Retire Better: There’s tons of wealth in America—yet tens of millions have nothing

The other day I stumbled across some Federal Reserve data that at first looked quite encouraging for America’s retirees and soon-to-be retirees. But numbers, it seems, are in the eye of the beholder.  

The Fed’s data shows that over the last 15 years—a difficult period bookended by the economic meltdown of 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic—shows that wealth held by Americans aged 70+ expanded 169%, to $34.6 trillion. Meanwhile, wealth held by those between the ages of 55 and 69 grew from $26.2 trillion to $57.8 trillion, a gain…