Americans 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 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.

The booming stock market is making a lot of folks richer, especially those who are already spectacularly rich, finds a report out from consulting firm Capgemini today.

Why it matters: Welp. Even among those who invest in stocks and other kinds of financial assets, there's a wealth divide — and it's growing.

• That's worth noting at a time when more regular folks are putting their money in markets, while those who aren't invested are seeing the value of their incomes erode with higher inflation.

What they found: Last year, for the second year running, the ultrarich saw bigger gains in wealth than "the millionaires next door," as Capgemini calls them, with lower net worths.

• The report estimates net worth around the world using data from the World Bank and the Economist Intelligence Unit, as well as national government statistics, counting anyone with investable assets of at least $1 million as having a high net worth. (That number doesn't include an individual's primary residence.)

Zoom in: Globally, ultra-high-net-worth individuals, those with $30 million or more in investable assets, saw their wealth increase nearly 10%.

• The so-called "millionaires next door," with $1 million to $5 million, had growth of less than 8%.
• Ultra-high-net-worth individuals make up just 1% of the high-net-worth population, but hold 34.8% of the total wealth.

Zoom out: The super rich have more access to higher-returning private equity and hedge funds and have been able to invest in private companies, especially the big AI hyperscalers.

• They've also seen disproportionately higher returns from the stock market, the report finds.
• These folks have the "ability to get early entries that even the next-door millionaires can't get," says Luca Russignan, global head of Capgemini Research Institute for Financial Services.

The big picture: The AI boom was the main driver overall for rich people's wealth last year, he says.

Between the lines: The general public may soon get access to those same assets, particularly through mega-IPOs later this year, but likely won't see the same kind of returns that early-stage investors get.

By the numbers: Overall, globally, the wealth of high-net-worth individuals rose 8.7% in 2025 — hitting a record $98.3 trillion.

• The number of these rich folks increased by about 2 million, to 25.3 million
• The U.S. added 736,000 new millionaires last year, more than any other market globally.

The bottom line: More regular folks are investing in the stock market and other financial assets, but the benefits of doing so vary widely.