Family Office Adviser Ronald Diamond: Wealth on the Move for Agriculture and the U.S. Economy

By any measure, the United States is standing on the edge of an unprecedented economic shift. Trillions of dollars are moving from one generation to the next, reshaping investment decisions, markets, and, potentially, the future of rural America.

Ronald Diamond, Diamond Wealth Founder and Chairman, told American Farmland Owner from his office in Northbrook, Illinois, that he believes an historic wealth transfer is underway from the Baby Boomer generation, and it will impact agriculture and the broader economy overall. But he also feels that there could be a downside as well as wealth inequality will likely grow.

Family Offices’ Influence on Agriculture

Diamond’s firm advises more than 100 family offices -- high wealth individuals or families – on investment and philanthropy.

Diamond framed the current moment against a broader economic backdrop shaped by policy and markets. “We have an administration (President Donald Trump’s) that wants to do anything they can to keep interest rates down and to make the stock market work,” he said. “They’re very upfront about that.”

Even so, Diamond stressed that long-term fundamentals still matter more than short-term policy moves. “I’m extremely optimistic about this country. I mean, 70% of the time the markets go up.”

Ronald Diamond bio:

• Diamond Wealth – Founder & Chairman

• TIGER 21 – Chairman

• Family Office World Media – Founder, Host, & CEO

• University of Chicago Booth School of Business -- Family Office Initiative Advisory Board & Steering Committee Member

• The National Law Review – Editor-in-Chief, Family Office Newsletter

• Aspen Institute – Leadership Circle

• Numerous board leadership positions

Diamond’s optimism about the American economy, however, is paired with realism, especially when it comes to asset classes like real estate. Diamond sees opportunity in areas that have been hampered by rising borrowing rates.

RELATED: Before 2025 began, Texas entrepreneur Kyle Bass told American Farmland Owner about his search for the “holy grail.”

Higher Interest Rates Impact on Real Estate

“Real estate to me is very attractive,” Diamond said.

Diamond pointed out that during the two recent periods of zero-interest-rates (following the Great Recession and COVID-19 pandemic) many family offices bypassed professional managers and invested directly.

“People were like, ‘why should I pay somebody a fee if I could do it directly and make money?’ And they were right…until they were wrong,” Diamond said.

When rates rose sharply, some of those deals no longer penciled out. “Now you’ve got a lot of family offices that are in way over their skis,” he said.

This environment underscores a key principle Diamond lives by:  plan first for what could go wrong.

“Even though I’m an optimist and glasses half full, I start with the premise in every investment I make: what happens if it doesn’t work?” Diamond said.

That mindset, he said, is especially important as younger investors take the reins.

Wealth Transfer in the United States

The U.S. is in the midst of what Diamond calls “the largest transfer of wealth in the history of the world.”

Trillions of dollars could move baby boomers to the next generation, much of it concentrated in family offices. “By definition, a lot of these people will be younger,” he said.

Psychological Side of Interest Rates

That generational shift matters because younger investors came of age in a very different financial world. “I’m dealing with some people who are in their early 30s, and all they knew were things that kind of went straight up and interest rates real low,” Diamond noted.

Perspective, he said, is crucial. “Four percent is not a crazy interest rate. Five percent is not a crazy interest rate. Keep it in perspective,” Diamond advises.

Beyond markets, Diamond believes wealth transfer could have profound social implications. He acknowledged current imbalances.

“The wealthier getting wealthier and the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class is going down,” he said. “Without a sustainable middle class, bad things happen historically in any society.”

Economic Optimism for the Future

Still, Diamond’s optimism for the country’s economic future comes from the character of family wealth itself. “Remember, they’re families. It’s not a private equity firm which only looks at numbers,” he said.

Many next-generation heirs, he believes, are driven by purpose as much as profit. And he feels like they are enabled by technology and access to information their parents never had.

Diamond pointed to examples where private wealth tackled problems government and corporations struggled to solve. From Michael Milken’s early investments in prostate cancer research to recent efforts by Bill Gates in healthcare, Diamond sees a pattern.

“There’s no societal value in just rich people getting richer,” he said. “The value is when that capital is applied to real-world problems.”

For agriculture, this perspective matters. Farmland, rural communities, water, climate resilience, and food systems are increasingly on the radar of family offices looking for both returns and impact. As wealth moves to a generation that asks not just what they’re investing in, but why, agriculture may find itself uniquely positioned.

“I don’t think a lot of these solutions are going to come from the government,” Diamond said. “And I don’t think it’s going to come from corporate. I think many of them are going to come from family offices, and that’s why I’m so optimistic.”

Ronald Diamond will be a keynote speaker at the Land Investment Expo in Des Moines, Iowa, on January 13^th, 2026. American Farmland Owner is a media sponsor of the Land Investment Expo.