Visa: Gen X and Millennials Have Built More Wealth Than Boomers Did

A new Visa Business and Economic Insights report says Gen X and millennials are actually building more wealth than boomers did at the same ages, even after inflation. That flips the usual “younger generations are broke” narrative and has real implications for spending, housing, and equities exposed to those cohorts.

What Visa actually found

The Visa report ends on an upbeat note: Gen Xers and millennials are faring better financially than boomers were at the same ages, with a higher per-capita net worth after adjusting for inflation, about $200,000 for the typical millennial and $600,000 for the median Gen Xer.

Younger generations are doing better partly because Gen Xers and millennials have had access to 401(k)-style retirement savings plans throughout their careers. The 401(k) caught on in the 1980s, after most boomers were well into their working lives.

The wealth transfer angle

Visa estimates $36 trillion in baby boomer wealth will pass to Gen X and millennial heirs over the next 20 years after subtracting liabilities, excluding the top 1 percent of households, and accounting for retirement spending, charitable bequests, taxes and fees.

That is a little over one-third of the $93 trillion headline figure, and the amount actually spent is estimated at $8 trillion, because most households receiving an inheritance are already affluent and likely to save or invest much of what they receive.

Younger cohorts are catching up fast

A 2024 report from the Center for American Progress found that the average wealth of under-40 Americans rose by 49% between the end of 2019 and the end of 2023, to an inflation-adjusted average net worth of $259,000, and millennials by themselves saw their wealth double in those years.

By contrast, wealth declined by 7% between 2019 and 2023 for Americans ages 40 to 54, a group dominated by Generation X, while wealth rose by 4% for Americans ages 55 to 69, mostly boomers.

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Where the money is likely to go

The $36 trillion in transferred wealth is projected to yield about $8 trillion in consumer spending, with much of that going toward cars, travel, housing and dining out. That is a fairly specific roadmap for anyone trying to figure out which consumer categories get a demographic tailwind.

The catch: boomers still hold the bag today. Federal Reserve data as of the third quarter of 2025 show the majority of U.S. wealth still belongs to boomers, while millennials and Gen Z hold only 12% of the country’s wealth.

Options market and stocks to watch

If the Visa framing is right, the beneficiaries are the sectors where younger, wealthier heirs actually spend and invest. A few names to keep on the radar:

• V: Visa itself, both as the source of the data and as a direct beneficiary of higher discretionary spend from wealthier Gen X and millennial households.
• BKNG and ABNB: Visa explicitly flags travel as a category expected to absorb inheritance-driven spend.
• DHI and LEN: Housing is the other big call-out, and homebuilders are the cleanest way to play a demographic bid.
• SCHW: With most inherited money expected to be saved or invested rather than spent, watch brokerages and asset gatherers for flows.

For more macro and market coverage, keep an eye on how these consumer and financial names trade around demographic data prints.

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