Stocks drive record share of American wealth

AXIOS·3h ago·3 min read

Photograph via Axios

RSS SUMMARY · AGGREGATED FROM AXIOS

Data: Federal Reserve, FactSet; Note: Includes both directly held stocks and shares held indirectly in mutual funds and ETFs, as a share of total assets of U.S. households and non-profits; Chart: Matt Phillips/AxiosAmericans are letting it ride, with a record share of their wealth in the stock market.Why it matters: It means that the AI-driven rally is enriching Americans more than usual and exposing them to potentially painful losses from a reversal.State of play: A record 33% of the total wealth of the U.S. household sector was in stocks at the end of 2025, according to Federal Reserve data.That beats the ~30% during the meme stock-and-SPAC mania of 2021.And tops the ~27% reached in Q1 2000, just as the internet boom peaked. What they're saying: "The willingness of households to hold a rising portion of their total financial assets in equities [has] made retail investors overall an important driver of the bull market in equities in recent years," JPMorgan analysts wrote in a report late last month.Of course, that willingness hinges, in part, on how well stocks — and by extension, the Americans who own them — have done. Between the end of 2024 and 2025, the value of household portfolios has soared 18%, or $10.31 trillion, to $67.77 trillion. That stockpile of stock market riches is likely at new records right now, after the S&P 500's 10% rise so far this year. The fine print: In total, the country's household equity assets are massive. But those holdings aren't spread uniformly among all Americans.The richest 10% of American households owned about 87% of that total household stock market wealth, according to the Federal Reserve. The big picture: This uneven distribution helps explain some of the peculiar features of the current economic and political environment.For instance, the so-called K-shaped economy, in which GDP growth is increasingly reliant on spending by the wealthy, is likely driven in part by wealth effects of stock market gains for these folks. In other words, the rich seem to be feeling especially flush and are willing to spend.Meanwhile, 90% of the population hasn't benefited from the booming market — even as relatively high inflation shrinks their real disposable income.Friction point: The result? A persistently sour mood among those who are seeing their savings accounts shrink.