September 4, 2026 at 2:00 AM PDT
Fidelity's second-quarter data shows seven-figure 401(k) accounts jumped from 645,000 to 769,000 as stocks rallied, leaving more savers with large pretax balances that will eventually be taxed.
Cerulli says 84% of bank executives worry about talent retention and 41% of advisors value product breadth, a dynamic that puts more private funds in front of clients whose tax filings grow more complex.
A Cerulli Associates study finds 55% of financial advisors offer estate planning and 40% offer income tax planning, even as practices court affluent households and shop for planning software.
Inflation and health care top retirees' worries. For affluent households, the written plan that eases stress is largely a tax plan covering withdrawals, conversions and Medicare premiums.
Advisors already place $2.2 trillion in less-liquid private capital. As that doubles, affluent investors face later tax forms, state filings and UBTI questions that public funds rarely raise.
Automated tax-loss harvesting is nearly standard at 79% of platforms, but fewer than half offer help moving a portfolio and only 21% offer tax-smart withdrawals, Cerulli's survey shows.
UBS's Global Wealth Report 2026 found the US added more new dollar millionaires than any other country, a milestone that turns first-time wealth into first-time exposure to estate and capital gains tax.
Giving USA's annual report found total giving topped $600 billion for the first time in 2025, with bequests growing faster than any other funding source ahead of new 2026 deduction limits.
The 25th How America Saves study shows record 401(k) participation and savings rates, but finds most high earners still leave mega-backdoor Roth and after-tax contribution room unused.
The 2026 Trustees Report pulls the retirement trust fund's depletion forward a year and widens the 75-year gap by 16%, partly because the 2025 tax law cut revenue from taxing benefits.
Capgemini's World Wealth Report 2026 found the fastest wealth growth for high-net-worth individuals since 2018, driven by equities that many households have never trimmed for taxes.
The 2026 Wealth Report counts 251,352 Americans worth $30 million or more, the largest population of any country, and traces where that wealth is flowing across private capital, real estate and alternative assets.
Northwestern Mutual's 2026 Planning & Progress Study found the self-reported retirement number keeps climbing, and the gap is even wider for savers who hold most of their nest egg in pretax accounts.
The nation's largest donor-advised fund sponsor reports grants up 23% and crypto gifts down sharply, as affluent donors increasingly use DAFs to convert appreciated assets into charitable deductions.
Fidelity's year-end account data shows average retirement balances rising by double digits, a milestone that also foreshadows larger required withdrawals — and tax bills — down the road.
IRS statistics for the week ending February 13, 2026 show fewer people have filed, but the average refund has climbed to $2,476, the first hard evidence that OBBBA's retroactive tax cuts are reaching bank accounts.
The Congressional Budget Office's new baseline shows deficits $1.4 trillion higher than previously projected through 2035, a gap large enough that it raises real odds of higher taxes on high earners down the road.
The National Taxpayer Advocate's annual report to Congress says a 27% smaller IRS, paired with dozens of new retroactive tax rules, will make 2026 harder for any filer who runs into a problem.
DAFgiving360 donors alone granted $9.9 billion to charity in 2025, up 28%, as wealthy households front-loaded appreciated-stock gifts ahead of OBBBA's new floor and cap on charitable deductions.
A PGIM and SHOOK Research survey of 236 highly ranked advisors finds direct indexing and alternatives moving from niche to core in $5 million-plus portfolios, with taxes driving the shift.
IRS-CI's annual report shows tax fraud identifications more than doubled and search warrants rose 25%, a signal that enforcement risk is climbing even as agency staffing shrinks.
UBS's Billionaire Ambitions Report tallied $297.8 billion passed to heirs this year, a preview of the gifting, trust and basis questions facing far smaller family fortunes too.
National Philanthropic Trust says grants from its donor-advised funds grew 20% to $6.61 billion in fiscal 2025, a surge that coincides with new limits on the charitable deduction starting in 2026.
The Tax Foundation's 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index shows which states keep the most of a high earner's income, and which state governments took the biggest bites in 2025.