Some other interesting stats for context:

* About 87% of adults with a household income of $100,000 or more own stock; compared to just 28% of those earning under $50,000.

* Only about 37% of adults hold stocks, bonds, or funds outside of a retirement account.

* Between 55% and 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and are one large expense or missed paycheck away from homelessness.

* While some paycheck-to-paycheck workers technically own small amounts of stock, the actual value they hold is minimal.

* The wealthiest 10% of Americans own roughly 90% to 95% of all U.S. stock value.

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jandrewrogers an hour ago | parent | next [-]

> Only about 37% of adults hold stocks, bonds, or funds outside of a retirement account.

That's surprisingly high. I know several people with millions in their retirement accounts and nothing outside. It is also not uncommon for people to prefer real estate investment outside of retirement accounts. Both of these groups are wealthy but both would be excluded from this statistic.

> Between 55% and 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and are one large expense or missed paycheck away from homelessness.

This "statistic" is based on definitions so misleading or unrigorous as to be meaningless. Nor is it derived from any of the data sources that are the gold standard for this type of economic research.

US Federal Reserve and BLS studies are broadly recognized authoritative sources for these types of economic statistics. Per these sources, the percentage of American households that have income that is entirely consumed by necessary expenses is 10-15%.

In the US, the median household has a ~$15,000/year surplus after all ordinary (not necessary) expenses per US statistical authorities. This surplus has been growing over time, so it isn't like it is at risk of disappearing either. This data alone obviously contradicts your assertion that most Americans are "one large expense or missed paycheck away from homelessness".

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phainopepla2 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I am very concerned about wealth inequality in the US, but this:

> Between 55% and 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and are one large expense or missed paycheck away from homelessness.

Is simply untrue

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drusepth 3 hours ago | parent [-]

It's a pretty well-known stat that I think originally came from one of Schwab's detailed Modern Wealth Index reports -- which are survey-based so there is likely some inaccuracy; they report 3% margin of error -- but other similar studies generally put the number somewhere between 53% and 63%.

From their methodology:

> The Modern Wealth Index, developed in partnership with Koski Research and the Schwab Center for Financial Research [...] was conducted by Koski Research from January 12 to January 19, 2018, among 1,000 Americans aged 21 to 75. Quotas were set so that the sample is as demographically representative as possible. The margin of error for the total survey sample is three percentage points.

Anecdotally, this percentage makes sense to me based on roughly half of the people in my circles/family/life living paycheck to paycheck, but there's obviously some exposure bias at work there too. It's possible you have some exposure bias as well if that number seems too high for you.

	▲	phainopepla2 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Without an explicit definition of what "paycheck to paycheck" actually means, the survey data can't be taken as accurate. I have no problem believing that for a large portion of the population (perhaps over half) a missed paycheck would be a big problem, but I absolutely do not believe that 60% are a missed paycheck away from homelessness, which is what you originally claimed. According to some recent data[0], 22% of households earning above $250k report themselves as living paycheck to paycheck. That alone tells me that the term can have very different meanings for different people. Perhaps those high earners mean that after all the taxes, retirement and ESPP deductions are taken out of their paycheck, what's left over is just enough to pay for their lifestyle. That's not what I would call paycheck-to-paycheck. And whatever the definition, I can assure you that 22% of the households in that income bracket are not a paycheck away from homelessness. [0] https://www.lambdafin.com/articles/percent-of-americans-livi...