<p>The elders of Greensboro, N.C., will probably tell you that the public image of the self-centered millennial generation needs a rethink. They have good reason. Kevin and Elizabeth Phillips, a couple in their 20s, have materially helped reinvent the economy and culture in Guilford County by employing their family’s foundation to support programs that put every local kid through college, built a $78 million performing arts center, reduced chronic homelessness to zero, and established a modern nursing school. And those are just a few of the innovative philanthropic projects they helped unleash within the past five years.</p>
<p>Expect more such “narcissistic” behavior. By midcentury, an estimated $41 trillion in assets will have been transferred to heirs from the baby boomers; eventually, the lion’s share will belong to the millennials, 92 million Americans born between 1980 and 2000. They are by far the largest generation in U.S. history, bigger even than the baby boomers themselves. A study by <a href="http://www.barrons.com/articles/SB50001424052748703961304578131534209298130" target="_blank">Goldman Sachs</a> puts it succinctly: “Millennials are poised to reshape the economy.”</p>