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Baby boomers own 72% of household wealth

Americans belonging to Generation X, millennials and Generation Z (all under age 55) "have faced stagnant economic growth," according to a Fox analysis.

baby boomers

(Pexels)

Published by
Verónica Silveri Pazos

Data from the Federal Reserve (FED) - pertaining to calculations of "the distribution of household wealth since 1989" - revealed that Americans over 55 years of age own 72% of the country's wealth.

A Fox report - which analyzed the data - concluded that citizens belonging to the baby boom generation (1946-1964) are becoming "wealthier, while younger people are falling behind". Likewise, he revealed that "those over 70 years of age own 30% of all the wealth" of the nation and indicated that this group experienced the greatest economic gain during the past year: $3.57 trillion.

"Stagnant growth"

According to the analysis, "younger generations, including Generation X, millennials and Generation Z (all under 55) have faced stagnant growth." EJ Antoni, an economist at The Herritage Foundation, told Fox that the younger generations "haven't had time to save money and buy a home, so they don't see the same kind of increase in wealth."

Federal Reserve data shows. The 25% of American households between 40 and 54 years old own only 20% of the country's wealth, while people under 40 years old get less than 7%. Together, these two groups represent 53.3% of all households, but only 27% of wealth.

Savings run out

Although baby boomers have great wealth compared to other age groups, a study by the San Francisco Federal Reserve indicated that Americans' savings in general were declining at a rapid pace as the prices of their basic expenses continue to increase.

The analysis exposed that during the pandemic (until June 2021), Americans experienced an "unprecedented" increase in their excess savings. However, households began spending this savings quickly in 2022, generating a loss of about $100 billion per month in withdrawals.

In March 2023, savings reached $2.1 trillion. In the updated estimates, the report revealed that in June, households had less than $190 billion of these surplus savings. The San Francisco Fed predicts that if withdrawals continue at the same pace, excess savings will dry up in the third quarter of 2023 (September):

Our updated estimates suggest households had less than $190 billion of aggregate surplus savings in June. There is considerable uncertainty in the outlook, but we estimate that these excess savings are likely to be depleted during the third quarter of 2023.
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