In 2023, American Baby Boomers owned 52% of the country’s net wealth despite comprising only 20% of the population.
Based on Federal Reserve data, this graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti, illustrates the distribution of wealth in the United States from 1990 to 2023 by generation.
Generations are defined by birth year:
- Silent Generation (born before 1946)
- Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964)
- Gen Xers (born 1965-1980)
- Millennials (born 1981-1996)
Baby Boomers Own Over Half of the Wealth
Baby Boomers are often considered one of the luckier generations in terms of timing.
Most did not experience wars and benefited from strong economic growth driven by falling interest rates, a roaring stock market, global monetary expansion, and high earnings. Consequently, this group’s wealth grew from $4.5 trillion in 1990 to $76.2 trillion in 2023.
Meanwhile, Gen X’s share of American wealth rose from 15% in 2013 to 26% in 2023. In contrast, with most of the cohort over 80 years old, the Silent Generation saw its share of the national wealth total drop from 79% in 1990 to 13% in 2024.
Contrary to their ‘broke generation’ label, millennials have defied expectations. They saw their wealth reach historic highs after the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing more wealth by their 40s than previous generations. In a significant leap, millennials’ share of wealth in America increased from a modest 1.4% to a promising 9.2% between 1990 and 2023.
If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out this graphic, which shows the retirement savings that Americans currently hold.
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If you look at the retirement savings graphic, it would seem logical deflation is on the menu.
Old people always have more money than young people.
I looked at the wealthy old men when I was young and admired their success. They were the guys with the big luxury cars, country club memberships, nice big homes and I wanted to work hard and achieve that kind of wealth. We never blamed them for the fact that all us young’uns didn’t have two nickels to rub together. We would never have had the thought that they had selfishly acquired wealth at the expense of the younger generation.
They had a saying back then, “Life begins at 40”, which sounded like a eternity before you reached the age of success.
And they will that wealth to their children.
No mystery.
bequest
Bequeath … but will is also correct …
Yeah but people are living longer (at least up until covid) and the younger generation doesn’t want to wait until they are in their late fifties or even sixties to inherit. I have an ex-brother-in law that actually went to his parents and demanded his inheritance while they were still alive. He got nothing at that time.
HaHaHa, nobody wants to wait.
A gross generalization.
Plenty of boomer have nothing saved for retirement.
Over half of boomers have less than $250,000 saved and plan to rely mostly on Social Security for income.
About 20% of adults 50 years of age or older have no retirement savings,
One item that puts this in perspective is that the Boomer generation was the last to have widespread access to workplace pensions. With expected retirement income from pensions, many Boomers didn’t feel the need to save as much as succeeding generations.
It’s all the rich jew oligarchs skewing the average. Averages are pretty useless for this kind of analysis.
The advent of 401 K’s are IRA’s being non-taxable and big penalties for early withdrawal is what made older people richer right now. Company paid pensions didn’t accrue to you personally but enriched the companies you worked for all those years. Law of unintended consequences. But remember all that money is not yours, the government is probably eventually going to get 25% of it as you withdraw it.
I will also agree the steep increase in home values has contributed to the wealth of older people due to government policies again on lending, mortgages and inflation, just like the the debt of college has reduce the younger generations building wealth. Again unintended consequences of government policies.
Not many of us Silents left. It is hard to accumulate wealth when you spend it faster than you get it. Like Democrats.
Cliff, Silents retired 20-30 years ago and they got a very small SS checks compared to Boomers. COLA increases helped them but only to keep up with inflation, sometimes not.
Any COLA is eaten up by Medicare increases theses days. My final checks are less than when I retired.
So … just for the hell of it … let’s see the same sort of graph for, say, 25 years ago … and 50 years ago … comparing the generations.
much more important the generational wealth differences is the simple fact that a few dozen people own half the wealth described on that chart , all by themselves.
I sure as fuck ain’t in that 52% with all the spare money….and I know many in the same situation as myself….not all of us boomers thought money was the be all and end all of life.
…for we walk by faith; and not by sight.
From glory to glory.
Yeah a got caught between company paid pensions that were ended so are small and 401k’s which I wasn’t offered until I was in my forties. So I saved less than most, and still got smaller pensions than most. And I made the max contribution when available most of my working life.
You ain’t supposed to point that out about us. We boomers are the designated villain on whom everything must be blamed.
How you thinking about that decision now?
In a central banking controlled Democracy 99% of the population own half the wealth. In central banking controlled Communist regime, 6 or 7 people of the Jewish persuasion control all wealth and the lives of all Goyim. National Socialism bypasses central banking and bases the economy on real world product. Allowing for all honest working people to realize a higher standard of living and a higher moral code than the other 2 aforementioned political systems can realize. When any national leader and nation bypass central banking, suddenly Jewish controlled Communism and Jewish controlled Capitalism are no longer at opposition, but united in falsely accusing and destroying National Socialism. Few people want to engage in conversation beyond mainstream narratives and indoctrination. Until we do, we wall off and quarantine the better parts of our minds and souls. To do so would reach much further beyond the parameters of our Abrahamic indoctrination.
Now adjust it for the “per capita” Head count. The boomers are a huge Bulge compared to the others so they have combined, a lot more. When adjusted you will find they nearly all match as they age except of the Silent generation. They had deprivation of two world wars and the great depression to asset strip them of wealth.
Problem with data is most can’t seem pull it together. If you can read it says that SG had 80% in 1990. Let’s see why that dropped. Hmm. Well maybe it’s because a large part of the cohort has passed away since then.
Why is this news? Boomers are either at or have passed the peak of their earning years and have been saving for retirement for at least 20 years. Plus they are the beneficiaries of whatever wealth was accumulated by their parents, who are almost all gone. Much ado about nothing.
Tyler means that boomers own a larger percentage of the 5% of wealth that remains if he counts the 95% of wealth held by a few dozen oligarchs.