Middle-class Americans are asset poor: Report

Middle-class households in the U.S. own few financial assets and the median amounts held fall far short of the assets needed to fund a secure retirement, according to the National Institute on Retirement Security, a Washington-based, non-profit research and educational group.

In 2019, middle-class millennials owned only 14% of their generation’s financial assets, middle-class Gen Xers owned 8% of their generation’s financial assets, and baby boomers just 6%.

“In America, the middle class can no longer afford retirement,” said Tyler Bond, the group’s research manager. “Middle-class Americans face sharp economic inequality, with ownership of financial assets highly concentrated among the wealthy. The retirement outlook for many ... is bleak at best.”

For middle-class millennial households in 2019, the mean financial assets owned were $17,802, and the median was $7,800. Middle-class Generation X households had mean financial assets of $62,944, and median financial assets of $39,000. For middle-class baby boomers, the mean amount of financials assets held was $93,298 in 2019, while the median was only $51,700.