The Great Wealth Transfer Is a Myth: Why Millennials Aren't Getting That Inheritance

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]So, let's talk about generations and the expected transfer of wealth that I don't believe is going to happen.

[00:00:08]So, first to set this up, the way the generations typically break down is this generation doesn't give birth, generally speaking, to the immediate next generation. There's a gap, right? So, if you're Gen X, chances are your parents are either the Silent Generation or older baby boomers.

[00:00:29]But, the Silent Generation, by and large, gave birth to Gen X. Okay?

[00:00:34]The boomers gave birth to the millennials, and the Gen Xers gave birth, once again, this is by and large, it's not across the board. The Gen Xers gave birth to the Gen Z's, okay?

[00:00:48]And and then so forth, and the millennials give birth to the Gen Alphas, and that's how that works.

[00:00:53]Now, there's an expected transfer of wealth, the great transfer of wealth, that is expected to go from the baby boomers, who are sitting on all of this money, to their heirs, uh which would be the millennials. So, these baby boomers that bought their house for $58 and a bucket of raspberries in 1950 whatever, are sitting on houses that are now worth, you know, six, seven, eight hundred thousand dollars, a mill- a million dollars, whatever, and it is it is widely believed that as the baby boomers die off, that money is going to be left behind to the millennials, and it's going to be called it's what they're calling this the great transfer of wealth.

[00:01:39]Sorry to the Gen Z's, us Gen Xers don't have all that wealth.

[00:01:43]Um I don't think that that transfer of wealth is going to happen, though.

[00:01:49]Because then it Listen, some people are going to have this weird transfer of what the not weird, but this big transfer of wealth.

[00:01:58]But sorry, I had the look the the the word weird in the back of my head because there's this weird aspect to this whole thing that tells me there isn't going to be a lot of money left for their kids. It seems to me like the people who are going to benefit the most from the baby boomers dying are going to be nursing homes, adult care facilities, 55 and old older communities.

[00:02:30]Uh but also the medical community as a whole.

[00:02:34]The boomers were you know, the free love generation. They were they were you know, treating their bodies like an amusement park before any of us even thought of it. And so they have met medical conditions that the medical community are going to are going to chew up. And then a lot of them are going to these 55 and older communities that chew up a lot of their money. And by the time it's all said and done with, their millennial children, I don't believe are going to have as much money left over as they think. I think that the great transfer of wealth from the boomers to the millennials is going to get chewed up by the system taking care of the boomers.

[00:03:12]And the thing about it is is that the boomers aren't even going to give a [ __ ] about it, right? They're going to be like, "Hey, it's my [ __ ] money. I made it. I'm going to use it to take care of myself in my golden years. [ __ ] you, right?" And to a degree, I kind of understand what that that thought process, but also to a degree, you know, as a parent, I I you know, I really want to be able to leave something behind for my kids.

[00:03:30]Um so it Listen, I don't have to worry about, you know, anybody chewing up my [ __ ] wealth. There isn't a whole lot of wealth to be had. Yeah, we've got assets and some money and whatnot and what have you, but not like the what the boomers are sitting on.

[00:03:46]And I think that the millennials are going to get [ __ ] over by the boomers one more time as they're walking out the door.