Fine Art and the Great Wealth Transfer

I can’t remember where I read it, but over the next two decades something like $70 trillion will be passed down from America’s Baby Boomers to their kids and grandkids. About $40 trillion of that will go to the top 2% of households. That group, the upper 2%, is basically the fine art market. And that should be good news for brokers and dealers and associated professionals that make their living in the art world.

But there’s a problem. It turns out that many of the Boomers’ children aren’t all that fond of their parents’ art. And so, when they inherit it, they will probably sell it. The Boomers don’t like that idea – that their kids would sell their treasured collections just to put a few extra millions in their pockets. So they are changing their wills and putting their art into museums and other non-profit institutions for a write-off on their taxes.

For details on this story (from Art News), click here.