The Federal Reserve's newest Survey of Consumer Finances shows the share of families directly holding individual stocks fell from 21.0% in 2022 to 19.0% in 2025. Among families that still held shares, the median holding rose 83%, from $16,400 to $30,000 in 2025 dollars, while the mean was $524,300 because a few large portfolios pull it up. The article cites rising stock prices and a possible factor that families leaving the market tended to have smaller accounts, alongside heavy concentration: the top 1% by wealth held 50.9% of household corporate equities and mutual funds in Q2 2026, versus 0.6% for the bottom 50%. For retirees holding individual stocks, the article flags concentrated positions, underestimated overall stock exposure, and capital gains taxes that can keep concentrated holdings in place longer than planned.
Summary written by Upside AI from the original article. Read the source for full details.
Read the original on Yahoo Finance ↗
Keywords
Fedpersonal financeretireestaxes
Open a keyword to see other news on the same topic.
Related news
- Microsoft Offers Voluntary Exits to 60,000 Workers. After 37 Years, He Risks Losing a 401(k) Tax Break With One IRA Rollover
Microsoft offered voluntary exits on October 26 to about 60,000 eligible employees in the U.S., Canada, India and Britain. Using a hypothetical 62-year-old with 37 years at the company, the article describes a $1.2 million 401(k) that includes $250,000 of Microsoft stock. Under net unrealized appreciation (NUA) rules, the example pays $42,400 in federal tax, versus $55,000 if the shares go into a traditional IRA, a $12,600 difference before other effects. The benefit requires distributing the whole balance from qualified plans within one tax year after a qualifying event, such as leaving the employer or reaching age 59½, and it is lost once shares move into an IRA. The article also notes that the timing of income and later sales can affect Medicare premium surcharges.
- Roth conversions: When the ‘juice isn't really worth the squeeze,’ according to a top-ranked advisor
Roth conversions move pretax or nondeductible IRA money into a Roth IRA, which can potentially reduce lifetime taxes but can also raise income in the conversion year, so the strategy isn't right for everyone. As of March 31, Roth conversions were up 41% from the same period in 2025, according to Fidelity data covering 19.6 million IRA accounts. Advisors warn that extra income can phase out tax benefits such as education credits, the SALT deduction worth up to $40,400 for 2026, and the $6,000 senior deduction, and can also raise Medicare premiums. For ACA marketplace enrollees, income above 400% of the federal poverty line, about $63,000 for a single person or $129,000 for a family of four in 2026, can cost them the premium tax credit, so they should proceed with caution.
- Boomers are buying into the promise of monthly income from options ETFs, but there's a tax catch
Covered call ETFs, which hold stocks and sell call options to generate regular income, have attracted investors seeking monthly cash flow, but they can create tax surprises. Their distributions may include ordinary dividends, capital gains and return of capital, and return of capital reduces cost basis, so tax is deferred until shares are sold, often leaving a higher capital gains tax bill later. Advisers quoted in the article warn that after-tax returns may fall short of expectations and that investors often discover the tax impact only at tax time, so holding these funds in tax-deferred accounts such as a traditional IRA is suggested. The article also points to the Morningstar Tax Cost Ratio, which measures how much taxes on distributions reduce a fund's annualized return.
- His Silicon Valley Pay Will Jump Above $184,500. Social Security Won’t Credit Every Extra Dollar Toward His Future Benefit
The article uses a hypothetical 61-year-old whose wages rise from $170,000 to $240,000 in 2026. The 2026 Social Security taxable maximum is $184,500, so only about $14,500 of the raise enters his earnings record, adding roughly $5 a month to his benefit. Once wages pass the cap, the 6.2% Social Security tax stops for the rest of the year, saving $3,441 versus taxing all $240,000, while Medicare withholding continues and an extra 0.9% applies above $200,000. The author suggests directing part of the raise into retirement savings such as a 401(k) and checking the earnings record at SSA.gov, since replacing a $40,000 year with the $184,500 maximum could add about $52 a month.
- U . S . Families 75 and Older See Median Net Worth Rise 37 % as Youngest Fall 23 %
Federal Reserve data show U.S. family net worth moved in opposite directions across age groups from 2022 to 2025. The median net worth of all families reached $215,900, up 2% from $211,100 in 2022. For families with a reference person under 35, the median fell 23% to $33,000 and the mean fell 33% to $135,400, mainly due to a pullback in business-equity values. By contrast, the median for families aged 75 and older rose 37% to $504,900, mainly due to rising retirement-account values, above the $431,300 median for ages 65 to 74. All figures are in 2025 dollars, and the survey does not track individual families between waves, so it does not show what happened to any one family.
