Pennies from Heaven: Will Inheritances Bail Out the Boomers?
Will inheritances play an important role in the financial security of boomers as they approach retirement? In this AARP Public Policy Institute (PPI) Data Digest, Mitja Ng-Baumhackl, John Gist and Carlos Figueiredo use recent data from the Federal Reserve Board to explore whether boomers are going to inherit large amounts of wealth from their parents, the implications for retirement security, and how inheritances might influence decisions to work and retire. While research published a decade ago suggests that boomers, as a group, will inherit as much as $10 trillion in the next few decades, this PPI research finds that, for most boomers, inheritances will remain an elusive, or small, contributor to their retirement security. (8 pages)