The Great Wealth Transfer

Ali Katz

Between now and 2048, roughly $124 trillion will pass between generations. Most people assume that's a billionaire story. It isn't. Nearly half of it moves through ordinary families with a home, a retirement account, a small business, some land, and no plan.

The Great Wealth Transfer is about what happens to that money, and what it takes to make sure it reaches the people you love instead of disappearing before it gets there.

Host Ali Katz has spent twenty years as a Personal Family Lawyer and Family Wealth Advisor. She began her career at Charlie Munger's law firm building the legal and financial machinery that keeps the wealthiest families in America wealthy, then spent the next two decades making that same infrastructure available to everyone else.

Each episode takes on the things families get wrong about money and rarely talk about out loud. Why estate planning fails when it's built for death instead of life. How the cost of long-term care quietly eats an inheritance before anyone notices. What a trust actually does, and why the best time to use one is while an asset is still small enough to ignore. Why the feeling that you're bad with money was installed, and who profits from it. And how to have the conversation with your parents, or your children, while everyone is still here to have it.

This is not about becoming rich enough to matter. It's about deciding that what you already have is worth seeing.

New episodes weekly.

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Yesterday · 54 min
What Happens When Money Stops Being the Goal? | Ryan Levesque
I know how to make money, but what happens when money doesn't matter? In this episode, Ali Katz talks with Ryan Levesque, creator of the ASK Method and author of Return to Real. Ryan was days away from signing a $70 million deal to sell the majority of his company when Russia invaded Ukraine, interest rates spiked, and every buyer in the market walked away. What came after was a permaculture course in Vermont, one question he couldn't answer, and a family farm. Together they get into why the next decade may belong to trust instead of attention, what AI changes for lawyers and advisors, and what families with $1 million to $30 million actually need to steward what they have. In this episode: -The question Ryan asked himself after a $70 million deal fell through, and why the answer was a farm -What a $50-a-week grocery budget taught him about the fear of losing it all -Why Ryan believes the next decade belongs to oxytocin, not dopamine -The "double craving": why what you're starving for is the same thing your market wants -Why AI makes the legal document cheap and real counsel more valuable -Why families with $1 million to $30 million end up with advice that falls apart when they need it -How to start the end-of-life conversation with your parents while there's still time Connect with Ryan Levesque: Return to Real (special hardcover edition): https://returntorealbook.com The Digital Contrarian newsletter: https://thedigitalcontrarian.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/askryanlevesque/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlevesque/ Website: https://ryanlevesque.net Free Resource: Join Ali's next live Estate Planning Masterclass to learn how to make sure your will, trust, or estate plan truly works for you and the people you love. Register here: https://personalfamilylawyer.com/masterclass Ali also publishes The Great Wealth Transfer Substack, with more resources linked from her website: https://alikatz.com/ Follow and subscribe to get notified of every new episode, and share this one with your parents or your adult kids to start the conversation. Connect with Ali Katz: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thealikatz Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAliKatz/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thealikatz/ Website: https://alikatz.com/
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September 30 · 10 min
Why Most Inheritance Conversations Fail Before They Even Start | Ali Katz
You've been trying to have the inheritance conversation with your parents, and it's not going well. Or you're afraid it won't. In this solo episode, Ali Katz breaks down why that conversation keeps stalling or backfiring, and lays out the three things that actually rebuild trust: commitment, curiosity, and collaboration. She gets personal about the resentment and judgment she had to work through with her own mother before she could commit to caring for her, and walks through a real example from her podcast conversation with Keith and his dad, where getting curious about why he "liked worrying" changed the entire tone of the conversation. She closes with why this work matters right now, in the middle of what she calls a meta crisis, and how staying in connection with her own mom, even when fear or protectiveness still shows up, has built the best relationship they've ever had. In this episode: -Why the inheritance conversation with your parents keeps stalling or backfiring -The three-part trust framework: commitment, curiosity, collaboration -What real commitment to your parents actually requires -How to bring curiosity instead of assumption into the conversation -Why collaboration means giving your parents the partnership you wished you'd had as a teenager -What Ali's own relationship with her mom teaches about staying in connection Free Resource: Join Ali's next live Estate Planning Masterclass to learn how to make sure your will, trust, or estate plan truly works for you and the people you love. Register here: https://personalfamilylawyer.com/masterclass Ali also publishes The Great Wealth Transfer Substack, with more resources linked from her website: https://alikatz.com/ For Lawyers: Curious about building or growing an estate planning practice you actually love? Explore this training for attorneys and hear how lawyers are creating more predictable, relationship-centered practices through the Personal Family Lawyer® model. Register here: https://go.newlawbusinessmodel.com/event-w-2026-09-08?hsCtaAttrib=218711726217 Follow and subscribe to get notified of every new episode, and feel free to share this one with a sibling, a friend, or even a parent, to let them know you're showing up. Connect with Ali Katz: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thealikatz Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAliKatz/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thealikatz/ Website: https://alikatz.com/
