MBA Stack
The great generational shift

The Boomer Business Bomb

Baby Boomers own 40% of all U.S. small businesses and franchises. Here is what happens to America as the generations turn over.

MBA Stack · Infographic
01

Boomer-owned businesses are thriving

2.3Msmall businesses owned by Baby Boomers
35%have operated for 10+ years
3 in 4are currently profitable
25Mpeople they employ

Top industries for Boomer-owned businesses

share of businesses
Business services 13%
Retail 13%
Construction / contractor 12%
Residential & commercial services 9%
Food & restaurant 9%
Up to 1 in 3 Americans rely on income from a Boomer-owned business.
10,000

Baby Boomers retire every single day.

03

What happens when the owners retire?

58%of small-business owners have no succession plan
75%of them say it’s because they still enjoy running it
45%of Boomers have no retirement savings at all

Why selling is harder than it looks

  • Retirement is getting more expensiveHealthcare for a retired couple has climbed 88% over 20 years, to about $300,000. Long-term care costs are up as much as 60% since 2004.
  • Most firms are too small for private equityIn 2018, PE firms sat on $600B of uninvested capital — a 34% jump from a decade earlier — but rarely look at Main Street businesses.
  • The M&A market whipsawedGlobal M&A fell 16% in 2019 to its lowest since 2016, then U.S. deals rebounded 55% in 2021 to a record $2.9 trillion.
  • Millennials rarely take over the family businessMore career options, a desire for flexibility, and a pull toward tech, healthcare, media, and operations.
Golden years, golden opportunity
  • Established, profitable businesses with loyal local customers
  • Buying one can beat starting from scratch
  • Owners want a reliable successor who keeps their staff
$72.6T

in wealth Boomers will sell or pass on by 2045 — 2× a decade ago, and 3× U.S. GDP.

05

The great wealth transfer

$68Texpected to pass to adult children
$11.9Tto charities — 14% of the total
$220Kaverage per Gen X / Millennial

What that inheritance creates

  • A wave of new real-estate investors
  • Buyers for big-ticket items
  • Fresh clientele for financial advisors and banks

What we learned

Questions MBA Stack already answered — each card points at the source.

How much does an MBA cost?

Cost of attendance is the aid office’s official budget: tuition and fees plus books, travel, and living. It is the federal-aid ceiling, not an invoice.

Research source glossary cost-of-attendance

Cost & ROI

What is MBA ROI?

A constructed ratio: incremental pay over a named period, net of a named cost, divided by that cost. College Scorecard does not publish MBA ROI. Name every input.

Research source glossary mba-roi

Cost & ROI

What is opportunity cost of an MBA?

The wages you do not earn while you are in school, plus the raises that path would have produced. Often larger than tuition.

Research source glossary opportunity-cost

Cost & ROI

What is the cheapest accredited online MBA?

Start with the most-affordable ranking, then check accreditation and outcomes. Cheap without a score is a brochure.

Research source most-affordable-online-mba

Cost & ROIOnline MBA

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