Older Individuals could also be buying and selling in hustling for retirement, however that hasn’t stopped them from getting richer.
Child boomers now maintain a report excessive of the US’ wealth, Apollo chief economist Torsten Slok famous in a Sunday weblog publish, citing Federal Reserve knowledge. In comparison with 1989, when these over 70 years outdated held 19% of the wealth within the family sector, older Individuals now personal 31% of the wealth.
That chunk of change is an outsize share in comparison with different generations. Child boomers, who make up about 20% of the U.S. inhabitants, maintain greater than $85 trillion in belongings, in accordance with Fed knowledge. By comparability, millennials, who make up about the identical share of Individuals, maintain nearly $18 trillion, roughly one-fifth that of child boomers.
Older Individuals’ monetary success is in particularly stark comparability to that of Gen Z, a era with deep skepticism concerning the financial future, who really feel shut out from entry-level jobs amid the rise of AI, with many sinking into bank card debt as they battle to repay pupil loans. As of final 12 months, the younger era had solely $6 trillion in wealth, regardless of making up the identical share of the inhabitants as their child boomer and millennial counterparts.
“The newborn [boomer] era has actually wolfed up an enormous share of family wealth, so it’s left lots much less for different age cohorts,” Edward Wolff, professor of economics at New York College, informed Fortune.
Child boomers’ good timing
America’s septuagenarians have been raised by dad and mom who got here of age through the Nice Despair and discovered the exhausting means the teachings of frugality and the significance of saving cash. However the child boomer era owes an excessive amount of their monetary safety to the celebrities aligning throughout their adolescence.
Within the Seventies when many child boomers entered the housing market, inflation surged, making shopping for a house an interesting funding. As residence values soared within the following a long time, so, too, did the era’s fairness. The older era has additionally been boosted by inventory possession, with child boomers holding 54% of shares price greater than $25 trillion, in accordance with an early 2025 evaluation of Fed knowledge by the Motley Idiot. Millennials owned about 8% of shares price $3.9 trillion.
However Gen Z, who could also be following child boomers’ lead in inventory market investments, haven’t shared the identical luck within the housing market. Housing provide has been low because the 2008 recession, exacerbated by sky-high mortgage charges, which disincentivized residence gross sales and contributed to exorbitant residence costs.
Because of this, 2025 noticed a 21% drop within the share of first-time homebuyers, and the age of these patrons reached a report excessive of 40 years, in accordance with November knowledge from the Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors, leaving Gen Z to attend slightly longer for the keys to their first properties. A March Redfin report discovered immediately, simply 33% of 27-year-olds personal their properties in comparison with 40% of child boomers who owned their properties after they have been the identical age.
“They weren’t capable of benefit from the massive appreciation of home costs to the identical extent as child boomers,” Wolff mentioned.
Gen Z’s silver lining
Gen Z could also be dealing with generation-defining financial challenges, however there’s hope for them but. Pew Analysis Heart knowledge from 2024 signifies Gen Z may very well be in higher monetary form than younger individuals in previous generations: In 2023, Zoomers made a median pay of about $20,000, adjusted for inflation. In 1993, 18- to 24-year-olds made about $15,000. Earnings development lastly outpacing residence worth development may additionally be a silver lining for potential residence patrons.
However a part of the equation of Gen Z’s comparatively paltry share of wealth is just because they haven’t had as a lot time to accumulate it, Michael Walden, professor emeritus of economics at North Carolina State College, informed Fortune.
“It makes logical sense that older individuals will accumulate higher percentages of wealth at any time limit as a result of they’ve had extra years to speculate and reap the returns of their investments,” Walden mentioned.
Past simply extra time, Gen Z will not directly profit from the investments made by their dad and mom and grandparents as they await the Nice Wealth Switch that guarantees to distribute, by some estimations, $124 trillion in inheritance to the youthful generations. Simply this 12 months, 91 heirs inherited a report $297.8 billion, in accordance with the UBS Billionaire Ambitions Report, a 36% improve from final 12 months.
Walden mentioned the Nice Wealth Switch is coming, however Gen Z and millennials shouldn’t depend on the loss of life of a cherished one to start their wealth acquisition journey in earnest.
“It’s exhausting to focus on when that’s going to come back, so I might argue to any younger person who I might be speaking to, have a plan, be according to the plan,” he mentioned.
