The ultra-rich now own a record share of stocks – with the wealthiest 10% of Americans (like Nancy Pelosi) holding 93% of US stock market wealth

A huge 93 percent of the wealth in US stock markets is held by the richest 10 percent of the population – a new record.

Although Americans have overall been investing in the stock market at a higher rate, the amount of wealth they own is still skewed toward the wealthiest households.

According to Federal Reserve data, 92.5 percent of stocks are owned by the richest 10 percent of Americans — meaning it’s largely the already wealthy who are benefiting from last year’s stock market boom.

After a disastrous 2022, Wall Street recovered in 2023. The benchmark S&P 500 index gained 24 percent last year alone, mainly driven by the so-called ‘Magnificent Seven’ technology stocks, including Apple and Microsoft.

Lawmakers were among those who made the most of stock trading last year, it has emerged, with some members of Congress seeing returns as high as 238 percent.

Twenty years ago, in 2004, 81.6 percent of the wealth in the stock market was held by the richest 10 percent of the population, according to Fed figures.

By 2014 this had risen to 86.8 percent, and has risen steadily since then until the most recent figures are from 2022.

While much has been said about Americans turning to investing during the pandemic — when they had more time and cash — it doesn’t appear that stock ownership has shifted too much from the wealthiest households.

According to the Fed’s Survey of Consumer Finances, a record 58 percent of households owned stocks in 2023, but overall the amount of stocks most people own is small.

Central bank data shows that the bottom 50 percent of Americans, measured by wealth, owned just 1 percent of all stocks and mutual funds in the third quarter of last year.

In the third quarter, the bottom 50 percent of households owned $4.8 trillion in real estate, but only $0.3 trillion in stocks, according to Fed data. Business insider.

By comparison, the top 1 percent owned more than $16 trillion in stocks and just over $6 trillion in real estate.

The stock market boom has traditionally paid off the most for those who are already wealthy, researchers say in a 2020 report. study.

That’s because the richest people tend to have their assets in stocks, while the middle class tend to put their money in homes, the study said.

Over the past decade, the S&P 500 index is up 155 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq is up a whopping 250 percent.

And a study released earlier this year found that 32 members of Congress were among those who benefited from stock market gains last year.

Although Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is known for making significant market returns, so much so that a tool was developed to track her investments, she was beaten out as the top trader in 2023.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi is known for her significant market returns

Democratic Rep. Brian Higgins, N.Y., took the cake with the highest return at 238 percent, according to a recent analysis of public financial disclosures by Unusual whales.

He is followed by Republicans Mark Green, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, who had a 122 percent return, and Rep. Garret Graves, a close ally of former chairman Kevin McCarthy, who had a 107 percent return.

Pelosi saw a 65 percent return on her investments in 2023, beating the overall market.

Democratic Rep. Brian Higgins, N.Y., took the cake with the highest return of 238 percent

As speaker, the California Democrat initially opposed the move to ban stock trading in Congress.

She pushed back on the ban after initially defending the practice, which led to Senator Josh Hawley introducing the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act in 2023, which has yet to be passed.

The 83-year-old Democratic congresswoman achieved a 65 percent return on her investments in 2023, more than double the S&P 500’s total gain of 24 percent.