It may seem an unlikely figure. After all, lots of pensioners don't have all that much in the bank. But a great many of them do have a house. A house they bought decades ago, when the average property went for a fiver and a packet of crisps, but has since rocketed in value to mind-boggling heights. When they die, therefore, their children will be able to stick it on the market, and rake in the handsome proceeds. Obviously there's inheritance tax, capital gains and so on. But there should still be a fair whack left over. And since the Boomers are by far the richest generation in history, their children will receive by far the biggest inheritance in history.
This windfall will change our society forever, for several reasons – but not all of them good. First, because the windfall won't be equal. Some millennials will become rich overnight, while those who were born to poorer parents will get nothing. This is bound to make our society even more bitter, resentful and divided than it is now. Because instead of attacking Boomers, millennials will be attacking each other. "How can it be fair that you inherit a fortune, and I'm still penniless?" they'll scream. "You did nothing to earn that money. Why should you get to buy yourself some big fancy house, or retire early?"
The Great Wealth Transfer may also have a dramatic effect on our politics. Put it like this. Once they inherit wealth and property, today's left-wing millennials may suddenly decide they aren't so keen on socialism after all. Finally they may detect one or two upsides to capitalism, now that they have some capital of their own.
And so, to their horror, they may find themselves afflicted by a creeping temptation to vote Conservative. And not only that. Once they've used their Boomer windfall to buy a nice house, they may start to reconsider their constant demands for mass house-building. Out of nowhere, they may discover a deep and heartfelt passion for protecting our precious green spaces, and for preventing property developers from ruining our beautiful countryside (or at least, from ruining the view from their own houses). In short: today's Yimbys may become tomorrow's Nimbys.
Of course, it's possible that the Great Wealth Transfer won't be quite as great as experts imagine. For one thing, much of the Boomers' wealth may ultimately get swallowed up by the costs of their care. And future Labour governments may increase inheritance tax. In which case, millennials won't inherit very much after all.
Then again, millennials are overwhelmingly Labour voters. And if a Labour government threatens to slash their inheritance, they may threaten to stop being Labour voters. So, just as Conservative governments have repeatedly shrunk from the wrath of the Boomers, Labour governments may shrink from the wrath of the millennials.
Whatever happens, it's bound to be bumpy. And it should confound at least one ageist prejudice.
Many of today's angry young left-wingers tell themselves that once these Tory-voting Boomers are out of the way, they'll finally be able to build a fair, just and equal society. But in reality, the demise of the Boomers may make society more unequal than ever.
