good sign for financial advisors helping clients manage those investments through volatile markets in 2025.

Advisors, however, may need to consider their client mix in terms of those assets, as HNW households with at least $5 million did the best, accounting for 54% of the total wealth.

According to a statement from John McKenna, research analyst at Cerulli, HNW clients tend to need a wider array of services such as estate planning, family offices, and trust management. If advisors don’t offer those services, they may “risk losing them to firms with a renewed commitment to the segment.”

In the meantime, advisors who work with or even specialize in serving households below the HNW tier are now working with a cohort that is seeing its market share of wealth recede.

Affluent clients with $2 million to $5 million in assets now make up 17% of the market, and mass affluent clients with $500,000 to $2 million make up about 19% of the market. According to Cerulli, their combined market share of 36% is down from 38% at year-end 2023.

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Noah Damsky, founder and principal of Marina Wealth Advisors, a Los Angeles-based firm, agreed with the trend, saying that HNW clients are the biggest growth segment at his firm.

“As equity markets rallied for many years, those with investable assets have　grown disproportionately wealthier,” Damsky said. “Naturally, clients with millions of dollars in assets, especially in booming real estate markets such as Los Angeles, have seen their portfolios grow immensely.”

Gary Schwartz, founder and president of Madison Planning Group in White Plains, New York, said advising HNW clients is “more about people than numbers.”　

“This so-called middle-class millionaire market is a common-sense, working persons’ market,” he said. “They live within their means, they do not invest in anything they do not understand and maintain the attitude that they are not rich and need to keep working, saving, investing etc. This is generally a winning combination. They’re a pleasure to work with.”

Above and Beyond

Marina Wealth's Damsky also agreed with Cerulli that serving HNW clients takes a personal touch that goes beyond traditional wealth management.

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He noted a client who wanted to sell a single-family rental property in Beverly Hills to help fund retirement. To get the best sale price, however, Damsky and his team recommended that the client get the current renting tenant out to sell the property to a likely owner-occupant to fetch the best price.

To achieve this, Damsky advised that the client raise the rent to a higher level, anticipating that the tenant would either move out or at least provide a higher return on investment. In the end, the tenant left, and the client sold.

“Who else is going to help the client with this? Not real estate agents or property managers,” Damsky said. “Many attorneys will help with execution but not develop the full strategy. Getting this sort of help is challenging, so we　help clients solve their most　challenging problems.”

Damsky said that while the HNW space is competitive, experience and expertise allow an advisor to stand out. In his firm’s case, they have an institutional investor background.

“Many advisors still just manage portfolios and masquerade　their services as holistic when they’re really not,” he said. “Helping with not only investments, but with tax, estate and generational planning is critical, and it takes time.”　

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Dann Ryan, founder and managing partner of Sincerus Advisory, a New York City-based RIA, said via email that advisors serving both HNW and mass affluent clients face a tradeoff between “maximizing current profitability with HNW clients versus long-term sustainability of your practice with more affluent clients.”

“When it comes to the affluent and mass affluent segment, for many of them, their biggest financial planning events are still in their future,” Ryan said. “Unlike HNW households, who have likely already completed their estate planning, many affluent clients are still a way off from having to worry about the most complex strategies…. As an advisor, a lot of the work is preparing them to have a decision-making process