We hear about inequality and wealth concentration quite a bit, but one thing that rarely happens is looking at the actual numbers. How is this wealth held, Why is the inequality there in the first place, and most importantly, can anything be done about it? By looking at this chart from the Federal Reserve, we can see the difference in the wealth held by the bottom half of Americans versus the top point one percent. A blue line at the bottom represents the bottom fifty percent, so collectively hold just under four trillion dollars of wealth versus just the top point one percent of wealthholders collectively own about twenty trillion dollars worth of wealth. Now, obviously this is a massive difference, but we have to dig a little bit deeper than just seeing inequality here to see what is actually going on. Drilling down a little bit deeper, we can see the stock market plays a huge role in this. There's this idea out there that the stock market is simply a wealth transfer mechanism. It's there only to transfer wealth from the working class to the top one or the top ten percent. And at first glance, when we take a look at this chart, which shows who actually owns all of the stocks. We see that the top ten percent hold about ninety two percent of corporate equities and mutual fund shares. So at first glance that assessment would seem true. But when you pull back the layers a little bit, you have to ask yourself a question, Well, why do the top one percent and the top ten percent have so much ownership in the stock market. Maybe it's not stocks themselves that are a bad investment and just there to transfer wealth. Maybe there's something else going on behind the scenes. And there are actually two other things going on behind the scenes here that make the stock market a wealth transfer mechanism from the poor in the middle class to the rich, and that is number one suckers and number two central bankers. Looking at this chart, I want you to notice this dip down in concentration of ownership of the stock market that happened during the Great Financial Crisis, and then the rebound that happened afterwards. You'll notice that it peaked out in two thousand and seven, where the top ten percent owned about eighty five percent of the entire stock market. That time period was somewhere around right here on the S and P. Five hundred. You'll notice there was some volatility after that, but the stock market actually peaked a little bit higher a little bit later. But by Q three and Q four of two thousand and seven, the ownership concentration in the stock market among the top ten percent had already started to dip. So while this sell off and rebound and making new highs was happening, the top ten percent were actually selling. You're going to start to see here what I mean by suckers. During this time period, the wealthiest had already started to get out of stocks. You can see up until quarter one of two thousand and nine, the constant among the top most wealthy continued to decline and then bottomed out in quarter one of two thousand and nine. This right here was quarter one of two thousand and nine, So by the bottom of the stock market, the wealthiest had already gotten out. So during this entire time, the wealthiest were getting out again. Because the chart that we're looking at is of the top ten percent, what is their total percentage ownership of all of the stocks. And while the stock market was crashing, that concentration was declining, meaning that overall, on a net basis, the rich were getting out and the small investors were getting in. Yeah, it did not take very long at all for that trend to completely reverse, because by quarter three of twenty ten, the top ten percent had already accumulated back up to the same eighty five percent ownership of the entire stock market that they had before, and then even at a short term peak by one year later in quarter one of twenty eleven at eighty six percent. You can see quarter one of twenty eleven was right around here where the stock market had not yet come up to its old all time highs, and quarter three of twenty ten, when the rich got back up to eighty five percent of the entire stock market, was right around here again much lower, much much lower than the old all time highs. This means that big money the richest were selling when the poorest were buying while the stock market crashed, and once the crash was about done, the rich started buying again right as the poor were selling. This left the top ten percent back in ownership of the exact same amount of the stock market that they owned before, yet it was at much lower prices than what they owned it at before. This is the wealth transfer mechanism at work. Small money retail investors buying at the top and then getting flushed out at the bottom. For every buyer, there's a seller, and for every seller, there's a buyer. In general, small investors retail investors tend to buy at the tops when the big money is selling, and they tend to sell at the bottoms when the big money is buying. This is how big money got back up to its eighty five percent ownership of the entire stock market by this time, when the stock market was much lower price than it was before. Around here, and obviously after that, their total stake in the entire stock market continued to grow and grow and then skyrocketed after the money printing started, and is now sitting at a record ninety two percent. So what you'll notice is the exact same thing is beginning to happen right now that happened during the Great Financial Crisis. Big money, the richest, the top one to ten percent, is starting to get out of the stock market right as retail is starting to get in. First, take a look at insiders selling their shares. When this chart has a reading of under twelve to one, it is bullish. Under twelve to one means insiders are generally buying they're not generally selling. That is bullish for the stock market. The people who know the absolute most about their companies and are the richest are not net sellers. A ratio of over twenty to one is bearish, meaning insiders are selling. The people who have the most money, who have the most connections, and who know the most about their companies are selling. Well, if twenty to one is bearish, what do you think the current level of one forty five to one is? Is very difficult to overstate the bearish sentiment that people should be feeling right now, understanding how significantly insiders are selling again, the top one to ten