"In terms of the wealth of the retirees today -- it is a record level. And some have speculated that well what this means for their children is that their children can kind of float and ease into their workplace because they are going to inherit a lot of money from their parents." says Walden, an economist with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service at N.C. State University.

"Well, analysts who have looked at this more closely find that although there is a lot of wealth with today's older generation, an emerging older generation, you have to recognize the fact that retirees are living longer, so they are going to use up more of their wealth," he says.

"Also some of their expenses -- particularly health care -- are higher than in the past.

"So I think the general conclusion here is that boomers may not inherit as much as they have in the past -- so they still need to save toward their retirement.