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September 16 · 10 min
I Was Attacked On A Hater Website For 10 Years, Then My Kids Found It | Ali Katz
I was featured on a hater website for nearly ten years. Not a single post, not a single comment. A full website. In this solo episode, Ali Katz gets personal in a way she hasn't in years. She goes back to 2011, when she discovered an entire website dedicated to attacking her, calling her a scammer, a bad mom, a slut, and tracks how it shaped her, her daughter, and the years she spent staying quiet about the vulnerable parts of her story. She shares what she learned about telling the difference between criticism that's actually true and criticism that's just noise, what it cost her teenage daughter to have friends' parents already forming opinions about her mother, and why she's choosing now to bring all of herself forward again, even though it's scary. In this episode: -Why a decade on a hater website became one of the biggest lessons of her life -How to tell the difference between criticism that's true and criticism that's just noise -What it cost her daughter when the internet already "knew" her mother before meeting her -Why she went quiet about the vulnerable parts of her story for years -The real reason she's choosing to bring all of herself forward again Free Resource: Join Ali's next live Estate Planning Masterclass to learn how to make sure your will, trust, or estate plan truly works for you and the people you love. Register here: https://personalfamilylawyer.com/masterclass Ali also publishes The Great Wealth Transfer Substack, with more resources linked from her website: https://alikatz.com/ For Lawyers: Curious about building or growing an estate planning practice you actually love? Explore this training for attorneys and hear how lawyers are creating more predictable, relationship-centered practices through the Personal Family Lawyer® model. Register here: https://go.newlawbusinessmodel.com/event-w-2026-09-08?hsCtaAttrib=218711726217 Follow and subscribe to get notified of every new episode, and share this one with someone building something of their own. Connect with Ali Katz: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thealikatz Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAliKatz/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thealikatz/ Website: https://alikatz.com/
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September 2 · 19 min
I Made The Inc 5000 7 Times. Here are 7 Lessons I Learned | Ali Katz
My company New Law Business Model made the Inc. 5000 for the seventh time. But the biggest lessons I've learned came from the two years we didn't make it. In this episode, Ali Katz breaks down what happened in 2022, when her company hit $8 million in revenue but came within two weeks of missing payroll, and traces it back to seven specific ways she'd abdicated her own leadership without realizing it. From delegating tasks instead of ownership to handing out titles nobody had earned yet, she walks through each lesson with the real cost attached, then closes with the bigger picture: filing bankruptcy in 2012, and choosing seven years later to apply these lessons instead of repeating the same mistake. In this episode: -Why delegating ownership for an outcome beats delegating a list of tasks -Why giving someone a title they haven't earned sets them up to fail, and leaves them nowhere to grow -Why reporting is visibility into your numbers, not admin work -Why you can't run your company if you can't read your own numbers -Why you should believe people's actions over the values statements they recite -Why your energy, not your time or money, is your number one asset -Why building with the people you love works, if you've followed the six lessons before it Free Resource: Join Ali's next live Estate Planning Masterclass to learn how to make sure your will, trust, or estate plan truly works for you and the people you love. Register here: https://personalfamilylawyer.com/masterclass Ali also publishes The Great Wealth Transfer Substack, with more resources linked from her website: https://alikatz.com/ For Lawyers: Curious about building or growing an estate planning practice you actually love? Explore this training for attorneys and hear how lawyers are creating more predictable, relationship-centered practices through the Personal Family Lawyer® model. Register here: https://go.newlawbusinessmodel.com/event-w-2026-09-08?hsCtaAttrib=218711726217 Follow and subscribe to get notified of every new episode, and share this one with someone building something of their own. Connect with Ali Katz: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thealikatz Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAliKatz/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thealikatz/ Website: https://alikatz.com/
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August 26 · 25 min
The Legal Tool Families Use to Keep the House Safe | Ali Katz
The Washington Post just told thousands of American families something they didn't want to hear. Ali Katz read the same numbers and found the one thing missing from every story in that article. In this solo episode, Ali breaks down a Washington Post investigation that tracked real families from their early 50s until death: the share of people left with nothing to pass on after paying for eldercare has nearly doubled, and 1 in 20 spent more than $100,000 out of their own life savings. She tells the story of an Ohio man whose 96-year-old mother has been in assisted living for seven years at $15,000 a month, a family now facing the loss of a Kentucky farm that's been theirs since the 1960s. Then she names what every family in that article was missing: a legal window that closes long before anyone feels a crisis coming, and the specific tools, an irrevocable trust, a steward's trust, spousal protections, a real power of attorney, that could have kept it from happening. In this episode: Why the number of families left with nothing after paying for elder care has nearly