The stock market just hit its 23rd

record high this year. Home prices are

higher than ever before and net worth in

America has never been larger. By the

numbers, this is one of the richest

moments in the history of the country.

But at the same time, consumer sentiment

toward the economy has fallen to its

lowest level ever recorded. It's lower

than the early '80s recession, lower

than the 2008 global financial crisis,

and lower than during the pandemic

lockdowns. So, there's a clear

disconnect between what the data says

about the economy and what people say

they're experiencing in their day-to-day

lives. And you can see it up close by

looking at the most boring account in

America. Because the average 401k in

America just hit a record high, over

160,000.

And in the same year retirement account

balances hit a record high, a record

number of people were also cashing them

out early, willing to pay the penalty

just to get access to the money. About

6% of savers rated their retirement,

which is roughly triple the rate before

the pandemic. Of those hardship

withdrawals, 36% of them were to avoid

foreclosure or eviction, 31% were due to

medical expenses, and 13% were to cover

tuition-related expenses. So, while on

paper we're all living in the same

economy, the reality for millions of

Americans is the economy feels like

completely different worlds. Which

raises the question, how is this even

possible? How can the data show a

booming economy while the average person

feels the exact opposite? Well, here's

what almost nobody will say out loud.

Both of these economies are real. The

problem is that the American economy

looks very different depending on where

you stand. Because what we talked about

earlier is rising asset prices, and it

doesn't lift the country evenly. It's

not weather. The trillions of dollars

that get created when the market climbs

doesn't fall on everyone like rain. It

lands in specific accounts belonging to

specific people. And if you don't own

those accounts, the record highs aren't

really happening to you. They're just a

headline you scroll past on the way to

your 9-to-5 job. So, the real question

was never whether the economy is

booming. It is. The real question is who

benefits from it. When the market prints

another record, whose account does that

money actually flow into? And to answer

that question, you just have to follow

the paper trail. So, that's exactly what

I did. There are about 134 million

households in America. According to the

Federal Reserve's own data, the richest

1% of them, around 1.3 million

households, own more than half of all

the stocks in the country. And if you

zoom out to the top 10% of wealthiest

households in America, which is about 13

million households, they own roughly 87%

of all the stocks, which means the

bottom 90% of the country, around 120

million households, own just 13% of the

stock market between them. And the

further down you go, the worse it gets.

The teachers, the nurses, the bus

drivers, the people who run the

day-to-day of this country, the bottom

half of Americans, those 67 million

households own just 1% of the stock

market. Not 1% each, 1% total, split

between all 67 million households. The

usual response to this is that almost

everyone owns some stocks now. And

technically, there's some truth to that,

because it's estimated about 58% of

Americans own some stock, usually inside

a 401k. But owning some stocks and

owning enough to matter are two very

different things. Because for the bottom

half of the country, the median stock

holdings are about $13,000.

But for the top 10%, well, that number

is around $600,000.

That's a 48-fold difference. And when

you put actual dollar figures to that

gap, the scale becomes impossible to

ignore. In 2025, the stock market

returned about 16%. For the bottom half

of the country, that's a paper gain of

about $2,000. But for the top 10%, that

same 16% return in the market handed

them over about $96,000.

And this is just 1 year we're looking

at. Now, consider that the market has

has over 120% since 2020. So, while

participation in the market got

democratized, the dollars never did. The

richest households who own almost all

the stocks benefit from almost all the

gains, while the bottom half of

Americans fight for the scraps. But,

let's forget about the charts for a

second and look at the ground level,

because the story you keep getting told

is simple. The consumer is strong,

spending is holding up, the economy is

fine. And on the surface, it could

appear that way. But, the truth about

the average American consumer isn't in

the headline. It's in their wallets, and

you have to start with the money coming

in. Last month, average hourly earnings

were up about 3.6% from a year earlier,

which sounds like a raise, except over

that same stretch, inflation was up

3.8%, which means the raise got eaten by

inflation before it ever landed. So,

before the average American spends a

single dollar, they're already losing

ground. And this is being felt

everywhere. Gallup held a survey where

they asked Americans to name the single

biggest financial problem facing their

family. The top answer wasn't low wages,

and it wasn't unemployment. It was the

cost of living. High cost of living and

inflation was named by 31% of Americans

as the single most important financial

problem facing their family today, which

is near the highest level seen in the

more than 20 years Gallup has run this

survey. And once you remember that

prices are up over 28% since the start

of 2020, it isn't hard to see why 55% of

Americans say their financial situation

is getting worse. So, add this all up

and it leads to one question. If the

average Americans finances look this

grim, how is consumer spending still

going up? Where's the money coming from?

