Sep 19, 2025
Millennials have been relentlessly mocked as the ‘broke’ generation. Struggling with student loans and unable to get on the property ladder, it’s easy to assume the entire cohort has missed out on any wealth-building opportunities.
But a recent study by the robo-investing platform Wealthfront reveals that many Americans in their 30s and 40s — the millennials— have actually outpaced other generations in wealth accumulation since the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Based on Federal Reserve data, Wealthfront estimates that the cohort’s total wealth quadrupled from $3.94 trillion in Q3 2019 to $16.21 trillion in Q3 2024. Meanwhile, Gen X saw their wealth climb just 57.9% and Baby Boomers saw their wealth jump 41.6% over this same period.
Meanwhile, the number of millennial millionaires in Wealthfront’s own user base increased 144% over the past five years. Put simply, quite a few Americans in this age group are shedding their ‘unlucky’ image and building prosperity.
While some of this could be thanks to the Great Wealth Transfer currently underway as millennials inherit wealth from their parents and grandparents, the report indicates there is at least one other factor contributing to millennial success: good investing habits.
Buying the dip
Based on Wealthfront’s analysis of its own user base, wealthy millennials have been successful thanks to time-tested investment strategies such as focusing on low-cost index funds, committing to investing on an ongoing basis to take advantage of dollar-cost averaging, and holding the course during periods of market volatility.
“Our millennial clients hold more than 90% of their invested Wealthfront assets in our globally diversified portfolios of low-cost ETFs,” the report’s authors state. [1]
This cohort is also not easily spooked by sudden dips in the market. In fact, ‘buy the dip’ has become a popular meme for retail investors of all ages, according to the Wall Street Journal. [2]
Wealthfront’s millennial clients have seen the stock market’s turbulence over the past five years as an opportunity rather than a risk.
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“When Covid-19 roiled financial markets in March 2020, the average monthly net deposits for millennials remained much steadier than those of older generations,” says the Wealthfront report.
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Time in the market beats timing the market
Regardless of your age, if you’re looking for investment success, the easiest way to improve your odds is to simply be more consistent.
Dollar-cost-averaging — investing a steady dollar amount on a recurring basis — allows you to buy more units of an index fund when the market dips and less when it’s frothy. In other words, it smooths out the volatility to a certain extent.
Instead of trying to pull back when the market looks overvalued, or waiting for a dramatic crash to invest, research suggests the best approach is to just consistently invest and ride out the volatility.
The S&P 500 has delivered a positive return in every 10-year rolling period over the past 82 years, according to analysis by Capital Group. [3]
A typical investor’s chances of a negative return are 33% if she remains invested for one year but that slides down to just 7% if she holds for five years and further down to 0% if she can hold for 10 years or more.
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To be fair, it’s easier to ride out the volatility when you’re younger. If you’re retired and don’t have much time to wait for markets to recover you may need a more conservative approach.
But if you’re younger or a millennial, a long-term and patient approach should serve you well.
Article sources
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[1]. Wealthfront. “How Millennials Have Thrived in the Five Years Since Covid-19”
[2]. Wall Street Journal). “A New Generation of ‘Buy the Dip’ Investors Is Propping Up the Market”
[3]. Capital Group. “Time, not timing, is what matters”
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Vishesh Raisinghani is a financial journalist covering personal finance, investing and the global economy. He's also the founder of Sharpe Ascension Inc., a content marketing agency focused on investment firms. His work has appeared in Moneywise, Yahoo Finance!, Motley Fool, Seeking Alpha, Mergers & Acquisitions Magazine and Piggybank.
