The potential in main street businesses

The largest transfer of wealth and businesses in human history.

The potential in main street businesses
Photo by Brandon Jean / Unsplash

In the next 20 years, baby boomers will transfer $53 trillion to younger generations. To put that in perspective, that’s enough wealth to give each of the remaining 260 million non-boomer Americans over $200,000 in cash. While it won’t be evenly distributed, it is the largest transfer of wealth in human history. One in every two businesses in the US is owned by people older than 55 years old, which means millions of small businesses—the backbone of the US economy—will trade hands in the next two decades.

This presents a big opportunity to buy private companies, especially with tools like an SBA 7(a) loan, which allows buyers to leverage up to 90%. The transition of assets and companies will allow new entrants to begin building generational wealth, employees to buy companies from their retiring owners, and entrepreneurs to choose the slow-and-steady entrepreneurship-through-acquisition models over the high-risk/high-reward venture-backed models of Silicon Valley.

For those willing to look beneath the flashiness of generative AI and the newest technologies, there is a trillion dollar opportunity composed of small mainstreet businesses quietly cash flowing.