As America’s first baby boomers begin turning 80, a generation that rode decades of economic good fortune is entering a new, more uncertain chapter—one that will shape not just their own retirements, but the future of wealth, housing and opportunity for everyone who follows.
On January 1, 2026, the leading edge of the Baby Boom generation reached a symbolic and practical threshold: age 80. Born between 1946 and 1964, Boomers now sit at the intersection of longevity, wealth, and rising financial risk. They are living longer than any previous generation, often with more assets than their parents ever imagined—but also with costs and responsibilities that few fully anticipated.
Boomers are aging while holding an extraordinary share of the country’s money and property. As of early 2025, Americans in this generation controlled more than half of all U.S. household wealth, with a combined net worth of about $82 trillion. That figure dwarfs the roughly $42 trillion held by their counterparts in Gen X and the $16 trillion belonging to Millennials.
Those numbers alone suggest a dramatic story, but they only hint at how that wealth was built—and how it may be spent, transferred, or lost in the years ahead.
How Boomers Became the Wealthiest Americans Ever
The financial dominance of Baby Boomers did not happen by accident. Rather, it was the result of a rare convergence of economic conditions that has worked by-and-large in their favor for much of their adult lives.
Steven Rogé, chief investment officer and CEO of R.W. Rogé & Company, a Long Island-based financial planning firm, told Newsweek that Boomers “became the wealthiest cohort in U.S. history because they caught several tailwinds at once and kept them for decades.” Those tailwinds included a broad expansion in postwar wages, strong unions, and a labor market in which workers captured a larger share of national income than they do today.
Housing was another cornerstone. Rogé said “homeownership was both accessible and subsidized, so millions bought houses early, then rode a 40-year decline in mortgage rates that lifted prices and freed cash through refinancing cycles.” What began as modest starter homes in the 1970s or 1980s became some of the most valuable household assets in the country.
Education—and the ability to access it for an affordable sum—also helped them along the way. College access expanded “through public universities and grants when tuition was far lower, which raised lifetime earnings without burying graduates in debt,” Rogé explained. For many Boomers, higher education boosted income potential without creating the financial drag that plagues so many loan-burdened workers today.
With more money to spend, tax and investment policy amplified those advantages. “Tax policy rewarded capital formation, and capital markets delivered a long run of disinflation and multiple expansion,” Rogé said. In practical terms, that meant stocks, bonds, and real estate rose steadily while borrowing costs fell, allowing wealth to compound for decades.
Beyond policy and markets, there was also a cultural element to the enormous accumulation of Boomer wealth. Adam Spiegelman, founder of Spiegelman Wealth Management, traces it back to the generation before them.
“Baby Boomers grew up in households shaped by the Great Depression, and that experience mattered,” he told Newsweek. “Their parents had nothing, so saving wasn’t optional, it was the norm. Boomers learned early to live below their means, avoid excess, and consistently put money away.”
Spiegelman said the lower cost of living and fewer lifestyle pressures during the Boomers’ early years. Housing, transportation, and everyday expenses consumed less of household income, while “lavish spending didn’t really take hold until the 1980s.” Combined with pensions and employer benefits that were more generous than those available today, that frugal foundation turned into lasting financial security for many families.
Housing, Aging in Place, and Market Bottlenecks
Boomer wealth is not just large—it is also concentrated, especially in housing. That has consequences for the wider economy.
“Older homeowners are aging in place because moving often means dramatically higher property taxes and costs,” Spiegelman explained. In states with tax systems that reward long-term ownership, selling and buying a new home can be financially punishing, so people stay put even when their needs change.
That lack of turnover tightens supply and pushes prices higher for younger buyers. As Spiegelman put it, “the most tax-efficient way to transfer a home is through death, not sale,” a structure that encourages families to hold onto properties rather than circulate them through the market.
Jeremy Savory, founder of Millionaire Migrant, told Newsweek this has turned housing into both a retirement nest egg and a barrier to mobility. With Boomers holding onto valuable properties longer, “wealth has become more concentrated, particularly in housing, limiting supply and pushing prices further out of reach for younger buyers.”
Retirement in the Era of Longer Lives
But turning 80 today is not what it once was. Many Boomers can expect to live well into their 80s or 90s, a testament to medical progress—but also a financial challenge, particularly in an era of rising healthcare costs that can quickly eat into later life savings.
“The system is breaking down,” Spiegelman warned. “People are living longer, but Medicare doesn’t cover long-term care, healthcare costs are exploding, and most families are completely unprepared.” Without adequate insurance or government support, retirees may have to drain their savings, sell their homes, or even face bankruptcy to pay for long term care.
This burden often trickles down to younger loved ones. Those in midlife—the so-called sandwich generation—often find themselves supporting aging parents while still raising children, a dynamic Spiegelman says “is only going to get worse.” A 2025 study by the Allianz Center for the Future of Retirement found that three in four members of the “sandwich generation”—75 percent—said it was hard for them to juggle their financial needs and goals for exactly this reason.
Younger Generations Face a Different Reality
While Boomers benefited from steady wage growth and expanding opportunity, it would be an understatement to say their children and grandchildren entered adulthood in a much tougher environment.
“Opportunities for Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z look different,” Rogé said. He points to uneven wage growth, housing prices that have risen faster than incomes, and student debt that now eats into what might otherwise be a down payment or retirement contribution. “Younger households entered markets later and often rented longer, which shortened their compounding runway.”
“The system has changed, and so have the outcomes,” Spiegelman said. Where a single 9-to-5 job once could support a family and a retirement, younger adults now face higher costs, slower income growth, and constant pressure to spend. Delayed marriage and childbearing, combined with heavy debt, mean fewer years on the table to save and invest.
In terms of buying homes, the picture is remarkably different. According to Statista, in 1985—a time when many Boomers were buying property—the median household income in the United States was $23,620, while the median price of a new home was $84,300: about 3.6 times the typical household’s income.
By 2023, median household income had risen 241 percent to $80,610, but the median price of a new home had climbed 408 percent to $428,600. That means the typical new home now costs about 5.3 times the median household income.
The Great Wealth Transfer
Over the next decade or two, that dynamic may begin to shift. Spiegelman expects “significant turnover” as homes are sold to pay for care, transferred to children, or liquidated to settle estates. In families with multiple heirs, selling may be the only way to divide assets fairly. This is unlikely to transpire as a sudden flood of property listings, but over time, it could ease supply constraints and has the potential to reshape regional housing markets.
Still, the long-anticipated “great wealth transfer” may not deliver what many expect or hope for. “A large portion of Boomer wealth is likely to be consumed by healthcare and caregiving costs,” Spiegelman said. The cost of long illnesses and care, taxes, and rules requiring inherited retirement accounts to be withdrawn within 10 years mean that “net inheritance shrinks quickly. Many families will be surprised by how little remains.”
As a result, he believes the idea that this transfer will dramatically reduce inequality is a tad overstated. “While large sums will move, much of it will be absorbed,” he said. For many families, what remains may be far less than anticipated.
“Some extremes will exist, but for most families, this won’t create sudden wealth or dramatically widen divides. Instead, it’s more likely to expose how much of the system consumes wealth before it ever reaches the next generation.”
Are you a Baby Boomer navigating retirement, housing decisions, or passing wealth to the next generation? Or are you a Gen Xer watching the coming wealth transfer unfold from the other side? To share your side of the story, email a.higham@newsweek.com
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