You May Be Wealthier Than You Think

Canada is in the middle of the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in its history. Estimates put the total at somewhere between three and four trillion dollars moving between generations over the next decade. That number is abstract enough to slide past without sticking. Let me try to make it concrete.

The people at the centre of this transfer are not, by and large, people who think of themselves as wealthy. They are the children and grandchildren of the generation that built small businesses, bought houses in cities that turned out to matter, worked trades, farmed land, or simply stayed put while the value around them compounded. Many of them are surprised by what they have inherited or what their own assets are now worth.

These are Canada's unexpected millionaires. And they are sitting at the centre of one of the most significant philanthropic opportunities this country has ever seen.

The question most of them are asking is not how do I give. Most people with genuine values and a real connection to their community already have instincts about where their generosity belongs. The question is how do I give well. How do I make sure that what I put into this actually does what I want it to do? How do I avoid the mistakes? How do I build something that lasts?

These are the right questions. And they deserve better answers than a quick conversation at a bank branch.

Strategic philanthropy is not complicated, but it is intentional. It starts with clarity about values: what matters to you, and why? It moves into due diligence: what organizations are doing this work effectively and with integrity? It incorporates structure: what vehicles, what timing, what governance makes your giving sustainable and tax-efficient? And it ends, always, with relationship: giving that endures is giving rooted in connection, not just transaction.

If you are sitting on wealth you did not entirely expect, and you are feeling the pull toward generosity but are not sure where to start, that feeling is worth listening to. The world needs what you have. And with the right guidance, what you have can do far more than you might imagine.

This is exactly the work WAVE was built to do.