percent, the richest, the people who know the most about their companies are selling at crazy rates. For every seller, there's a buyer. And who is the sucker? I mean the buyer this time? Well, as we can see, Bank of America recently just did a poll and show that US optimism about the stock market is at its highest level since twenty twenty one, and that investors are most overweight in US stocks since December of twenty twenty one. Did Americans just suddenly forget what happened in December of twenty twenty one? December of twenty twenty one was literally the top of the market before it entered a year long bear market. Big money has spent the last couple of months shooting stocks up higher. It has led to fear of missing out, and retail and small investors are piling in at a record pace. They're the ones that are gonna be holding the bag when this thing starts to fall. Now, if you know anything about traditional investing advice, you're probably sitting there screaming, Well, this is why people say to never sell. This is the common sense investing. Because if all you do is buy dollar cost average and hold forever, then you're not gonna be the one buying at the tops and selling at the bottoms. You're gonna be able to participate along with the rich and just ride that thing up higher. And there is certainly some wisdom in that, but that strategy is incomplete. Number one, because the times when the stock market falls the most are likely the times when you'll need the money the most. You may not have a choice. People don't sell when and what they want to. They sell when and what they can, and many times. The reasons why the stock market crashes so severely is because people are forced to sell. They have to. Number two, you can't actually buy and hold forever because at some point you're actually going to need to use the money. That's the whole point of investing in the first place, is to maximize your wealth over the long term so that you can use it. Otherwise it's a worthless number on a piece of paper, and if it crashes and you don't have a way to protect yourself when it crashes, you're out of luck, just like everybody else who sold to the top one percent. Now, in case you're sitting there crying about corporate greed and the elites and thinking we need somebody to come in and strike down the top and increase socialism and increase equality and tax the rich, understand that the problem runs much deeper than that. What I've just shown you with the stock market and wealth concentration is a symptom, not a problem. And it all started back in nineteen seventy one when the United States left the gold standard and the US government was free to print as much money as they desire. Prior to nineteen seventy one, both compensation on average and productivity grew the same pace. So once the money printer was unleashed, productivity continued to climb while compensation for the average worker flatlined. Similarly, we can see that real GDP per capita per person threw at the same rate as the real median weekly earnings of full time earners up until again nineteen seventy, when they detached and the real median weekly earnings of full time workers flat lined while the real GDP per capita continued to climb at the same pace. Similarly, we can see that real family income grew at the same pace for different wealth core tiles until again nineteen seventy, when the top percentage of wealthholders continued to increase their wealth and the bottom percentages of wealthholders flatlined. This is shown even more clearly by looking at the top one percent of income earners versus the bottom ninety percent of income earners. In nineteen seventy, the income of the bottom ninety percent of earners flat lined, and shortly after the income of the top one percent of earners started to skyrocket. These are trends that were not in place until the money printer was unleashed. And the money printer becomes unleashed, US government or any government in general, is allowed to spend as much money as they want by financing their debt with newly printed money. This increases the money supply. It causes prices to go up, which makes debt easier to repay, which makes the biggest debt holders the biggest beneficiaries of all the newly printed money. And the biggest debt holders are always going to be the government, government contractors, and large corporations, which means that central banks, central planners, and the money printer are the direct cause of wealth inequality. They are not the ones fighting it. But there is some good news. Number One, you have the choice to not be a sucker. Don't fomo in at the top when everybody is buying, and don't panic sell at the bottom when everybody else is panic selling. When everybody else is jumping in for fear of missing out or thinking they're going to get rich, there's euphoria. That's when you hedge. I don't sell because you don't know the timing. Just hedge just in case when everybody is panic selling and getting out because they think it's the end of the world. Bye. Now. I make these videos here on YouTube because I truly believe that the world will be a much better place if as many of you as possible are as rich as possible. Money can't solve every problem, but it can solve every money problem, and most problems are money problems just in disguise. So I make these videos to teach you how money works so that you can make more, and keep more and give more. But some things can't be learned in a twelve minute YouTube video, and that's why I created Heresy Financial University so that those of you who are ready to make the investment can learn the strategies and the tactics that the professionals use to grow and protect their portfolios. Now I've been doing this a while now, I've lost a lot of money doing things the wrong way, but I've made a lot more money doing things the right way. I've learned from the best. I've packaged it all up for you so that you can learn and take the tools necessary to grow and protect your wealth. So, if you don't want to be a sucker, but you actually want to profit from these crazy economic times and beat the central planners at their own game, join Harsea Financial University linked to the description below, And for those of you who hung on to the very end, here I've got a special deal for you for one day only, just today, Harcie Financial University is forty percent off. Use code YouTube forty when you check out to get the deal. As always, thanks so much watching Have a great day.