doubled What happened to one family's Kentucky farm, and the exact tool that could have saved it The five-year window that decides whether Medicaid will ever pay for your care What a Medicaid asset protection trust or a steward's trust actually protects, and what it costs you to use one What a well spouse is legally allowed to keep when the other needs long-term care The 1993 rule that lets the state claim your house after you're gone, even after you thought you were safe Why "the talk" with your parents or your kids matters more than any document you sign Free Resource: Ali is going deeper on asset protection and elder care planning on her next live masterclass. Register here: https://personalfamilylawyer.com/masterclass Additional Resource: More on long-term care planning and the steward's trust is available on Ali's website: https://alikatz.com/ Follow and subscribe to get notified of every new episode, and share this one with somebody you love. Connect with Ali Katz: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thealikatz Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAliKatz/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thealikatz/ Website: https://alikatz.com/
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August 19 · 12 min
You're Not Bad With Money. The System Is Mining You | Ali Katz
You're not bad with money. It's just the way the system is designed, and the people who have the most often have it the worst. In this solo episode, Ali Katz names the term she coined for the feeling of never having enough regardless of the number in your account: money dysmorphia. She traces it back to feeling broke at six figures and still broke running 2x Million Dollar businesses, then breaks down why the system is built to extract from you rather than serve you, drawing on ideas from her friend Lisa Peterson (CFP, author of Mindful Money) and her longtime teacher Charles Eisenstein. From there she gets practical: how little you actually need to love your life, the LIFT meeting cadence (Legal, Insurance, Financial, Tax) she runs weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually, and why $27 trillion sitting in retirement accounts is more within your control than most people think. In this episode: What money dysmorphia is, and why it hits people at every income level How the system is designed to extract from you, even the things that used to be free The key to liberation: figuring out how little you actually need to love your life How to earn what you need in alignment with your values instead of chasing "enough" The LIFT meeting cadence: weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual money check-ins Why $27 trillion in retirement accounts is more within your control than you've been told Free Resource: Ali's going deeper on how to become a steward of your family wealth on her next live masterclass. Register here: https://personalfamilylawyer.com/masterclass Free Resource: Get her Inheritance Guide — practical guides on what's actually transferring, and how to talk about it: https://www.alikatz.com "It's not that you're bad with money. It's that the system has been designed to make you think that you are." — Ali Katz "The key to your liberation is identifying how little you need to love your life." — Ali Katz Follow and subscribe to get notified of every new episode, and share this one with someone who needs to hear it too. Connect with Ali Katz: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thealikatz Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAliKatz/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thealikatz/ Website: https://alikatz.com/
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August 12 · 14 min
How to Give Away Your Assets Without Losing Them. | Ali Katz
Dan Martell just posted about a $3.6 billion exit. Ali Katz read it and asked one question nobody else did: whose name was that investment actually in? In this solo episode, Ali uses Dan Martell's Intercom exit as the entry point into a mistake most people make without realizing it, holding growing assets in their own name instead of protecting them as they grow. She gets personal about what that mistake cost her: a handshake deal with an employee that turned into a lawsuit, ten thousand dollars out of pocket immediately, and fifty thousand more in legal fees before it was over. From there she breaks down the numbers on estate tax (an exemption that's been as low as $675,000 and a rate that's hit 77%) and introduces the "steward's trust," an irrevocable trust structure that protects an asset for generations without handing over control. In this episode: Why growing your assets makes you a target for lawsuits, creditors, and predators What a handshake deal gone wrong actually cost her, dollar for dollar How to grow an asset completely outside your taxable estate Where the estate tax exemption and rate have really been, and where they could go What a "steward's trust" is, and how it protects assets without giving up control How to turn an irrevocable trust into a training ground for the next generation Free Resource: Ali is going deeper on asset protection and the steward's trust on her next live masterclass. Register here: https://personalfamilylawyer.com/masterclass "Once people see that you're making money, they see you as prey." — Ali Katz "The trust becomes an educational tool, not just a legal one." — Ali Katz Follow and subscribe to get notified of every new episode, and share this one with someone who's building something worth protecting. Connect with Ali Katz: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thealikatz Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAliKatz/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thealikatz/ Website: https://alikatz.com/
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August 5 · 51 min
Family Wealth Manager: The Boom-Bust Rule Every Investor Ignores | Keith Alpert
