The wealthiest 10% of Americans own a record 89% of all U.S. stocks

[douglas9]

The wealthiest 10% of Americans now own 89% of all U.S. stocks, a record high that highlights the stock market’s role in increasing wealth inequality.

The top 1% gained over $6.5 trillion in corporate equities and mutual fund wealth during the pandemic, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve.

he bottom 90% of Americans held about 11% of stocks, and added $1.2 trillion in wealth during the Covid-19 pandemic.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/18/the-wealthiest-10percent-of-americans-own-a-record-89percent-of-all-us-stocks.html

[CrispyQ]

1. American Wealth as Pie - the good stuff starts at 55 seconds.

[Casady1]

2. and that my folks is why

the stock market went up when it should have tanked.

[ret5hd]

3. Kinda shows the lie to that sentiment that "we ALL are in the stock market!"

We are that guy sitting at the poker table saying "I wonder who the mark is here?"

[Initech]

4. If we had a dozen donuts...

The billionaire would take 11 and a half of them and leave the rest of us to fight over that last donut. Which most likely doesn't even have glaze on it.

[ret5hd]

6. Oh, it's got glaze...you just don't wanna know what it's made of.

[Johnny2X2X]

5. So few Americans are invested in the American Dream

10% owning 89% of the stock is just not what America is supposed to be. That means probably 80-85% of the country is not working towards the a huge part of the American Dream of being able to retire with something and pass wealth along to you heirs.

With pensions all but gone, the country is in for some awful times when more people start retiring with no savings or assets. Social Security needs to be not only saved, but increased dramatically in order to avert a catastrophic collapse of the middle class during retirement.

[madville]

7. That article and statistic are missing something, doesn't make sense

How can the wealthiest 10% own 89% of US stocks and the bottom 90% own 11% of stocks?

Did they just not count the trillions of dollars of stocks that university endowments, state pension plans, municipal pension plans, Union pension plans, private pension plans and other entities own?

[dawg]

10. Ten guys are in a room. Nine ordinary Joes and Bill Gates.

He owns probably a lot more than 89% of that room's total stock ownership.

Rich people in America are really, really rich. I don't think most people completely understand the full extent of the inequality.

[panader0]

8. Wall Street vs Main Street.

The stats on stock ownership are one reason I get tired of politicians touting the Dow Jones numbers.
It doesn't mean jack shit to the majority of the people. Tax stock transactions! I don't know anyone who personally
owns stock.
When one tenth of the people own 90% of the wealth (in the US I believe it's worse than that), it's a recipe
for revolution. History shows us as much.

[former9thward]

9. If you follow the link in the OP it comes to pretty much the opposite of the headline.

Overall U.S. household wealth has never been this high, thanks largely to gains in the stock market that are a bigger share of that prosperity than ever before.

In fact, equity holdings now make up about half of the $109.2 trillion of financial assets that households owned through the second quarter of 2021, according to Bank of America. Other than stocks, financial assets also include bonds, cash, certificates of deposit and bank deposits.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/01/stocks-are-at-a-70-year-high-as-a-share-of-household-financial-wealth.html

The OP is referring to individual stock holdings. Not holdings by pension funds and 401k's. At least 50% of Americans own stock through their employee benefit programs.

[ret5hd]

11. Not completely disputing what you quote here, but...

are you sure it says what you think it says?

For exaggerated examples:

"equity holdings now make up about half of the $109.2 trillion of financial assets that households owned"
COULD mean
$109 trillion is held by a single entity and $0.2 trillion is held by everybody else

"At least 50% of Americans own stock through their employee benefit programs"
COULD mean
50% of Americans have $10 each in their employee benefit programs, and thus indirectly own stock so nana nana boo boo quit saying the average American isn't invested in the stock market!

[former9thward]

12. Yes, we can play with statistics all day long.

But here is some more info:

Participation in the stock market varies considerably across demographic groups. But even among those with annual family incomes of less than $35,000, about one-in-five have assets in the stock market. The shares increase as income rises, and among those with incomes above $100,000, 88% own stocks – either directly or indirectly. The amount of assets families hold in stocks also varies considerably by income. Among those with incomes less than $35,000, the median amount held is less than $10,000. For those at the higher end of the income scale, the median amount is more than $130,000.

Families headed by white adults are more likely than those headed by black or Hispanic adults to be invested in the stock market. A majority (61%) of non-Hispanic white households own some stock, compared with 31% of non-Hispanic black and 28% of Hispanic households. Median investments vary here as well: Among whites the median is about $51,000. By comparison, the median for black families is $12,000, and for Hispanic families it is just under $11,000.

There are differences by age as well, but even among families headed by a young adult (those under 35), 41% own some stock, either directly or indirectly. This is true of a majority of households headed by those ages 35 to 64 and half of those ages 65 and older. Assets accumulated over time also vary by age. The median amount invested by young adult households is relatively small – $7,700 among those younger than 35. And it rises steadily with age: $22,000 for households headed by 35- to 44-year-olds, $51,000 for those ages 45 to 54 and $80,000 or higher for those 55 and older.

Stocks represent a larger share of the total value of assets for some groups than others. For higher-income families (those with incomes over $100,000), whites and those ages 55 and older, investments in the stock market make up about a quarter of their total assets. For those with incomes less than $53,000, black- and Hispanic-led households and those headed by someone younger than 35, stocks represent only about 10% of their total assets.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/03/25/more-than-half-of-u-s-households-have-some-investment-in-the-stock-market/

[ret5hd]

13. Kinda making my point:

"the median for black families is $12,000, and for Hispanic families it is just under $11,000"
says to me that the majority of Black/Hispanic families would have a hard time replacing a wrecked used car even if they used their ENTIRE retirement savings.

"Among whites the median is about $51,000." A heck of a lot better than the Black/Hispanic families, but still...the majority couldn't go buy one of those fancy new pickups even if they used their ENTIRE retirement savings.

Just an ultra-quick Google search says the median income (2019) was $31,133. This says to me (maybe I'm interpreting things wrong because I AM NOT an economist/statistician, etc) that WELL OVER HALF the people in the U.S. have substantially less than 2 yrs worth of retirement savings.

Work till you die (or are very very sick)...with nothing. THAT sounds a WHOLE lot like economic slavery to me.

[ret5hd]

15. An oldie but a goodie:

&t=8s

[madville]

14. That makes a lot more sense

The article doesn’t do a good job of explaining the percentages are individual holdings only. Large parts of peoples’ pension and employer-based retirement plans are in the stock market as well.

[Kid Berwyn]

16. Mission Accomplished

Voodoo Economics.

[marie999]

17. Well actually the 90% did better then the 10% in the stock market.