The great Boomer hoard: Americans 55 and over hold $140 trillion, roughly three-quarters of total net worth
Source: Fortune ·
Older households' net worth rose more than 20% in two years on the back of an AI-fueled stock rally, and boomers hold most of it.
From the source
America’s older households sit on nearly $140 trillion in wealth, and much of it showed up recently. Households aged 55 and over held around three-quarters of the nation’s total net worth in the second quarter of 2026, according to an October 1 report from Bank of America Institute, based on an analysis of Federal Reserve data. “With equity markets rising strongly,” wrote senior economist David Michael Tinsley, those households have seen “a more than 20% increase in their net worth over the past two years.” That rally has run on AI. The Magnificent Seven accounted for more than half of the S&P 500’s gains last year, Fortune reported in April, and Goldman Sachs strategists found technology stocks drove 85% of the index’s return through mid-May this year. “AI-driven return has been the single most important structural driver of equity performance,” Capgemini’s Luca Russignan told Yahoo Finance in June. Boomers own 54% of all U.S. stocks. That’s a lopsided split. Americans 55 and over…