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The richest Americans are capturing an overwhelming share of stock market gains, and the gap is widening fast.

The top 20% of earners in the U.S. now hold a record $49.1 trillion in equities and mutual funds, or roughly 87% of the total, as per an X post from The Kobeissi Letter (1).

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By comparison, the middle 40% hold about $5.9 trillion, while the bottom 40% own just $1.5 trillion.

Since the 2020 pandemic, equity ownership among the top 20% has surged by $29.8 trillion, a 154% increase. Meanwhile, the bottom 80% (which includes the middle 40%) has gained just $4.2 trillion in total.

In other words, the stock market boom since the pandemic hasn’t lifted all boats equally — it has overwhelmingly rewarded those who already owned the most. Here’s why, and what you can do to invest like the wealthy.

The divide isn’t just about income. It’s about ownership.

Higher-income households already held the majority of financial assets heading into the pandemic (2). When aggressive stimulus and near-zero interest rates pushed asset prices higher, those gains disproportionately accrued to households that already owned significant equity.

Meanwhile, households with little or no exposure to the stock market saw far less benefit from the rally, receiving only 3.3% of the total dollar wealth gain in the U.S. during that time.

Research from economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman shows the top 1% owned 38% of U.S. wealth in 2018, while the top 10% owned 77 to 78% — evidence that financial assets have become increasingly concentrated over time (3).

The result is a feedback loop: The more assets you own, the more you benefit when markets rise, the faster your wealth compounds over time.

To see how this plays out, consider a simple example:

If one investor has $10,000 in the market and earns a 10% return, they make $1,000.

But someone with $1 million invested earns $100,000 from the same return.

Both investors saw the same percentage gain, but only one walked away with 100 times more in dollar terms.