Keith Alpert spent most of his life with almost no view into his family's wealth — until a single conversation turned him into the full-time steward of his father's estate. Six years, and one $100 trillion generational wealth transfer later, Keith opens up about what it actually takes to manage a family fortune: the week-long inventory that started it all, the "gold digger" email that blew up trust in his own family, and the exact conversation he now recommends every adult child have with their parents before it's too late. In this episode, you'll learn: Why the first real step toward family wealth stewardship is a full inventory, not a will — and what happens if you skip it How to open the estate-planning conversation with your parents without it reading as "what's in it for me" The real story of a "caring" email that got read as greed — and cost a family its trust Why "he wanted to create family security" is a stronger reason to plan than fear of dying How to raise financially capable adult kids without doing the work for them The "bucket" system for managing cash and investments across three generations at once Why timing the market matters less than knowing your own risk tolerance and time horizon Guest — Keith Alpert Instagram — @rockinout68: https://www.instagram.com/rockinout68/ LinkedIn — /in/keithalpert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithalpert/ More From Ali Katz Instagram — @thealikatz: https://www.instagram.com/thealikatz Facebook — The Ali Katz: https://www.facebook.com/TheAliKatz/ LinkedIn — /in/thealikatz: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thealikatz/ Website: https://alikatz.com/ Free Resource: Get my Inheritance Guide — practical guides on what's actually transferring, and how to talk about it: https://www.alikatz.com Join Ali Katz's free estate planning masterclass to learn essential strategies for protecting your assets and ensuring your family's future: https://personalfamilylawyer.com/masterclass
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July 29 · 16 min
The Real Time to Build a Family Office Is When You Think You Don't Need One | Ali Katz
Over $1 million lost, an IRS audit two years after her divorce, and a lawsuit she couldn't afford to fight — Ali Katz gets brutally honest about the belief that cost her the most. In this solo episode, Ali breaks down the belief that quietly cost her the most: "this doesn't apply to me." Despite starting her career working on tax transactions for Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger's law firm, she didn't think legal, insurance, financial, or tax planning applied to her own life — a belief rooted in growing up as the "poor" family in a wealthy Miami community. That single belief ended up costing her more than $1 million over the years, including an unexpected $116,000 tax bill, $250,000 in debt from selling a business to the wrong buyer, and a $50,000 lawsuit she settled because she didn't have the right insurance. The turning point came two years after her divorce, when a forensic accountant's warning that her "books were really messed up" turned into an IRS audit letter. After two days of spiraling into self-blame, Ali hired real support, redirected that energy into her business instead, and built her second million-dollar business in just 18 months. In this episode: Why "this doesn't apply to me" is one of the most expensive beliefs you can hold about money The four pillars of a family office: legal, insurance, financial, and tax Why the right time to build your family office is before you feel rich, not after How an IRS audit forced Ali to rebuild her entire approach to money Why raising capital or bringing in a business partner too soon almost always backfires How to turn "eyes squeezed shut" money decisions into "eyes wide open" ones Free Resource: Get my Inheritance Guide — practical guides on what's actually transferring, and how to talk about it: https://www.alikatz.com "The time to build your family office isn't when you're rich. The time to start is actually when you think you don't need one." — Ali Katz "I built my second million dollar business in just 18 months." — Ali Katz Follow and subscribe to get notified of every new episode, and — most importantly — share this one with somebody you need to be in conversation with right now. Connect with Ali Katz: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thealikatz Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAliKatz/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thealikatz/ Website: https://alikatz.com/
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July 29 · 15 min
I Had Million Dollar Businesses and Still Felt Broke | Ali Katz
$124 trillion is moving from one generation to the next — and if you think that's a billionaire problem, think again. In this solo episode, Ali Katz breaks down money dysmorphia: the distorted relationship with wealth that keeps people feeling broke no matter how much they make. She shares her own story of feeling broke while earning $165,000 a year as a lawyer — and again while running $2 million businesses — and explains why $1–$30 million in family wealth counts as rich, even when it doesn't feel that way. Ali also gets practical, walking through why most people never take real ownership of their finances (like her mother asking a male teacher to invest her retirement account, or Ali herself blindly picking a 401(k) option at 28), and why $70 billion currently sits unclaimed in state coffers because families never find out what their loved ones had. In this episode: What money dysmorphia is, and why it keeps you feeling "not rich enough" Why $1–$30 million in wealth counts as rich How to treat your finances like your own family office What happens if you never take real ownership of your money Why "eyes squeezed shut" financial decisions cost you more than you think How to reframe estate planning as a rite of passage into adulthood Free Resource: Get my Inheritance Guide — practical guides on what's actually transferring, and how to talk about it: https://www.alikatz.com "I'm making $165,000 a year and I still felt broke." — Ali Katz "If we have money dysmorphia, no matter how much we have, we're never going to feel rich." — Ali Katz Follow and subscribe to get notified of every new episode, and share this one with someone you love — someone who needs to hear this too. Connect with Ali Katz: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thealikatz Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAliKatz/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thealikatz/ Website: https://alikatz.com/
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