Posted on 08/15/2025 2:35:46 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Americans’ nest eggs are increasingly tied to the fate of the stock market.
Workers across nearly all age groups are investing record portions of their 401(k) accounts in equities. After years of relentless market gains, they are either allocating more to stocks or having it done for them by money managers.
Workers in their late 30s had 88% of their 401(k)s in stocks last year, versus 82% a decade earlier, according to Vanguard Group, which examined the average stock allocations of the millions of people in the plans it administers. 401(k) investors in their early 60s had allocations to stocks of 60%, up from 57% a decade ago.
Even in target-date funds, which move money from stocks to bonds as retirement approaches, more is going into stocks. At the end of 2024, the average equity allocation for workers in target-date funds just beginning their careers was 92%, according to Morningstar, up from 85% in 2014.
It is a bullish bet that has paid off during the market’s rise but stands to inflict bigger losses in a market downturn than a traditional portfolio of 60% stocks and 40% bonds. The S&P 500 is up 10% so far this year, hitting its 18th record of the year on Thursday.
That is likely raising investors’ stock weightings even more, since many let their portfolios follow the market. Individual investors say it is hard to see the merit of bonds or cash right now.
“It’s easy to have a higher tolerance for risk when the market does really well,” said Jason Kephart, an analyst at Morningstar. “If we’d just had a 10-year bear market, I don’t know if you’d see a lot of people increasing their equity exposure,” even though when stocks are down, that is exactly when people should buy, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
I’m buying Etherium. I see it going to between 8-10k by end of year. Right note it’s in low fours.
I’m happy..hit a milestone this week’s in stocks I’ve been hoping for and did.
Could be wiped out next week but I hit what I wanted.
Since 2010 one needed to be about 2/3s in SP500 index funds to keep up with non energy inflation rates just to tread water and get 4 to 7% returns past inflation.
Americans’ nest eggs are increasingly tied to the fate of the stock market.
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I remember well the dot.com crash, the 2001 crash, the 2008 crash….it’s about time, again.
“...non energy inflation rates ...”
Yes. That’s one reason to stay away from bonds. Stocks are better, but still risky, and some real estate, particularly urban commercial properties, is also chancy. Physical things are better, but I don’t see a return to speculative investments in arts and other collectables that we saw in the past, and those kinds of things are hard to put in a 401k, anyway.
Everything is great, in conservation/slow-grow mode. Very little in retirement accounts, luckily.
It’s only a loss if you touch it. Long term, leave it alone, ignore it, and guess what? In 10 years after buying up those shares on the cheap your money doubles. Funny how compounding works.
I am getting it also. Also bitcoin, stocks, and other crypto.
Best news I saw all day.
Just make sure to Hold or Buy through the eventual 30% downturn.
When, how much and when will it bounch/come back up
Thanks from an 86 year old.
https://spectator.org/deregulation-of-retirement-accounts-increases-risk/
“I remember well the dot.com crash, the 2001 crash, the 2008 crash….it’s about time, again.”
Yeah I remember the 1987 October crash as well. I rode out most of these corrections and crashes but certainly made some mistakes all the way.
Risk has been rewarded by the market in the past if one dollar cost averages into the market and leaves it alone for future retirement.
S&P 500 annual average return of 9.8% over the last 40 years.
Probably why many support sellout U.S. companies who remoted their factories to Communist China.
Profits regardless of consequences.
About time for a serious market correction...
People have forgotten.
How many idiots shovel money into their 401(k) without any idea of where it’s going, who is managing it, and what those managers are doing to companies they decide to invest in?
The average Joe just wants his 10% a year.
They are idiots. Their world is going to crash around them and they won’t know what to do.
If your 401(k) is fully invested at this moment…you are one Of those idiots. Take some off the table and wait for the crash.
My father when he passed away in 2020 at 95 was almost 100% invested in equities. The day he passed away March 15 was the lowest day of the stock market because of the Covid crisis.
I inherited that stock after the market had crashed 40%. Did not need the stock and still have it today. Have I sold it at that time I would’ve had 40% less wealth. I only sell what I need when I need it to live on the market is one where you invest and stay in it and forget it. Don’t get upset with the daily weekly, monthly gyrations. It’s a long-term ride.
I buy and hold mainly individual stocks. Overall, I have beaten the market the last 20 years by buying individual stocks and not buying index funds. Now for my 401(k) at work it’s pretty aggressively invested and it’s averaged 10 to 13% over the last 10 years.
Dollar cost average.
Crypto stock moves slower than anything.
You never lose unless you sell.
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