- Jeff Bezos has simple advice for retirees watching the AI market
Related markets
Latest news
- Stock Market Today: Nasdaq Craters 3% As Chips Sell Off; Arm Misses Key Metric (Live Coverage)
The Dow Jones index rose on Thursday following a postelection rally. Shares of Cava and Dutch Bros plunged on their earnings.
- Amazon and Google Could Outperform Nvidia as AI Trade Enters New Phase, Says Joseph Carlson
YouTube investor Joseph Carlson argues that Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) could outperform Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) as AI investors move from companies selling hardware to those turning it into revenue. His view comes a day after Democrats swept Congress, and data-center critics also notched key wins.
- Sandisk Sinks 14%, Micron Down 10% as a Top Phone Chipmaker Blames Weak Sales on “Industry-Wide Memory Dynamics”
Sandisk (SNDK) fell 14%, Micron (MU) 10% and Seagate (STX) 12% after Qualcomm (QCOM), a top phone chipmaker, reported handset chip revenue down 26% to $5.14 billion in the quarter to Sept. 27, citing industry-wide memory dynamics. Sandisk's own Edge revenue, from phones, PCs and cars, rose 320% year over year despite 20% fewer exabytes shipped, as price drove results. Analysts still expect Sandisk's normalized EPS to more than triple to $227.80 in fiscal 2027, with multiyear contracts supporting a gross margin of about 80%. The shares trade at 4.4x forward earnings, the lowest in a year and below the 10.8x average, and the author says the selloff has run ahead of the damage.
- SK hynix Sinks 9% as Qualcomm’s 26% Handset Plunge Deepens Memory Chip Rout
SK hynix (SKHY) fell 9% after Qualcomm (QCOM) reported handset chip sales down 26% to $5.14 billion in the quarter ended Sept. 27. Qualcomm said chip costs, memory included, are rising and it is raising its own prices to match, and it expects a flat handset market in 2027. Higher memory prices lifted SK hynix's gross margin from 57.4% in the quarter to September 2025 to 85.7% a year later, mainly on conventional DRAM used in phones and PCs. Apple reported a record September-quarter iPhone result, but its inventories more than doubled to $14.5 billion, which the author reads as stocking up before memory prices rose further. SK hynix trades at 2.9x forward earnings, and contracts with 14 customers cover over half of its planned 2027-2028 capacity, though most prices are still set monthly or quarterly.
- Deputy PM: No mandatory requirement for people and businesses to switch to pure electric vehicles
The Government Office issued Dispatch No. 11281/VPCP-CN dated 5/11/2026 to the Ministry of Construction, conveying Deputy Prime Minister Phạm Gia Túc's directives on refining the Strategy for Transport Services Development to 2035, with a vision to 2050, and the Action Programme on green energy transition and greenhouse gas emission reduction in transport. The Ministry of Construction is tasked with leading the work, incorporating General Secretary and State President Tô Lâm's guidance on national logistics, and reporting to the Prime Minister before 15/11/2026. The Deputy PM stressed there will be no mandatory requirement or compulsory timetable for vehicle owners, people and businesses to switch to pure electric or other green vehicles, particularly road motor vehicles. Instead, measures will encourage a voluntary transition suited to economic and social conditions and transport infrastructure.
- Elon Musk faces a new $28.5 trillion problem after Texas upset
Shares of Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX) fell 5.5% and Tesla dropped 5.1% after Democrats won the U.S. midterm elections, raising concerns about regulatory scrutiny and possible delays to expansion of AI infrastructure. In Texas, where Musk has major operations, Gina Hinojosa defeated Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and has proposed suspending new data-center projects until stronger protections on electricity costs, water use and community concerns are in place, a move particularly relevant to SpaceX's plan to raise AI computing capacity from 1.7 gigawatts at the end of September to as much as 3 gigawatts by year-end and 13 gigawatts in 2027. Musk spent nearly $500 million supporting Republican candidates and political groups, and Democratic lawmakers may examine his government contracts and his earlier role in the Department of Government Efficiency. No statewide data-center moratorium has been enacted yet, and the financial impact remains uncertain.
Get the briefing on Telegram or Zalo
Join the Upside Telegram channel or Zalo group for the Vietnam stocks and gold briefing at 8:00 and 19:00 (Vietnam time) on trading days, plus a weekly wrap on Saturday morning.