Assortative mating, wealth holdings and intergenerational transfers in Great Britain: evidence from the baby boomer and Gen X cohorts.

We analyse the compounding effects of assortative mating by education among baby boomers and Gen X for intra and intergenerational wealth holdings in Great Britain. Our findings show substantial differences in peak wealth accumulation among boomers: by their mid-late 60s high educated boomer couples report median net wealth of £2.08M, close to eight times that of low educated counterparts. We observe a similar pattern among Gen X couples of prime working age. Importantly, our findings highlight the importance of portfolio composition in couples wealth holdings, in particular the role of pension and housing wealth in explaining divergences inholdings as couples age. We document differences in inheritance attitudes and intentions among boomers: the former being driven by boomers own receipt of inheritances over their lifetime as well as their housing tenure. Highly educated boomer couples intend to bequeath £332,406 to their heirs, roughly three times the level reported by low educated counterparts. Similarly, we observe a consistent pattern in terms of expected future inheritance receipt among Gen X couples. Our findings highlight the importance of individual’s own education, as well as their parents and in-laws characteristics for understanding the pattern of wealth holdings across cohorts in GB.