Are baby boomers richer than their parents? Intergenerational patterns of wealth ownership in the United States

This study compares wealth ownership anti mobility patterns among baby boom ers and their parents to explore whether the baby boomers have fared as wel l during their working years and whether they will be as secure in retireme nt as their parents, Cohort comparisons using survey data indicate that bab y boomers had accumulated more wealth as young adults than their parents ha d at a similar age. Estimates from a simulation model reveal that baby boom ers had more wealth than their actual same-sex parents at every stage of th e life course. The simulation model also reveals that baby boomers were con siderably more likely than their actual same-sex parents to experience up,c ard wraith mobility at each point in the life course. These results sugges t that speculations that baby boomers may be the first generation to do wor se than their parents are misleading.