Building NextGen Wealth for Entrepreneurs

A new Citizens Next Gen: Future of Success Survey of over 2,300 young adults reveals a generation redefining the definition of success by prioritizing stability, flexibility, and mental health over prestige and accumulation. These findings reflect broader consumer patterns across income levels, but they carry particular weight for the next generation of HNW individuals and entrepreneurs.

This piece explores how these broader trends manifest uniquely among HNW young adults, and the unique financial considerations for young entrepreneurs.

Prioritizing Personal Trajectories over Corporate Scorecards

Corporate titles and tenure once defined success. But according to Citizens' Next Gen: Future of Success Survey, only 26% of young adults define career success as climbing the corporate ladder. For many in the next generation of high-net-worth individuals, wealth-building is increasingly entrepreneurial, values-driven, and shaped by the pursuit of flexibility and fulfillment.

This shift calls for personalized financial services that support independent trajectories and prepare clients for the complexity of building wealth outside traditional structures.

Entrepreneurism and the Rise of the Independent Wealth Builder

Side hustles, startups, and independent ventures are becoming more common and more viable. In the Next Gen: Future of Success Survey, 24% of respondents reported having a side hustle, and more than two-thirds said they have pursued or are actively exploring an entrepreneurial venture.

This shift offers greater independence, ownership, and potential for accelerated wealth creation. But it also introduces complexity. Instead of the predictable earnings patterns associated with traditional careers, many young clients experience periods of acceleration, plateaus, and rapid shifts tied to venture cycles, market opportunities, and career pivots.

For entrepreneurs, early-stage planning is critical. Structuring ventures, diversifying income streams, and preparing for uneven liquidity all require foresight and expertise. And the emotional factors of building wealth today should not be ignored. Entrepreneurism offers freedom, but it demands resilience.

Liquidity as a Practical Anchor

With income and business activity often occurring in waves, liquidity remains a central theme for many independent wealth builders. For these clients, maintaining accessible resources can support:

• Managing cash flow during variable earnings
• Funding new ventures or projects as opportunities arise
• Preserving confidence amid business uncertainty and professional transition

This focus on liquidity can help younger entrepreneurs stay nimble and grounded as they pursue nontraditional paths.

A Clear View Across a Multifaceted Financial Life

For clients balancing operating companies, side ventures, equity interests, or multiple income streams, financial visibility becomes as valuable as liquidity. They often look for ways to simplify how they view and manage activity across personal and business accounts, particularly when financial decisions overlap.

Clear, consolidated information can help these clients:

• Understand how different parts of their financial lives interact
• Stay prepared for near term obligations
• Recognize emerging opportunities or constraints
• Make decisions more confidently in real time

These dynamics point to the need for support that reflects the speed, fluidity, and individuality of their financial lives.

Support That Matches Their Momentum

As many young entrepreneurs build wealth without the traditional mentorship structures previous generations relied on, they often look for partnership that draws on experience and personal relationships to help anchor their decision‑making.

For Private Bank clients, this may include:

• Solutions shaped by an understanding of how evolving income patterns affect real‑world decisions.
• Collaboration rooted in personal relationships and ongoing dialogue, flexing with changing goals and emerging decisions in ways traditional mentorship once did.
• Access to specialists who bring experience working with multitrack careers and complex balance sheets, offering perspective that helps fill some of the mentorship gaps young entrepreneurs often face.

The emphasis is on partnership that adapts to the client’s pace and priorities, supporting them as they build their own definition of success.

Let's Build That Future Together

The next generation of high-net-worth individuals is building wealth in new ways, through entrepreneurship, and values-driven decision-making. Seeking an independent path can be rewarding, but it presents complex planning challenges. These realities call for customized solutions.

Citizens Private Bank offers the insights, flexibility, and services to help the next generation build their financial lives with purpose. In support of innovation economy, Citizens Private Bank offers Citizens For Startups™, which provides access to dedicated startup bankers, curated resources and extraordinary service to support every stage of the startup growth journey.

Access Citizens for Startups Services