How much stock is owned by the wealthy?
The wealthiest 10% of Americans own 93% of stocks even with market participation at a record high.
About 93% of U.S. households' stock market wealth is held by the top 10%. Why it matters: This stat — first spotted in the FT — is a crucial bit of context to keep in mind amid the heavily hyped surge of smaller retail investors who flocked to the stock market during and after the COVID crisis.
The top 10% own 88.6% of stocks ($28 trillion). Americans in the 50th to 90th percentile of wealth own 10.8% of stocks ($3.4 trillion). Americans in the bottom 50% own 0.6% of stocks ($19 billion).
Yet, the latest report also highlights how top-heavy stock ownership remains in the U.S. According to the Fed report, the top 10% of Americans own 87% of individually held stocks and mutual funds. The top 1% own half of all individually held stocks.
For example, the top 1 percent of households hold 30.6 percent of the total wealth, according to the Federal Reserve. But just the top 0.1 percent own 14 percent of the total wealth, giving them a stunning average of more than $1.52 billion per household.
Older Americans Now Own 80% of the Stock Market — Here's Why That's a Problem. Americans 55 and older have a large and growing share of stock ownership, and that could prove to be a major problem for the market in the event of a downturn.
| Age by decade | Average net worth | Median net worth |
|---|---|---|
| 50s | $1,310,775 | $292,085 |
| 60s | $1,634,724 | $454,489 |
| 70s | $1,588,886 | $378,018 |
| 80s | $1,463,756 | $345,100 |
Stock market wealth: record 93% owned by richest 10%, says Federal Reserve | Fortune.
The median middle-class household owned $15,000 worth of stock. Stock ownership is highly affected by race and ethnicity, which also are highly correlated to income and wealth. Some 61% of white, non-Hispanic families owned stocks in 2019, only 34% of Blacks and 24% of Hispanics did.
"Billionaire CEOs like [Jeff] Bezos, [Mark] Zuckerberg, Jamie Dimon, and the Walton family are selling off massive amounts of their own stocks, and analysts think the CEOS may be bracing for an economic downturn," he said, adding, “An overheated stock market continues to climb to new heights as investors feed that ...
Who owns most stock in America?
The richest Americans own the vast majority of the US stock market, according to Fed data. The top 10% of Americans held 93% of all stocks, the highest level ever recorded. Meanwhile, the bottom 50% of Americans held just 1% of all stocks in the third quarter of 2023.
The top 1% of American earners now control more wealth than the nation's entire middle class, federal data show. More than one-quarter of all household wealth, 26.5%, belongs to Americans who earn enough money to rank in the top percentile by income, according to Federal Reserve statistics through mid-2023.
It's Vanguard. Thanks to the surging popularity of its index funds, Vanguard is now the No. 1 owner of 330 stocks in the S&P 500, or two-thirds of the world's most important collection of stocks, says an Investor's Business Daily analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarketSmith.
The 95th percentile, with a net worth of $3.2 million, is considered wealthy, facilitating estate planning and possibly owning multiple homes. The top 1%, or the 99th percentile, has a net worth of $16.7 million and represents the very wealthy, who enjoy considerable financial freedom and luxury.
While having a net worth of about $2.2 million is seen as the benchmark for being rich in America, it's essential to remember that wealth is a subjective concept. Healthy financial habits and personal perspectives on money are crucial in defining and achieving wealth.
Middle-class income currently ranges from a little under $40,000 to a little over $119,000. The definition of middle class extends beyond income to factors like education, location and marital status.
We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Phillips 66. The Vanguard Group, Inc. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 9.2% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 8.1% and 6.8%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.
BlackRock is not owned by a single individual or company. Instead, its shares are owned by a large number of individual and institutional investors. The biggest institutional shareholders such as The Vanguard Group and State Street are merely custodians of the stock for their clients.
- People with the top 1% of net worth in the U.S. in 2022 had $10,815,000 in net worth.
- The top 2% had a net worth of $2,472,000.
- The top 5% had $1,030,000.
- The top 10% had $854,900.
- The top 50% had $522,210.
It's possible to retire with $600,000 in savings with careful planning, but it's important to consider how long your money will last. Whether you can successfully retire with $600,000 can depend on a number of factors, including: Your desired retirement age. Estimated retirement budget.
Can I retire at 63 with 700k?
$700k can last you for at least 35 years in retirement if your annual spending remains around $20,000, following the 4% rule.
However, not a huge percentage of retirees end up having that much money. In fact, statistically, around 10% of retirees have $1 million or more in savings.
| Rank | Asset | Average Proportion of Total Wealth |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Primary and Secondary Homes | 32% |
| 2 | Equities | 18% |
| 3 | Commercial Property | 14% |
| 4 | Bonds | 12% |
The most straightforward answer to this question is that it actually disappeared into thin air, due to the decrease in demand for the stock, or, more specifically, the decrease in enough investors' favorable perceptions of it to move the price down by selling.
In 2022, nearly two-thirds of White families (66%) owned stocks directly or indirectly, compared with 39% of Black families and 28% of Hispanic families, according to the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF).
