DrWebWhy baby boomers are the wealthiest generation – The Washington Post
How baby boomers got so rich and why their kids are unlikely to catch up
The wealthiest generation holds more than $85 trillion in assets thanks to economic conditions Gen X, millennials and others would be hard-pressed to replicate.
November 18, 2025 at 5:00 a.m. EST, Yesterday at 5:00 a.m. EST, 7 min
(Washington Post illustration; iStock)By Shannon Najmabadi and Federica Cocco
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The reasons come down to timing and time: Americans 75 and older bought homes and invested in stocks well before such assets exploded in value, according to Edward Wolff, an economics professor at New York University. In a working paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research, he examined the four decades between 1983 and 2022 when those older boomers saw their wealth climb and their younger peers recorded relative declines.
“It’s astonishing how their relative wealth has taken off in the last 30-plus years,” Wolff said. “They started out as among the poorest groups in terms of wealth back in 1983.”
The wealth of baby boomers — especially those in retirement —is a reflection of the uniquely favorable economic conditions that occurred during their working lives, Wolff and other economists said. So much so that it would be difficult for younger generations to emulate, especially as they are more likely to be weighed down by debt or child care costs.
Housing costs also factor into the widening divide between baby boomers (born from 1946 to 1964) and everyone else, experts say. Generation X (1965 to 1980), millennials (1981 to 1996) and their successors increasingly dedicate a bigger portion of their budgets to mortgage or rent.
People might assume boomers’ wealth reflects superior financial decision-making, if they don’t consider the historical context that allowed boomers to build their wealth over decades, said Olivia Mitchell, professor of business economics and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
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