And there's an answer. It's coming from

the future, from debt. The first place

is credit cards. Americans are now

carrying about 1.25 trillion dollars of

credit card debt, and the average

interest rate on these credit cards is

now sitting around 23%. And this isn't

the rich chasing credit card points or

airport lounge access. It's the

opposite. Among people who carry credit

card debt, Bankrate found that 33% site

day-to-day expenses as the primary

source of their debt. So, they're not

financing a vacation. They're financing

just to keep going. There's even a new

name for this. It's called survival

debt. But before we get into just how

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pinned comment. Thank you to Gamma for

sponsoring this video. Now, back to

survival debt. Because what started as

just a slight concern is quickly

becoming a full-blown crisis for

millions of Americans. Mike Croxon, who

runs the National Foundation for Credit

Counseling, which is the largest

non-profit credit counseling network in

the country, summed it up best. He said,

"We are seeing a disturbing shift from

discretionary debt to survival debt."

And the scary part about this kind of

debt is for the people in it, there's

usually no clear way out, which is why,

according to Bankrate, 61% of people

with credit card debt have now been

carrying the debt for at least a year.

This is an 8-point increase since 2024.

And it doesn't just stop at credit

cards. There's another new kind of debt

that's spreading fast. You've probably

seen the memes. People financing a

Chipotle burrito by splitting it into

four payments. This new kind of debt is

a form of financing that lets people buy

something today and pay for it in

smaller installments over time. It's

called buy now, pay later, and it used

to just be for things like furniture and

concert tickets. But now more than 90

million Americans use it. According to

LendingTree, more than a quarter of buy

now, pay later users say they've used

these loans for groceries. And more than

half say they couldn't make ends meet

without using it. So, a significant

chunk of the country is now financing

their trip to the grocery store just to

get through the week. And there's one

last piece of the puzzle that shows just

how scary things have gotten. It's the

thing that's supposed to catch a family

when something breaks, savings. The

personal savings rate has dropped to

about 2.6% near the lowest level on

record and down from 5.5% a year ago.

And it gets much worse. Economists at

the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the

Bureau of Economic Analysis ran the

numbers on savings across the income

scale, and they found that for the

bottom half of the country, more than 65

million households, the savings rate is

actually negative, which means the

bottom half of America is spending more

than they bring in after taxes and

running a loss every single month. So,

it's not just that they're missing a

safety net, it's that they're sinking

deeper and deeper every month. That's

the divide. The richer pulling away,

while everyone else is borrowing to keep

their heads above water. It's the same

country, but completely different

Americas. And for years economists had a

name for this, the K-shaped economy.

Winners on the top arm, losers on the

bottom one, and the gap between them

stretching wider. It's the phrase the

rich get richer and the poor get poorer

drawn as a letter. But that's not the

true shape of the US economy anymore.

The more honest shape of the American

economy right now is an E. Here's what

it would look like. Picture a normal

letter E, three horizontal bars same

length, stacked evenly. Now take the top

bar and stretch it way out, far past the

other two. Leave the bottom bar low,

down near the floor, and take that

middle bar and tilt it so it slopes

downward. That's the United States

economy. It's three different classes

living three different lives. The top

bar is the richest 10% the ownership

class. Their wealth lives in stocks and

real estate, and both have been on a

tear. Home prices are up around 55%

since 2020. The market is up over 120%.

So this group has watched their net

worth explode in recent years. They

pulled away from everyone else because

they own the assets that are being

inflated. Then there's the bottom bar,

down on the floor. It's the bottom half

of the country, the 67 million

households that own about 1% of the

stock market. This is everything we just

covered, the negative savings rate, the

survival debt, the groceries split into

four payments. They don't own the assets

going up. They're just trying to stay

afloat. And finally, the middle bar,

everyone else in between, the households

whose raises got eaten by inflation. The

bar is tilted downward because something

quiet is happening to this group.

They're slipping down. Heather Long, the

chief economist at Navy Federal Credit

Union, pointed to a clear shift taking

place right now. She said, "We've seen

in our data a pronounced shift to

spending at warehouse and discount

stores like Costco, Walmart, and Aldi,

migrating away from the Whole Foods type

of experiences." This is the class of

Americans with a thin layer of breathing

room left, and they can feel it getting

thinner by the day. And before we wrap

this video up, I'm curious where you

stand. I want to hear how you feel about

the economy. Drop a comment and let me

know where you land on things. Because

here's what I see. The top 10% of

households are pulling away with a

collective 68% of the total net worth in

the country and a little over half of

all the income. The middle 40% hold

around 29% of the net worth and earn

about a third of the income. And then

the bottom half of Americans are left

with about 2 and 1/2% of the net worth

and roughly 10% of the income. It's the

leftover split between 67 million

households. And when you zoom out, the

gap between these groups isn't holding

steady. It's widening. That gap is

exactly why the news and your bank

account never seem to line up. Because

add up all the wealth in the country,

all the gains in the market, and all the

other lines going up into the right, and

you'll see a booming economy. But what

those charts can't tell you is who is

actually holding any of it. That's how

you get a stock market at record highs,

while the way people feel about the

economy sits at record lows. Because

it's the same country, but completely

different Americas.

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