Generation But new research suggests there’s a massive wave of inheritances — larger than the entire US GDP — up for grabs in the next 10 years, and Generation X is the front-runner to get it.
By 2033, 1.2 million individuals worldwide with wealth of $5 million or more will pass more than $31 trillion to their heirs, according to 2033 estimates. A recent report from Wealth-X, a company that provides research and data on the world’s wealthy people. Individuals with wealth of $100 million or more – of which there are fewer than 40,000 globally – are expected to transfer nearly half of this wealth. Most of it goes to Generation X.
Over the past few years, millennials have emerged as the expected winners of the much-lauded Great Wealth Transfer Program, with older generations, mostly baby boomers, expected to hand over tens of trillions of dollars in wealth. (By 2045, $84 to $90 trillion is expected to be transferred between generations in the United States alone.) In the next 20 years, the shift in assets will make people born between 1981 and 1996 the richest generation in history, according to a 2024 report from Knight Frank, making millennials five times richer in 2030 than they were in the early 2020s. .
But a new report from Wealth-X suggests that young people will have to wait a little longer. At least in the short term, the heirs to the wealth of the rich and the super-rich will actually be those between the ages of 44 and 59. In North America alone, the total wealth coming from wealthy donors will exceed $14 billion.
“Much is often made in the media about the heirs of Millennials and Generation Z, but in reality, Generation X will be first in line to inherit from their wealthy parents,” the report said. “Younger Millennials and Generation Z, right now, are more likely to receive payments as grandchildren, which are often less significant.”
In general, Generation X was seen as having the short end of the financial stick. Generation
Additionally, unlike baby boomers, the vast majority of Gen
But although the new findings suggest there is a trove of wealth awaiting Generation X in the next decade, that inheritance may not be evenly distributed.
As of 2023, it takes a fortune of $5 million to join the ranks of the 1% in the United States, the minimum for those transferring wealth in the Wealth-X report. Furthermore, Generation X has the largest wealth gap of any current generation. While the top 25% of earners in this generation have $250,000 saved for retirement, the bottom quarter have just $35,000 saved, according to Report of the National Institute for Retirement Security.
However, the massive transfer of resources coming from the aging wealthy elite will have major implications for wealth managers, philanthropies and other organizations handling newly inherited money, Wealth-X reports. Generation X and their younger peers are more motivated by technological, environmental and social issues than previous generations of investors.
“Younger generations are more focused on philanthropy and foundations,” Darcy Villona, director of customer success at Altrata, said in the report. “This does not necessarily mean larger donations, but there is definitely stronger engagement and interest in wanting to get more involved in the organizations work and see their impact over time.”