But only those making $75,000 a year or more worry about stock prices as something that will affect their household finances. Why do the wealthy see stock prices as more important to their household budgets? Our Chris Ingraham assessed stock ownership by wealth percentile last year and found the distribution heavily weighted to wealthier Americans. But the Federal Reserve indicates that only 14 percent of Americans own individual stocks and that only 52 percent have any sort of retirement account, including 401(k)s. Many Americans don’t participate in the market at all. The good news for those wealthy Americans worried about stock prices is that stock prices are much more volatile than, say, employment.

Source: Washington Post March 22, 2018 22:06 UTC