Experts say baby boomers will give more than $50 trillion to their heirs. But for many, health care costs will claim the bulk of that wealth.

The story goes that baby boomers are going to give tens of trillions of dollars to their heirs over the next few decades.

The “generational wealth transfer” has become a media fascination, both for its eye-popping size and because it might help younger generations as they face doubts about their financial security.

That shift is already in the works, and will continue for a couple of decades. According to wealth management firm Cerulli Associates, some $53 trillion will be passed down from boomers to their Gen X, millennial and Gen Z heirs, as well as to charities. That includes both gifts during their lifetimes and inheritances afterward.

But the overwhelming cost of health care for older people means most people in those later generations won’t inherit much, even if their elders seem well-off today.

  • @[email protected]
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    1661 year ago

    Well, if Gen X and Millennials wanted their own fortunes they should have planned ahead like boomers and been born back when a house cost $7,500.

    /sarcasm

    • Rhynoplaz
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      931 year ago

      Lazy millennials can’t even be born on time.

      • @Altofaltception
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        351 year ago

        Pull yourself up by the bootstraps and travel back in time.

        • Rhynoplaz
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          121 year ago

          Wait. What if these anonymous crypto whale accounts were created by future us shortly after we discovered time travel? We just don’t know we own them yet!

    • Endorkend
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      671 year ago

      Watching Married with Children and realizing this dude is working as a store clerk and supporting a family of 5 on that single wage without actually living paycheck to paycheck and then realizing this isn’t a fictional representation of the timeperiod, is really goddamn depresssing.

      In less than 40 years the inequality of wealth distribution and the cost of living has changed so drastically that then they could live on one paycheck and now you only get by with a minimum of two.