The richest 1% of Americans own more stocks than the other 99%.
The biggest difference between the average investor and the top 1% is how much of their portfolio is allocated to stocks. The bottom 50% of the households have only 4% invested in equities compared to an incredible 61% for the top 1%.
For the bottom 50%, this is not surprising since buying a family home is a critical foundation and is the first step towards building wealth. But the problem is that Real estate only had a 0.6% return over inflation in the last 130 years. Compare this to equity which had a 6.63% real return, and you see why being in the market is important.
Full report: Where do millionaires invest their money?
h/t nobjos