We hear about inequality and wealth concentration quite a bit, but one thing that rarely happens is looking at the actual numbers. How is this wealth held, Why is the inequality there in the first place, and most importantly, can anything be done about it? By looking at this chart from the Federal Reserve, we can see the difference in the wealth held by the bottom half of Americans versus the top point one percent. A blue line at the bottom represents the bottom fifty percent, so collectively hold just under four trillion dollars of wealth versus just the top point one percent of wealthholders collectively own about twenty trillion dollars worth of wealth. Now, obviously this is a massive difference, but we have to dig a little bit deeper than just seeing inequality here to see what is actually going on. Drilling down a little bit deeper, we can see the stock market plays a huge role in this. There's this idea out there that the stock market is simply a wealth transfer mechanism. It's there only to transfer wealth from the working class to the top one or the top ten percent. And at first glance, when we take a look at this chart, which shows who actually owns all of the stocks. We see that the top ten percent hold about ninety two percent of corporate equities and mutual fund shares. So at first glance that assessment would seem true. But when you pull back the layers a little bit, you have to ask yourself a question, Well, why do the top one percent and the top ten percent have so much ownership in the stock market. Maybe it's not stocks themselves that are a bad investment and just there to transfer wealth. Maybe there's something else going on behind the scenes. And there are actually two other things going on behind the scenes here that make the stock market a wealth transfer mechanism from the poor in the middle class to the rich, and that is number one suckers and number two central bankers. Looking at this chart, I want you to notice this dip down in concentration of ownership of the stock market that happened during the Great Financial Crisis, and then the rebound that happened afterwards. You'll notice that it peaked out in two thousand and seven, where the top ten percent owned about eighty five percent of the entire stock market. That time period was somewhere around right here on the S and P. Five hundred. You'll notice there was some volatility after that, but the stock market actually peaked a little bit higher a little bit later. But by Q three and Q four of two thousand and seven, the ownership concentration in the stock market among the top ten percent had already started to dip. So while this sell off and rebound and making new highs was happening, the top ten percent were actually selling. You're going to start to see here what I mean by suckers. During this time period, the wealthiest had already started to get out of stocks. You can see up until quarter one of two thousand and nine, the constant among the top most wealthy continued to decline and then bottomed out in quarter one of two thousand and nine. This right here was quarter one of two thousand and nine, So by the bottom of the stock market, the wealthiest had already gotten out. So during this entire time, the wealthiest were getting out again. Because the chart that we're looking at is of the top ten percent, what is their total percentage ownership of all of the stocks. And while the stock market was crashing, that concentration was declining, meaning that overall, on a net basis, the rich were getting out and the small investors were getting in. Yeah, it did not take very long at all for that trend to completely reverse, because by quarter three of twenty ten, the top ten percent had already accumulated back up to the same eighty five percent ownership of the entire stock market that they had before, and then even at a short term peak by one year later in quarter one of twenty eleven at eighty six percent. You can see quarter one of twenty eleven was right around here where the stock market had not yet come up to its old all time highs, and quarter three of twenty ten, when the rich got back up to eighty five percent of the entire stock market, was right around here again much lower, much much lower than the old all time highs. This means that big money the richest were selling when the poorest were buying while the stock market crashed, and once the crash was about done, the rich started buying again right as the poor were selling. This left the top ten percent back in ownership of the exact same amount of the stock market that they owned before, yet it was at much lower prices than what they owned it at before. This is the wealth transfer mechanism at work. Small money retail investors buying at the top and then getting flushed out at the bottom. For every buyer, there's a seller, and for every seller, there's a buyer. In general, small investors retail investors tend to buy at the tops when the big money is selling, and they tend to sell at the bottoms when the big money is buying. This is how big money got back up to its eighty five percent ownership of the entire stock market by this time, when the stock market was much lower price than it was before. Around here, and obviously after that, their total stake in the entire stock market continued to grow and grow and then skyrocketed after the money printing started, and is now sitting at a record ninety two percent. So what you'll notice is the exact same thing is beginning to happen right now that happened during the Great Financial Crisis. Big money, the richest, the top one to ten percent, is starting to get out of the stock market right as retail is starting to get in. First, take a look at insiders selling their shares. When this chart has a reading of under twelve to one, it is bullish. Under twelve to one means insiders are generally buying they're not generally selling. That is bullish for the stock market. The people who know the absolute most about their companies and are the richest are not net sellers. A ratio of over twenty to one is bearish, meaning insiders are selling. The people who have the most money, who have the most connections, and who know the most about their companies are selling. Well, if twenty to one is bearish, what do you think the current level of one forty five to one is? Is very difficult to overstate the bearish sentiment that people should be feeling right now, understanding how significantly insiders are selling again, the top one to ten