Guest Commentary By Randy Dennis, DD&F Consulting Group
The Millionaire and the Great Wealth Transfer
I suppose I should start with a confession. I am a baby boomer, born in 1953 near the midpoint of the boomer generation that spanned from 1946 to 1964. Coincidentally, RCA also introduced the first color TV in the year of my birth. Personally, I wouldn’t witness color TV for many years because our living room was graced with a 19" Zenith black-and-white television, which served me well for cartoons and other viewing.
Two years aſter I was born, a very popular TV show was introduced that captured the imagination of the American viewing public — “Te Millionaire.” People say a 2-year-old child couldn’t possibly remember anything until he or she is much older (and that may be true), but one of my earliest memories of TV is this show. Te five- season series ran until 1960, and every episode began
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with John Beresford Tipton, a secretive multimillionaire (who we heard but never got to see) calling in his executive secretary, Michael Anthony, and instructing him to give a check for $1 million (tax-free) to someone who Tipton had never even met. Te only conditions were that the recipient could never reveal the source or amount of the money on the penalty of losing the giſt.
Why people liked this show so much, I can’t say. Perhaps it was because the concise 30-minute shows illustrated the good and bad outcomes that come from instant wealth. Alternatively, it may have been because the show invited our families into a world of fantasy where they could dream about a person like Michael Anthony knocking on their doors and imagine what they would do with all that money.
I have another confession. Tis article isn’t about a fantasy world. It’s about an impending reality facing our generation — a reality that has been largely overlooked by banks. An extraordinary fortune will pass from the baby-boom generation to their families, spouses and children (Gen Xers and millennials). You may be wondering, “How much of a fortune?” Tis isn’t a $1 million check but rather a king’s ransom in the vicinity of $68 trillion of cash and assets in North America alone. Tat’s 68 times a million times a million, or a whole lot of “Millionaire” episodes.
Tis transition has been dubbed the “Great Wealth
Transfer” and the “Silver Tsunami,” but the potential effects of the wealth changeover are hard to wrap our mind around. Practically, the boomers won’t all die at once (at least I hope not), so the passing of assets will average about $1.5 trillion to $3 trillion every five years through 2050.
Te most valuable legacy of these assets, though, extends beyond the real estate or dollars being transferred. Tis legacy includes the boomer’s family values, business acumen and knowledge. Every one of us passing an inheritance should be concerned that the next generation understands the key skills required to be successful in business and life
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