JPMorgan warns retirement wave threatening American Dream as millions of small businesses face uncertain futures

Jamie Dimon has spent months sounding the alarm that the American Dream is “slipping out of reach for too many people.” Now his bank is putting a dollar figure on one of the biggest reasons why: a retirement tsunami among small-business owners that could leave millions of companies without anyone to take the wheel. A May 2026 survey by Chase found that 40% of small-business owners plan to retire within the next decade. The problem is that 70% of them are either in early-stage planning or have no formal succession strategy at all. Only 8% said they’re fully prepared to hand off their businesses. The scale of the problem JPMorgan isn’t the only institution quantifying this risk. A McKinsey report from February 2026 projected that roughly six million small and medium-sized businesses will face ownership transitions by 2035, driven largely by baby boomer retirements. If those transitions go badly, or don’t happen at all, as much as $5 trillion in enterprise value could be at stake. McKinsey’s analysis identified over one million small and medium-sized businesses that are considered viable candidates for sale or transition. JPMorgan’s $80 billion bet In response, JPMorgan launched what ...