Topic
The passing of assets from older generations to heirs through inheritance, gifts and business succession, estimated at tens of trillions of dollars in the US.
U.S. Bank's 2026 Wealth Report has two-thirds of Gen Z and Millennials opening a brokerage account before a down payment. Its private wealth president says parents are closing the housing gap out of guilt.
Reality
About one in three American households ever inherits anything, so the $46,200 average that retirement plans quietly lean on describes a household the distribution does not contain, and the middle one receives nothing.
Reality
Blake Leonard and Jake Tavello already have the titles waiting for them, but the shoppers who stop Stew Jr. for selfies do not know their faces, and closing that gap is what the family's four-year schedule is actually for.
Reality
CBO has net federal interest passing $1 trillion in 2026 and reaching $2.1 trillion by 2036, which is the arithmetic that decides how much room Congress has to close the 2032 shortfall without touching payroll taxes or benefit formulas.
Reality
CRFB's return ratios describe cash that has already moved. What a planner can use is narrower: the 2032 date and the size of the cut that follows.
Reality