Growing Wealth Gap Between Old and Young

The old are wealthier than the young, a pattern that has long been true. But the gap is growing, according to an analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances, researchers compared median wealth in 1989 and 2013 for households in three broad age groups. Here are the trends (in 2013 dollars)...

Old (aged 62+): +40%
Median wealth in 2013: $209,590
Median wealth in 1989: $149,728

Middle-aged (aged 40-61): –31%
Median wealth in 2013: $106,094
Median wealth in 1989: $153,759

Young (under age 40): –28%
Median wealth in 2013: $14,220
Median wealth in 1989: $19,830

The old are doing better, and the middle-aged and young are falling behind. There's more bad news: "Baby boomers, who are now retiring in droves, are likely to be less well-off than their 'old' counterparts in the two previous generations," the Fed researchers conclude. "And it looks as if members of the next two generations—Generation X and Generation Y (the millennials)—might also end up less wealthy than the generation before them."

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, The Demographics of Wealth—How Age, Education and Race Separate Thrivers from Strugglers in Today's Economy, Essay No. 3: Age, Birth Year and Wealth