Thirty, flirty, and thriving. Forget the dirty thirties: millennials are now entering their era of earning, and they’re only going to get richer as the largest wealth transfer of assets is already underway.
In a phenomenon dubbed the “Peak 35,” millennials in their 30s have now amassed a net worth that is four times as much as what they previously held, and financial experts says that’s due to the more than 70% of millennials who expect to or have inherited assets from their baby boomer families.
“I think the beautiful part about the ‘Peak 35’ is it puts us in a position that many generations haven’t been in before,” Gerald Grant III, a certified financial planner and financial advisor with Equitable Advisors, told Fortune. “When you start to think about this Great Wealth Transfer, yes, assets have been transferred before, but never to the extent that we see it now and never as intentional as we’ve seen it now.”
Millennials’ net worth has quadrupled in just five years, according to a report released by Equitable Advisors. Between late 2019 and late 2024, the total net worth of millennials went from $3.9 trillion to almost $16 trillion, and that’s just the start of a greater transfer of assets that yet to come as more baby boomers approach the retirement age.
With 4 million baby boomers turning 65 and roughly 4 million millennials turning 35 this year, Grant says it’s forcing a new kind of communication between generations that he hasn’t seen before.
“About 69% of people indicated that they’re already starting to have these inheritance conversations with parents. And in the past, that wasn’t the norm,” said Grant, who himself works alongside his father, Gerald Grant Jr., at Equitable. The two cowrote a book together in 2020 called The Power of Generational Wealth which looks at all of benefits and challenges that come with inheriting large amounts of wealth.
Like a ‘shiny red Ferrari’
This younger generation, Grant and the report said, is in a better position than ever to receive assets because they’re in communication with their elder generation. No longer is inheritance something that must be dealt with during the grieving process as a result of death. Rather, it’s a topic older generations are having with their younger counterparts to ensure an easier, more seamless transition—and help their children get a better footing life at an earlier age than waiting to transfer larger funds later in life.
“The analogy that we often use went like, if you have a nice shiny red Ferrari, would you want to give your kids the keys to it without teaching them how to drive it? And the answer really is no,” Grant said.
The transfer of wealth at an earlier age means millennials are no longer known as the “financially lost generation” and are quickly overtaking their baby boomer counterparts. The top 10% of millennials have accumulated on average 20% more wealth than the top 10% of baby boomers did at age 35. Millennials are far exceeding the savings rate of baby boomers at 35, with their accumulated wealth exceeding expectations by 37% in 2022.
However, the level of wealth disparity is also obvious with the new generation of 35-year-olds: the average millennial still has a net worth that is 30% less than their baby boomer relatives at the same age.
Because of the complexity of assets of what people are set to inherit—gone are the days when single family homes with white picket fences were the biggest asset passed on—Grant advises everyone, regardless of age or socioeconomic status, to sit with their parents and have these discussions.
And the numbers back it up: 70% of millennials expect to inherit assets from their families, and while 80% feel confident making smart financial decisions, only 27% feel capable when the situation becomes more complex, like mixing real estate assets with retirement and brokerage accounts.
