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🌊 How Boomers Became So Rich

Tax loopholes will help boomers pass on $84,000,000,000,000 by 2045

April 04, 2025

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By Barratt Dewey

$84,000,000,000,000.

This ($84T) is a sum larger than the national GDP of any country. It is roughly three times the size of the United States’ GDP and around 75% of the entire world’s. 

It is also the amount of assets baby boomers are projected to pass on to their children and grandchildren by 2045. This – the “Great Wealth Transfer” – will mark the single largest wealth transfer in history, accounting for 63% of all global financial transfers in that period.

How did the one generation accumulate such a vast sum of money? Who will benefit next? In this deep-dive, we investigate the causes of the Great Wealth Transfer and how its consequences could impact America for decades to come.

The baby boomer generation – born between 1946 and 1964 – is America’s richest, holding approximately 52% of the country’s wealth despite making up 20% of the population. The Silent Generation, born before 1946, accounts for 13% of the wealth and less than 5% of the population. The post-World War II economy is a major reason why.

Following World War II, America enjoyed an extraordinary economic boom. While much of the industrial world recovered from the war’s devastation, the US built and sold like crazy, at one point controlling over 50% of global GDP. Manufacturing thrived, creating millions of well-paying jobs with strong benefits, while unemployment remained consistently low.

Housing was remarkably affordable by today's standards. In 1980, when most boomers were in their 20s and 30s, the median home price was under $47,000, less than double the average annual income. Home prices have since risen by up to 800%, both generating a windfall for boomers who owned homes and pricing younger buyers out of the market. In many states, the average home now costs five to eight times the average income. 

Education was also affordable: The average student loan balance in 1970 (adjusted for inflation) was approximately $8,000 in today's dollars – far lower than the $38,000 average for 2024 graduates.

And boomers invested before the boom: Between 1950 and 2020, the S&P 500 delivered an inflation-adjusted annual return of approximately 7.9%. Those who invested early reaped huge returns, which have continued to compound.

In other words, boomers could get affordable education, buy affordable housing, invest their earnings in stocks – and sit back and reap the dividends. 

The result of this was a wealth increase unparalleled in history: Today, boomers hold over half of the nation’s $161T total wealth, and therefore more than the next three generations combined.

In the coming decades, though, older people will pass away, transferring their $84T to their heirs. In the process, the economy will be reshaped. In the rest of this deep-dive, we look at who will reap the dividends of the Great Wealth Transfer.

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Editor’s Note

Thank you for reading! Please send in your thoughts on today’s deep-dive. Do you think the Great Wealth Transfer will have a positive effect on our economy? Are its impacts overstated?

For anyone who missed our recent deep-dives, here are our last five: 

We got a ton of emails in response to yesterday’s report on MAGA’s split over Israel. Below is a selection of those replies.

Christian wrote:

As a MAGA supporter, I find it rather interesting and also quite ironic that the party that often says they are built on common sense and ending wokeness are straying away from such values. It seems that ending wokeness has evolved (or perhaps devolved) into conspiracy theory platforms in some cases. While I like a good conspiracy as much as the next guy, I think many of them are false and certainly not something someone should base a platform on. In the case of the Epstein and Israel stuff, I have yet to see an extensive bundle of evidence of it being true, and therefore it seems that it should not be heeded as pure fact and certainly not enough to start a war amongst people that otherwise share a lot of values and goals. As a last point, if someone is a self proclaimed historian and they said Hitler never made public anti-Semitic comments, I would hesitate to listen to anything they say, and I would hope that the people listening are free-thinking enough to realize that he is likely full of crap. If RFK can agree to disagree with Trump for the shared goal they have, then the MAGA movement should be able to do the same over Israel and put their focus on America first. Afterall, that is what they claim to stand for overall.

Shay from Houston wrote:

I listened to parts of the Theo Von podcast with Candace Owens. It was interesting listening to her either lie through her teeth or conveniently hide the truth. Israel isn’t even in the top 10 countries who spent money on lobbying in the US in 2024. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are, though.

She seems to know a lot about foreign governments paying people off to sway our politics in their favor. How do we know she and Tucker are not getting paid to push these narratives by governments who are trying to further their agendas for one reason or another? Something seems a little fishy for their inexplicable change of heart. Especially when they stand to make money, gain power, and potentially protection from whatever happens.

And Nick from Michigan wrote:

I've found in recent times that the classic black and white view of our World is in place to keep the ignorant combative with each other. As you employ greater critical thought fueled by historical awareness, it becomes clear that we are purposely being polarized into "this or that", which is encapsulated by the Israel vrs. Palestine debate. If you support Israel, you are commonly on the right. If you support Palestine, you are commonly on the left. So what if you did vote Trump and don't support Israel, but also understand the dynamics of the Middle East and don't support Hamas either? You find yourself in a weird niche being attacked by both sides that shouldn't be a niche at all. If critical thinking puts you out of alignment with the two camps we are told to be in, then let's start a new one. Keep up the good work boys. 

That’s all. Happy Friday!

–Max and Max