The 2026 Gen X: “Xcellerators” List
Gen X rewards brands for getting it right.
By midlife, this generation has lived through enough reinventions to develop a high-sensitivity radar for marketing that bypasses credibility. Gen X doesn’t want aspiration that ignores reality. They want competence that respects it.
In 2025, the brands that broke through with Gen X across Wealth, Work, and Wellness shared one defining characteristic: alignment with how Gen X actually lives. And given Gen Xers are the largest consumer spenders, it’s smart business.
Some did it by being explicit, naming Gen X, 50+ years old, “midlife” or referencing life stages that typically happen after the mid-forties (i.e. like menopause, long-term experienced worker, deep home equity, etc).
Others were implicit, never mentioning age or “Gen X,” but building products and narratives that map tightly to Gen X behaviors. Using messages like diversification of wealth, cash-flow stability, next chapter reinvention, healthy aging, and capability-based wellness.
Both approaches work.
Avoiding midlife altogether does not.
So, who’s winning Gen X and what is the evidence it matters?
WEALTH
The Wealth category recognized the value of targeting Gen X many years ago but in 2025, the best marketing became much more sophisticated. Old messaging that was dominated by slowing down, managing a fixed income, and ending careers, has given way to dynamic discussions showing that wealth building and a vibrant life doesn’t end at 50.
For Gen X, wealth is no longer a scoreboard. It’s a personal operating system.
By midlife, financial decisions become less about “more” and more about how the system allows for housing, income, liquidity, healthcare, and longevity. This isn’t a philosophical shift. It’s behavioral and the data makes the stakes obvious.
▌Wealth Reality: From accumulation to architecture
• ~72% of Gen X households own their homes (U.S. Census Bureau, American Housing)
• Gen X households are the highest consumer spenders (NIQ, World Data Lab)Wealth marketing that doesn’t acknowledge housing, cash-flow strategy, second careers and healthier lifestyles, isn’t speaking to how Gen X actually stores and deploys wealth.
Fidelity Investments
A repeat on our list is Fidelity Investments. Their content is best in class and touches explicitly on the needs of Gen X. Fidelity addresses what most wealth brands still avoid: midlife density.
Its 2025 content acknowledged overlapping responsibilities from children, aging parents, peak earnings, healthcare uncertainty, and market volatility. Fidelity didn’t separate money from life. It treated wealth decisions as embedded in real constraints.
This approach mirrors Gen X behavior. Financial decisions in midlife are rarely isolated or simple. Fidelity’s willingness to acknowledge that complexity builds credibility wins over a cohort that no longer tolerates oversimplification.
State Street Investment Management
State Street Investment Management is one of the most quietly Gen X-aligned brands on this list, because it sells structure.
In February 2025, State Street launched an ETF positioned as democratizing access to investment-grade private credit. That language is doing something important: it reframes “alternatives” from a prestige product, into a practical midlife tool for income, resilience, diversification.
State Street tapped into the reality that Gen X is more than just traditional investors and that they want Alternatives, AI investing and other vehicles. By using messaging like “democratizes access” and highlighting transparency plus daily liquidity, this brand earned big media attention. The Reuters coverage called this structural innovation (i.e. private credit access inside an ETF).
Consider that while 45% of Gen X portfolios are outside traditional stocks/bonds, they still want a framework that feels disciplined. State Street operationalized a Gen X Wealth mindset and reality.
Betterment
No list this year would be complete without a nod to the role of AI and digital investing. Betterment made the list given its messaging around AI-enabled investment options, as well as several 2025 strategic moves.
The brand pushed deeper into investment and retirement solutions that matter at midlife. It acquired Ellevest’s automated investing business (i.e. a platform designed for women investors) and expanded Solo 401(k) offerings for self-employed and freelance workers (i.e. an audience segment heavily represented by Gen X).
In Solo401K press coverage, Betterment framed its offering as “AI-enabled advising plus practical retirement tooling”. Smart messaging that tapped into the Gen X demand for personalization and digital utility via AI.
This Xcellerator recognized that Gen Xers are at a peak savings and planning stage that craves automated insights + retirement enablement without friction.
WORK
Gen X is still the backbone of the workforce clocking in at 30%. Yet most employer branding behaves as if they’re a legacy cohort that doesn’t need to be targeted. Of course, using age is taboo and frankly illegal, but where is the acknowledgement of seasoned experience?
That disconnect is one of the most consistent “misses” in the market. Companies are spending aggressively to attract entry-level talent, while ignoring the segment that holds the institutional knowledge and cross-functional operating maturity to make strategy real. Better pairing of deep domain expertise with AI, might be an untapped opportunity in 2026. Hiring a Gen Xer might be a fix for next year’s list.
But this year, our Work Xcellerators fall into fractional, interim, and next stage entrepreneur targeting. This is a Gen X sweet spot and brands can implicitly reach them, while never saying any age.
The best business tools are subtly providing messages and products for midlife warriors who are ready to embark on side hustles, consulting, or total small business shifts.
▌Work Reality: From career ladders to career control
• Gen X is roughly 30% of the U.S. workforce (BLS) and professionals increasingly expect to work longer, but on different terms: flexibility, autonomy, dignity (Pew Research).
• 45 is the average founder age who is building a high-growth company (MIT/U.S. Census).
• 33% of Gen X has a side hustle (Hostinger).Brands that ignore the Gen X work mindset aren’t “future focused.” They’re undermining the present.
LinkedIn is an Xcellerator because it is where second-stage work becomes visible and credible. Flexible work models, consulting, and portfolio careers telegraph, “I don’t want a ladder; I want control.”
