The great boomer hoard: Americans 55 and over hold $140 trillion, roughly three-quarters of total net worth

America's older households sit on nearly $140 trillion in wealth, and much of it showed up recently.

Households age 55 and over held around three-quarters of the nation's total net worth in the second quarter of 2026, according to an Oct. 1 report from Bank of America Institute , based on 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 make up about 31% of the population, according to Census Bureau estimates, but control roughly 75% of its net worth.

The pile gives many older Americans what the institute calls "considerable capacity to spend on travel and other leisure categories." Add their growing share of the population and their extra free time, and they become an increasingly influential market for businesses chasing consumer dollars. The BofA report focused mainly on the economic implications of a growing mass of older consumers, but the generational wealth composition was striking.

Most of this money belongs to boomers, whose members turn 62 through 80 this year . Census Bureau estimates put their number at about 68 million, which is roughly four in five Americans over 60 and about two-thirds of those 55 and over. They held $97.4 trillion in the second quarter, according to Federal Reserve data , about 52% of all U.S. household net worth and roughly 70% of the 55-plus total. They head only about 30% of households.

The findings reinforce a divide Fortune has been tracking: Older Americans' accumulated assets keep them spending after the paychecks stop, while younger households are still working to build wealth.

In March, Moody's chief economists said that people over 50 were doing the "bulk of spending." His summary: "They're driving the train."

Wall Street veteran Ed Yardeni has described the generational divide as a "G-shaped economy," a variation on the familiar K-shaped economy that sorts by age rather than income. Yardeni argued that accumulated retirement wealth was an increasingly important source of spending power.