The richest generation in history named: $90 trillion

Millennials will become “the richest generation in history,” inheriting tens of trillions (!) of dollars from their baby boomer parents over the next two decades.

Millennials will inherit a massive $90 trillion in property and equity assets from their parents, reports the Daily Mail.

Young people are struggling to reach the same milestones as previous generations. At the same time, the majority of homes in the United States are owned by older people amid rising housing prices

A gigantic redistribution of wealth over the next two decades will make millennials “the richest generation in history,” a new study says. In America alone, millennials will inherit a whopping $90 trillion in real estate, stocks and other assets over the next 20 years, according to consultancy Knight Frank’s annual wealth report.

Baby boomers – those born between 1946 and 1964 – and the so-called “silent generation” – Americans born between 1928 and 1946 – will “hand over the reins” to millennials born between 1980 and 1996, it says .

That’s because many young people—millennials and Gen Z adults—are struggling to reach the same milestones as previous generations.

Soaring inflation, student debt and an unaffordable housing market have made it difficult for many young people to buy their own home or build savings. About 90 percent of the housing stock is owned by people over 40, while 74 percent are owned by Americans over 50.

Baby boomers are famous for benefiting from high social mobility when housing prices were low and working conditions were good.

Data from the Federal Reserve and wealth management firm Cerulli Associates show U.S. household assets total $159 trillion.

Of this, boomers account for $78.1 trillion, while millennials account for only $13.3 trillion.

Meanwhile, the Silent Generation has a net worth of $18.6 trillion, while Generation X (those born between 1965 and 1980) has a net worth of $46 trillion.

In recent years, there has been a perception that young Americans are spending too much money on expensive coffee and avocado toast, writes the Daily Mail. But wealth inequality is largely explained by rising real estate prices, which have risen about 500 percent since 1983—when boomers were in their 20s and 30s and just starting to climb the property ladder.

Americans also spend twice as long in their homes before selling them, according to a recent report from real estate firm Redfin. The typical homeowner spends 11.5 years in their home today, up from 6.5 years two decades ago. Researchers said the trend is being driven by older homeowners who have no “financial incentive” to move. The shortage of housing on the market is also driving up prices.

However, this will change in the coming decades due to the so-called “great intergenerational transfer of wealth.”

But a separate report last year noted that the bulk of the “transfers” will be from one group of already wealthy people to another.

Cerulli Associates estimates that 68 percent of the wealth transferred between 2020 and 2045 will come from U.S. households with at least $1 million in investable assets. And only 6.9 percent of households initially possess such wealth.

Exorbitant health care costs for older people mean many families won’t inherit much, even if their relatives seem wealthy today, researchers say.