The platform has become a destination for fractional or interim leaders. In fact, LinkedIn reported the number of profiles referencing “fractional leadership” jumped from roughly 2,000 in 2022 to over 110,000 by 2024. That’s an approximate 5,400% increase! Employers are noticing too: overall hiring data shows growth in roles and postings that carry fractional or interim tags. Some estimates are over 250% increase YoY.
Together these signals point to a structural shift in how seasoned talent, like Gen X, market their expertise and connect with work opportunities. No longer is it risky to list your own LLC or consulting practice; even if you have a full-time role. Linkedin has provided a business development platform for Gen X.
GoDaddy
GoDaddy launched its Airo product, an AI-powered entrepreneurship platform helping people “start their business in minutes” in early 2025. It tied directly to entrepreneurship aspiration at mass reach. Using the Super Bowl as one of its main launch vehicles, and signing on Gen Xer Walter Googins (54) as spokesperson, was a nice implicit move to reach the Gen X segment.
With 49 being the average Super Bowl viewer age, and Gen X+ making up about 60% of the audience, this was a smart targeting effort to grab this spending segment.
The GoDaddy Airo campaign further demystified AI throughout 2025 flagging their AI-digital powered ads management, AI agents for social posts, video content (all small business time savers) and anything helping an entrepreneur save time and get started.
Airo tapped into the digital pioneering mentality of Gen X. It smartly showed how AI can be a practical co-pilot (marketing tasks and customer replies), not “AI for AI’s sake.”
WELLNESS
Wellness is where midlife marketing evidence accelerated in 2025. The oft-used age tropes of “50 is the new 30” and youthful wistfulness gave way to deeper definitions of wellness and how it is a way of life.
Gen X wellness is now less about “reinventing yourself” and more about staying able and relevant. The mainstream use of GLPs changed the game for overall health. Menopause gained influencers and social prominence. Mindfulness greatly expanded to include new experiences like travel and more.
Strength, mobility, sleep, metabolic health, cognition, and emotional permission all emerged as key themes in the equation of wellness. Xcellerator brands leaned into the data on where Gen X was investing their time and commitment. They drove an emotional interaction vs. just an emotional connection. And that earned them money!
▌Wellness Reality: From anti-aging to capability
• Adults 45–64 prioritize mobility, energy, sleep, and mental clarity over appearance-driven goals (McKinsey Global Wellness Survey, 2023–2024)
• GLP-1 adoption is highest among adults 45–64 (Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of GLP-1 prescription data, 2024)
• Women spend 30–40% of their lives post-menopause (North American Menopause Society)Midlife wellness is not niche. It’s the longest wellness phase, but the most under-marketed. Gen X is ready to invest.
WeightWatchers (WW)
WeightWatchers (WW)’ menopause push is one of the strongest explicit Gen X wellness examples because it checks every box: named life stage, credible spokesperson, clinical integration, and mainstream press coverage.
In September 2025, WW launched WeightWatchers for Menopause, naming Gen Xer, Queen Latifah (55), as its first official spokeswoman. They framed the program as a comprehensive menopause journey offering medical care + nutrition + lifestyle + community.
The Wall Street Journal covered the campaign as part of WW’s rebrand strategy and credited it with bold advertising. Menopause has typically been a behind the scenes topic, left to private women’s weekends and doctors’ offices. WW used credible research data to reference the reality of menopause weight gain and more. Then they gave solutions.
They treated menopause as a serious, mainstream wellness market.
Noom
Noom belongs on the list as a midlife-mindset wellness brand. Their pitch is less about “diet identity” and more about sustainable behavior and metabolic health, which aligns with how Gen X defines wellness.
Describing themselves as a “consumer-led digital health company that empowers people to live better longer” is certainly a positioning that resonates in midlife. Noom’s marketing didn’t run from its core focus of weight management, but provided a combination of psychology, technology, medication, and coaching to meet personal wellness goals. In the competitive GLP buyer race, they deftly incorporated GLP medication as just one tool in long-term wellness.
Noom helps build habits that integrate slowly and sustainably into daily life, which is ideal for busy midlife schedules.
Nestlé Health Science / Vital Proteins
Nestlé Health Science’s product Vital Proteins earns a spot because it’s product brand language does something very specific: it makes “healthy aging” explicit and gives biological rationale. They state that “collagen production slows as we age” and using a supplement like Vital Proteins can aid in that reality. The protein discussion has been in media for years now, but mainly around weight and muscle development.
Vital Proteins brand didn’t treat midlife as a pass-through, they’re building “as we age” into the core premise. And since aging is forever, they might just create long-long term loyal customers.
Road Scholar
The travel brand Road Scholar is a Wellness Xcellerator because it positions travel as cognitive, social, and physical health: Learning, Movement, Connection, and Purpose.
Unlike many travel brands that gesture at “active retirees,” Road Scholar is explicit about serving adults 50+, with programs designed around learning and community. In its 2025 impact recap, Road Scholar reported 99,000 adults participated in learning adventures.
This isn’t a static luxury vacation booking model, it’s for Gen Xers who believe wellness starts with the mind being strong. Road Scholar published research reporting 94% of surveyed older adults who embrace adventurous activities report higher wellbeing.
Longevity data points to the need to activate both the mind and body. Time to rethink the sitting on the beach vacation!
The Xcellerator Pattern
Across Wealth, Work, and Wellness, the evidence points to a single conclusion:
Gen X rewards brands that:
• name complexity instead of hiding it
• respect experience instead of replacing it
• offer control instead of hype
The winners aren’t louder. They’re truer.
And the most important meta-pattern of all?
When brands use specific language (50+, menopause, experienced workers, healthy aging) and back it with credible proof, Gen X responds.
Because this generation has always been allergic to empty positioning.