A typical economic pattern has taken a troubling turn, and it bodes poorly for people trying to build their futures.
Normally, people who have had time to accumulate appreciating assets, whether property, stocks, or retirement savings, can expect those assets to help grow their total wealth. Older Americans typically own more of those assets and benefit more from their appreciation. Younger Americans, meanwhile, are still working to build them up. So there is nothing inherently wrong with older people holding more wealth than younger people.
But an analysis by The Wall Street Journal complicates that picture.
Between 2022 and 2025, older Americans saw their wealth increase, while families headed by someone under 35 saw their inflation-adjusted median net worth decline by almost 25 percent. It is one thing for younger Americans to be starting behind. It is another for them to be moving backward.
Crazy WSJ data. Between 2022 and 2025, wealth increased 37% for Americans 75 and older, while **decreased** 23% for people under 35. https://t.co/g8hUUtWs66
— Andrew Kaczynski (@KFILE) October 9, 2026
According to Federal Reserve data analyzed by The Wall Street Journal, inflation-adjusted median net worth rose by 37 percent for families headed by someone 75 or older. Meanwhile, households headed by someone under 35 fell by 23 percent.
In other words, the American economy is pulling in two opposite directions: delivering substantial gains for older Americans while painting a troubling picture for those still trying to build their futures. The Wall Street Journal also noted that the share of young families falling behind on loan payments rose from 12 percent in 2022 to 20 percent in 2025, a shift that cannot simply be dismissed as poor spending habits.
Older households gaining wealth isn't a problem in itself. But when younger households are losing ground at the same time, complaints of unfairness become harder to dismiss.
Where does that unfairness lie? With government policy, of course.
Housing, a central route to building wealth, remains hard for younger Americans to buy, with restrictive zoning limiting home supply. Meanwhile, workers still building their savings finance retirement benefits for people who may already be far wealthier than they are, even as those workers face uncertainty about the benefits they will eventually receive. Prices remain high, everyday necessities feel increasingly unaffordable, and instead of hearing those pressures acknowledged, younger Americans are too often told that poor spending habits are to blame.
For anyone wondering why calls to tax the rich, or to tax wealth itself, have gained traction, that frustration may help explain the appeal.
The fix, as usual, is quite simple: let younger families keep what they earn instead of forcing them to fund other people’s lifestyles, and get the government out of the economy. That means building a genuinely free market.
If people ever take that advice, they may find that when individuals are primarily responsible for their own financial well-being, their eagerness to blame others begins to fade. Older Americans regularly lecture younger Americans about personal responsibility. Once government economic policy reflects that principle, they may be surprised to see individuals do the same.
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