percent, the richest, the people who know the most about their companies are selling at crazy rates. For every seller, there's a buyer. And who is the sucker? I mean the buyer this time? Well, as we can see, Bank of America recently just did a poll and show that US optimism about the stock market is at its highest level since twenty twenty one, and that investors are most overweight in US stocks since December of twenty twenty one. Did Americans just suddenly forget what happened in December of twenty twenty one? December of twenty twenty one was literally the top of the market before it entered a year long bear market. Big money has spent the last couple of months shooting stocks up higher. It has led to fear of missing out, and retail and small investors are piling in at a record pace. They're the ones that are gonna be holding the bag when this thing starts to fall. Now, if you know anything about traditional investing advice, you're probably sitting there screaming, Well, this is why people say to never sell. This is the common sense investing. Because if all you do is buy dollar cost average and hold forever, then you're not gonna be the one buying at the tops and selling at the bottoms. You're gonna be able to participate along with the rich and just ride that thing up higher. And there is certainly some wisdom in that, but that strategy is incomplete. Number one, because the times when the stock market falls the most are likely the times when you'll need the money the most. You may not have a choice. People don't sell when and what they want to. They sell when and what they can, and many times. The reasons why the stock market crashes so severely is because people are forced to sell. They have to. Number two, you can't actually buy and hold forever because at some point you're actually going to need to use the money. That's the whole point of investing in the first place, is to maximize your wealth over the long term so that you can use it. Otherwise it's a worthless number on a piece of paper, and if it crashes and you don't have a way to protect yourself when it crashes, you're out of luck, just like everybody else who sold to the top one percent. Now, in case you're sitting there crying about corporate greed and the elites and thinking we need somebody to come in and strike down the top and increase socialism and increase equality and tax the rich, understand that the problem runs much deeper than that. What I've just shown you with the stock market and wealth concentration is a symptom, not a problem. And it all started back in nineteen seventy one when the United States left the gold standard and the US government was free to print as much money as they desire. Prior to nineteen seventy one, both compensation on average and productivity grew the same pace. So once the money printer was unleashed, productivity continued to climb while compensation for the average worker flatlined. Similarly, we can see that real GDP per capita per person threw at the same rate as the real median weekly earnings of full time earners up until again nineteen seventy, when they detached and the real median weekly earnings of full time workers flat lined while the real GDP per capita continued to climb at the same pace. Similarly, we can see that real family income grew at the same pace for different wealth core tiles until again nineteen seventy, when the top percentage of wealthholders continued to increase their wealth and the bottom percentages of wealthholders flatlined. This is shown even more clearly by looking at the top one percent of income earners versus the bottom ninety percent of income earners. In nineteen seventy, the income of the bottom ninety percent of earners flat lined, and shortly after the income of the top one percent of earners started to skyrocket. These are trends that were not in place until the money printer was unleashed. And the money printer becomes unleashed, US government or any government in general, is allowed to spend as much money as they want by financing their debt with newly printed money. This increases the money supply. It causes prices to go up, which makes debt easier to repay, which makes the biggest debt holders the biggest beneficiaries of all the newly printed money. And the biggest debt holders are always going to be the government, government contractors, and large corporations, which means that central banks, central planners, and the money printer are the direct cause of wealth inequality. They are not the ones fighting it. But there is some good news. Number One, you have the choice to not be a sucker. Don't fomo in at the top when everybody is buying, and don't panic sell at the bottom when everybody else is panic selling. When everybody else is jumping in for fear of missing out or thinking they're going to get rich, there's euphoria. That's when you hedge. I don't sell because you don't know the timing. Just hedge just in case when everybody is panic selling and getting out because they think it's the end of the world. Bye. Now. I make these videos here on YouTube because I truly believe that the world will be a much better place if as many of you as possible are as rich as possible. Money can't solve every problem, but it can solve every money problem, and most problems are money problems just in disguise. So I make these videos to teach you how money works so that you can make more, and keep more and give more. But some things can't be learned in a twelve minute YouTube video, and that's why I created Heresy Financial University so that those of you who are ready to make the investment can learn the strategies and the tactics that the professionals use to grow and protect their portfolios. Now I've been doing this a while now, I've lost a lot of money doing things the wrong way, but I've made a lot more money doing things the right way. I've learned from the best. I've packaged it all up for you so that you can learn and take the tools necessary to grow and protect your wealth. So, if you don't want to be a sucker, but you actually want to profit from these crazy economic times and beat the central planners at their own game, join Harsea Financial University linked to the description below, And for those of you who hung on to the very end, here I've got a special deal for you for one day only, just today, Harcie Financial University is forty percent off. Use code YouTube forty when you check out to get the deal. As always, thanks so much watching Have a great day.