By Randy Myers
Researchers once feared millennials would become America’s next “lost generation,” less wealthy than those who came before them. Current data suggest that hasn’t happened. Indeed, Americans born between 1981 and 1996 are doing well compared to their predecessors. Yet last year, only about a third of millennials were confident their retirement savings were on track, according to research consultant Ana Hernández Kent. That pessimistic outlook provides an opening for the stable value industry.
“Even though millennials have higher wealth than older generations at the same age, and more retirement savings, very few believe they’re on track,” Kent explained at the 2025 SVIA Fall Forum in Washington, D.C.
Stable value investing could address that disconnect and give the group confidence that their retirement assets are going to be safe for the next 30 to 40 years when they need them. Stable value could be particularly appealing to millennials given that many don’t believe the country’s social safety net will be as strong when they retire as it was for their parents and grandparents.
Demographics Matter
When considering how millennials and those born just before and after them will need to save and invest for retirement, Kent argued that it is helpful to understand how demographic differences create distinct challenges and opportunities. Those issues have informed her work throughout her career, including her role as a senior researcher at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and, more recently, as head of her own firm, A|K Research and Consulting.
Kent’s research suggests that retirement plan design, marketing, and advice should revolve around the saver who exists, not the one we imagine. A useful starting point is wealth. In the second quarter of 2025, the top 10% of U.S. households by wealth had an average net worth of $8.4 million, while the bottom 50% averaged roughly $62,000. But averages can be misleading, Kent cautioned, especially for those at the bottom of the scale. While the average household appears fairly wealthy, she noted, it’s not typical—the net worth of the “average” household in 2022 was actually higher, at just over $1 million, than it was for those in the 80th percentile, whose net worth was just shy of $900,000. (The median net worth that year, by contrast, was $192,084.)
Averages also can mask the challenges facing the poorest households. In any given survey year, Kent said, about 10% of U.S. households have no wealth—a negative net worth. Even in the 20th percentile, net worth hovers only around $13,500. At the median, it’s under $200,000.
Given the limitations of averages, Kent urged plan communicators to favor medians when describing retirement readiness, arguing that medians better reflect what most workers experience and can keep savers from disengaging when headline “averages” feel unattainable.
Millennials Saving More But Still Worrying
Many of the numbers for millennials look surprisingly good given expectations just a decade ago. At an average age of 34 to 35, millennials’ median wealth—about $96,500—now exceeds what previous generations held at comparable ages: $84,000 for Gen Xers and $62,800 for Boomers (both figures are adjusted for inflation). Momentum has cooled somewhat since a 2019–2022 surge in wealth, but the relative ranking remains intact.
Trends in retirement plan participation point in the same direction. By their mid-30s, roughly six in 10 millennials have retirement assets, and a conditional median balance of $31,400 puts their savings on par with Gen X ($31,196) and well above the $12,911 held by Boomers—again, with all figures adjusted for inflation. Confidence, however, is less linear. In 2022, about two-thirds of millennials said they expected retirement income sufficient to maintain their living standards, but by late 2024, in a different survey only 35% said their retirement savings were currently on track.
In terms of how they invest, millennials are more likely than boomers and Gen Xers to own stocks outside a retirement plan. Equities made up about 5.5% of baby boomers’ household assets at age 35, compared with 10.7% for Gen X and 16.9% for millennials. Kent suggested that millennials have benefited from greater access to low-friction digital investment platforms and a broader cultural familiarity with investing than earlier generations.
Leakage from retirement plans and gaps in retirement readiness remain challenges for many Americans saving for retirement, including millennials. In 2024, about 8% of millennials reported borrowing from or cashing out retirement accounts in the prior 12 months. At the same time, only about a third said they felt mostly comfortable choosing and managing investments.
What should the stable value community do with all these findings? For starters, speak the language of stability, Kent urged. For many lower-wealth workers, “wealth” is an abstraction, but stability is concrete—especially if they are living paycheck to paycheck. Stable value, Kent said, speaks directly to that concern.