No ‘sympathy’: Joe Rogan stunned after Caleb Hammer says each American boomer should have $2M-$5M nest egg. Is he right?

Thomas Kent

Thu, September 3, 2026 at 2:45 PM GMT+3 9 min read

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"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.

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"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.

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 inflame the 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 numbers

The math is less explosive than the clip suggests. Based on Social Security Administration (SSA) data, the national average wage rose from $21,028 in 1990 to $69,847 in 2024 (2).

Using Slickcharts' S&P 500 total return data (3) and assuming contributions were made at the end of each year with dividends reinvested, an average earner investing from 1990 through 2025 would have accumulated:

$550,000 at a 5% annual savings rate.
$1.1 million at a 10% annual savings rate.

Hitting higher figures would require variables not accounted for in the clip, such as above-average earnings, employer matches, or a longer timeline.

The power of staying invested

The S&P 500 has gone through crashes, recessions, bubbles and bear markets (4) since 1990. Investors, including boomers, have lived through the dot-com collapse, the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID-19 crash and the 2022 bear market.

And yet, the long-term outcome for disciplined investors has still been powerful. That's because investing doesn't require every year to be good. It requires enough time for the good years to overwhelm the bad ones.

Remember, a person saving 10% of average wages from 1990 through 2025 would have contributed less than $150,000 total, but could have ended up with more than $1 million. Most of the final balance would have come from compounding, not from the money they personally put in.

That's the part Hammer is right to hit home about: Small percentages become large sums when added up over decades. Most investors don't fail because of a bad stock pick — they fail because they never got started, according to Assante Wealth Management (5).

Talk to an expert

If you're worried about making costly investing mistakes, it may be worth speaking with a qualified financial advisor. Research from Vanguard suggests that working with a financial advisor can add about 3% in net returns over time through a combination of portfolio construction, tax efficiency, rebalancing and behavioral coaching (6).

That difference can become substantial over a multi-decade investing horizon. For example, a $50,000 portfolio that benefits from an additional 3% annual return could potentially generate more than $1.3 million in extra growth over 30 years, depending on market conditions and investment choices.

For those who want a second opinion, help with building a retirement plan or simply someone to talk through market uncertainty with, platforms like Advisor.com might be worth exploring.

The platform does the heavy lifting for you, vetting advisors based on track record, client ratios and regulatory background. Plus, their network comprises fiduciaries, who are legally required to act in your best interests. This can help you easily connect with a vetted FINRA/SEC-registered advisor near you for free.

Here's how it works: Simply enter a few details about your finances and goals and Advisor.com will comb through its roster and connect you with a qualified expert best-suited for your needs based on your unique financial goals and preferences.

Finding the right advisor isn't always easy — there's no one-size-fits-all solution. That's why Advisor.com lets you set up a free initial consultation, with no obligation to hire, to see if they're the right fit for you.

Why all this matters for younger Americans now

Younger workers may not have the same housing market or college costs that older generations did. But they do have one advantage — time.

A 25-year-old who starts investing today doesn't need to predict every market move or perfectly time the next recession. However, finding even a handful of exceptional investments over a lifetime can dramatically change the outcome.

After all, some of the market's biggest winners have turned modest investments into life-changing wealth. A $10,000 investment in Nvidia a decade ago would be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars today. The challenge, of course, is identifying those opportunities before they become household names.

For investors looking for the next tenbagger, Moby offers expert research and recommendations to help you find strong, long-term investments, backed by advice from former hedge fund analysts.

In four years and across almost 400 stock picks, Moby says its recommendations have beaten the S&P 500 by almost 12% on average. Their research keeps you up-to-the-minute on market shifts and they'll deliver it straight to you.

Plus, their reports are easy to understand for beginners, so that you can become a smarter investor in just five minutes.

Of course, even the best stock pick only works if you actually invest. The key is putting money to work before it disappears into rent, takeout, car payments or impulse purchases.

Unsure how to start?

If that sounds like a little bit too much management, you could instead take a set-and-forget approach to investing. Besides, one of the most commonly held pieces of investing advice is to invest in index funds or ETFs if you're unsure what to do when you start out on your investment journey.

Even small amounts can grow over time with tools like Acorns, an app that automatically invests your spare change.

Signing up for Acorns takes just minutes: Link your cards and Acorns will round up each purchase to the nearest dollar, investing the difference — your spare change — into a diversified portfolio. That morning coffee for $3.25? It's not a 75-cent investment in your future.

With Acorns, you can invest in a dividend ETF with as little as $5 — and, if you sign up today, Acorns will add a $20 bonus to help you begin your investment journey. All you have to do is set up a small recurring monthly contribution.

Building wealth is one challenge. Protecting it is another. As portfolios grow, many investors look beyond traditional stocks and bonds for additional diversification.

Keeping stable through rough markets

Stocks have historically generated strong long-term returns, but they can also experience significant short-term declines. That's why some investors choose to diversify beyond the traditional 60/40 stock-and-bond portfolio by adding a portion of assets that don't move in lockstep with the market.

No one investment can entirely eliminate risk. That's why some investors use physical gold to help balance portfolio volatility and maintain confidence during turbulent markets as an extra countermeasure against inflation or a market drop (7).

Gold has historically attracted attention during downturns because it isn't tied directly to corporate earnings and has often been viewed as a store of value. It also can't be printed at will by big banks during an inflationary run, given its inherently limited supply.

Gold's recent track record gives investors another reason to take a closer look at the yellow metal. Prices have more than doubled in the past five years, with gold repeatedly reaching new record highs and outperforming the S&P 500 over that stretch.

Of course, past performance isn't a guarantee of what comes next. But for investors who want to diversify beyond stocks and bonds, physical precious metals can play a role in a broader portfolio.

Opening a gold IRA with the help of Goldco allows you to invest in gold and other precious metals in physical forms while also providing the significant tax advantages of an IRA.

With a minimum purchase of $10,000, Goldco offers free shipping and access to a library of retirement resources. Plus, the company will match up to 10% of qualified purchases in free silver.

If you're curious whether this is the right investment to diversify your portfolio, you can download your free gold and silver information guide today.

Whether an investor prefers stocks, bonds, precious metals or a combination of assets, the lesson from Hammer's argument remains the same — the earlier you start building ownership in assets, the more time compounding has to work in your favor.

Hammer may have overstated how much wealth the average worker could have accumulated. But his broader point survives the math: Time and consistency matter far more than most people realize.

A 5% savings rate may not make everyone rich. A 10% savings rate won't guarantee multimillionaire status. But over decades, small, repeated investments can create life-changing wealth.