Skip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to right columnADVERTISEMENTThomas KentSun, June 7, 2026 at 2:45 PM GMT+2 11 min readMoneywise and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue through links in the content below.“I’m starting to not have sympathy for the boomers. I’m really not,” financial influencer Caleb Hammer told Joe Rogan on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience (1).“If you were 25 in 1990 and made an average U.S. salary for 40 years, saving 5% to 10% per month in the S&P 500, how much would they have now?” Rogan asked.He wasn’t expecting Hammer’s response.Top PicksHere’s how to get rich from rising US property values with as little as $100 — and without the stress of angry tenantsDave Ramsey warns nearly 50% of Americans are making 1 big Social Security mistake — here’s how to fix it ASAPThe IRS usually taxes gold as a collectible — but this little-known strategy lets you hold physical bullion tax-free. Get your free guide from Priority Gold“If they just put 5% to 10% a month aside, in the stock market that they had, that they had, they would be multimillionaires,” Hammer said.After initially cursing in surprise, Rogan asked Perplexity AI to confirm, and it responded: “They would have around $2 million to $5 million, depending on exact assumptions.”It’s a provocative claim, and one that’s likely to resonate with younger workers facing high housing costs and rising living expenses. After all, there’s a persistent cultural narrative that boomers have hoarded money and cut younger people out of both the job and housing market.But does the math actually support Hammer’s claim?Moneywise ran the numbersThe math is less explosive than the clip suggests.According to the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) national average wage index (2), the average wage in 1990 was $21,027.98. By 2024, that figure had risen to $69,846.57.For our calculations, Moneywise used annual S&P 500 total return data from Slickcharts (3) and assumed contributions were made at the end of each year — a conservative assumption, as many investors contribute monthly. Because the SSA’s wage index currently ends in 2024, we used the 2024 wage figure for 2025.Assuming that someone saved 5% of that average wage each year (in this example, they were making the national average wage) and invested it in the S&P 500 with dividends reinvested from 1990 through 2025, they’d have roughly $550,000 today, using year-end contributions. At a 10% savings rate, they’d have about $1.1 million.That’s substantial, but well below the $2 million to $5 million range Hammer referenced during the interview.For that kind of wealth, you’d likely need a combination of higher savings rates, above-average earnings, employer retirement matches, a longer investing timeline or stronger market assumptions. If these elements were factored into the AI calculations, they might account for some of the discrepancies.Terms and Privacy PolicyPrivacy & Cookie SettingsMore Info