You May Be Wealthier Than You Think - And That Might Just Change Everything

A conversation I find myself having more and more goes something like this. A client, someone who grew up carefully, worked hard, lived modestly, looks across the table and says, quietly: I never expected to have this much.

Sometimes they are children of immigrants who scrimped and saved, dressed their children in hand-me-downs, and worked the same job for four decades. Sometimes they bought a modest home in a neighbourhood that no one would have called fashionable at the time. Sometimes they inherited something unexpected from their own parents. And now, almost without noticing it, they have crossed a threshold into high-net-worth territory.

They are the unexpected millionaires. And right now, they are at the centre of the largest wealth transfer in Canadian history.

The Wealth Transfer Moment

By most estimates, somewhere around $1 trillion will pass between generations in Canada over the coming decades. In the United States, that figure reaches into the tens of trillions. We are living through an extraordinary, once-in-a-generation moment.

For many of the people holding this wealth, the scale of it is unfamiliar territory. If you did not grow up in a high-net-worth household, you may not have inherited the frameworks, vocabulary, or relationships that help people think about wealth strategically. You may have a scarcity mindset that served you well for decades. The same mindset, frankly, that helped you build what you have. And you may be accustomed to giving modestly and consistently, unaware of the transformational effect that a single, well-placed, strategic gift can have.

This is precisely the work WAVE was built for. Not just to help you give more. To help you give well. With intention, with joy, and with lasting impact.

Your hard work and good fortune have come together in ways that give you the power to do enormous amounts of good. The question is not whether you can afford to give generously. It is how to do it with wisdom.

The Case for Giving in Your Lifetime

There is a quiet tension in philanthropic planning that I encounter regularly. On one side: the desire to be a responsible steward, to build something durable, to ensure charitable dollars last. On the other: the urgency of real needs, happening right now, in real communities.

Millions of charitable dollars currently sit in foundations, endowment funds and donor-advised funds, largely invested and largely inactive. The logic is understandable. A small percentage paid out annually, in perpetuity, ensures long-term funding. We respect that logic and work with endowments regularly.

But here is something worth sitting with. Money in a charitable foundation is not part of your personal net worth. It will never return to you as greater wealth. The return on charitable dollars is impact. And impact cannot be generated by dollars sitting in a bank account.

At WAVE, we encourage clients to seriously consider the benefits of giving more actively during their lifetimes.

You see the impact firsthand. When you give during your lifetime, you can witness what your gift makes possible. Programs funded, lives changed, organizations strengthened. That visibility creates deeper engagement and more purposeful giving.

You can make transformational gifts. A single, well-structured major gift can fundamentally alter the trajectory of an organization. There is a difference between sustaining a charity and transforming one.

Your intention stays intact. Giving during your lifetime reduces the risk that charitable assets meander away from your original purpose over time, through shifting governance or institutional drift.

Canada's communities need generosity now. The charitable sector is under increasing pressure. Giving that happens today responds to needs that are acute today.

None of this means all endowments are misguided. An endowment that funds a permanent leadership position gives an organization exactly the stability it needs to remain adaptive over the long term. The key is intentionality: understanding what you are building, and why.

What This Means for You

If you recognize yourself in this story, if you have more than you expected and you are asking what to do with it, you are in a genuinely exciting position. The tools available to thoughtful, values-driven donors have never been more powerful or more flexible.

In Part 2 of this series, we walk through the practical landscape: the vehicles available to you, the structures that serve different goals, and how to think about sequencing your giving alongside the rest of your estate and financial plan.

But the most important first step is the one you are already taking. Asking the question.

How can I give my wealth away well? That question, taken seriously, can change the world in ways you may not yet be able to imagine.

WAVE Philanthropy works with high-net-worth individuals and families across BC who want to give strategically and meaningfully. Reach us at info@wavephilanthropy.com