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unhappycamper

(60,364 posts)
Fri Sep 19, 2014, 08:03 AM Sep 2014

Who's getting rich off the stock market?

http://money.cnn.com/2014/09/18/investing/stock-market-investors-get-rich/index.html

The United States is enjoying one of the best stock market surges in its history. But the phenomenal gains in recent years are going mostly to white, college-educated individuals who are already pretty well off.

Who's getting rich off the stock market?
By Heather Long @byHeatherLong September 18, 2014: 4:33 PM ET

Only 49% of Americans have any money in stocks at all, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve. That figure includes everyone invested in retirement funds (think pensions and 401(k) plans) as well as those who take the time to buy specific stocks such as Apple (AAPL, Tech30), Ford (F) and Facebook (FB, Tech30).

"Part of the reason there is so much discussion about income inequality is there is a group of people who participated in the stock market over a period where it nearly tripled, and there's another group of people that didn't," said Mark Grinblatt, a professor of finance at UCLA's Anderson School of Management.

Even among the half of America that has money in the market, there are disparities. The top 10% of American households have roughly $282,000 each in the market, if you take the median value of their holdings.

Compare that to the middle class, which has a median value of a mere $14,000 a household.








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