Americans now hold 43% of their financial wealth in shares and funds, a record. At the dot-com peak it was 33%. British households hold 19%.

Name: US shares and funds (charted by MacroSnaps)
Creator: Federal Reserve Financial Accounts (Z.1, table B.101); Office for National Statistics, UK Economic Accounts (2026)
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

US shares and funds43%(2026)US cash and bank deposits10%(2026)UK shares and funds19%(2026)UK cash and bank deposits34%(2026)

Share of household financial assets (everything except property) held in shares and funds (solid) and in cash and bank deposits (dashed). Year-end values; the last point is June 2026. Pensions and insurance are in neither line.

Why this is happening

Shares kept rising. Since 2009 American households' shares and funds have grown from $11.5tn to $66.5tn, nearly six times over. Their cash and bank deposits little more than doubled. The faster-growing holding takes a bigger slice.
Cash paid almost nothing. For long stretches of 2009 to 2022 the Federal Reserve held interest rates near zero, so a bank balance earned next to nothing while shares climbed. Cash is back near its 2000 low of 9%.
Britain is different. British households keep 34% in cash and bank deposits, more than three times America's share, and 44% in pensions and insurance. Their share in shares and funds has stayed between 12% and 24% since 1987.

The take

Last week's Nasdaq selloff (down 6.4% on 5 November, about $2.3tn gone, and 15% below its October record) falls on more American savings than the dot-com crash did. A 10% drop in shares and funds now takes about 4% off household financial wealth, against 3% then and 2% in Britain. Add the shares inside 401(k) pensions and insurance funds, and the Fed puts the American share at 48%.

Source: Federal Reserve Financial Accounts (Z.1, table B.101); Office for National Statistics, UK Economic Accounts (2026)

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<a href="https://macrosnaps.app/c/household-shares-us-uk">
  <img src="https://macrosnaps.app/charts/household-shares-us-uk.png" alt="Share of household financial assets (everything except property) held in shares and funds (solid) and in cash and bank deposits (dashed). Year-end values; the last point is June 2026. Pensions and insurance are in neither line." width="640" style="max-width:100%;height:auto">
</a>
<p style="font:12px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif;color:#6b7280;max-width:640px">
  Chart: <a href="https://macrosnaps.app/c/household-shares-us-uk">MacroSnaps</a>,
  <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a>. Source: Federal Reserve Financial Accounts (Z.1, table B.101); Office for National Statistics, UK Economic Accounts (2026).
</p>

Cite it

Cites MacroSnaps for the chart. For the numbers themselves, cite the source below.

MacroSnaps (2026). "Americans now hold 43% of their financial wealth in shares and funds, a record. At the dot-com peak it was 33%. British households hold 19%." Edition No. 122, 10 November 2026. https://macrosnaps.app/c/household-shares-us-uk

Permanent link: https://macrosnaps.app/c/household-shares-us-uk

The underlying data

MacroSnaps drew this chart. The numbers in it are published by Federal Reserve Financial Accounts (Z.1, table B.101); Office for National Statistics, UK Economic Accounts (2026). Their terms, not ours, govern the underlying data.