Half of America Isn't
Invested in the Stock Market.
You Can Be.

In 2024, Larry Fink — CEO of BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager — published his annual letter to shareholders. It contained a warning that made headlines in financial circles but barely reached the people it was actually about.

The warning was this: America is heading toward a retirement crisis. People are living longer, saving less, and relying on a Social Security system that was designed for a shorter-lived, more employer-supported workforce. Fink's proposed solution — raising the retirement age — sparked immediate controversy. But buried under the debate about his answer was a question almost nobody was asking about the people at the bottom of the K-shaped economy: who is telling them they could be investing at all?

The retirement crisis is real — but not evenly distributed

When people talk about the retirement crisis, they're describing a real phenomenon: a generation of Americans approaching their 60s and 70s without enough savings to stop working. Social Security, designed as a supplement to retirement savings, has become the primary or only income source for a large portion of retirees.

And Social Security has its own structural problem that almost everyone agrees on but almost no one wants to fix: the payroll tax that funds it stops applying to income above $184,500 (in 2026). A teacher earning $60,000 pays Social Security tax on every dollar. A hedge fund manager earning $2 million pays on less than 10% of their income. Raising or eliminating that ceiling — making high earners contribute on more of their income — would substantially shore up the program's finances. It's not a radical idea. It's basic math. But it's politically complicated, so it doesn't happen.

But here's what gets lost in the policy debate: while lawmakers argue about retirement ages and contribution ceilings, the 50% of Americans with no stock market investment aren't waiting for Washington. Some of them have a tool available to them right now — a tool that could begin closing the retirement gap while simultaneously protecting the benefits their families depend on today. They just don't know it.

Why the bottom half isn't investing — and why that can change

The reasons most lower-income families don't invest are real and understandable:

• No employer-sponsored 401(k) with automatic enrollment and a match
• No financial advisor explaining compound interest over lunch
• Tight margins that make "extra money for investing" feel like a fantasy
• The belief — often reinforced by experience — that the stock market is for people who already have money
• And for families on public assistance: the active fear that investing might cost them the benefits keeping their family afloat

Every one of those barriers is real. But here's what the retirement crisis conversation misses: for families navigating the benefits cliff, the very act of investing can actually protect your benefits, not threaten them. A Traditional IRA contribution doesn't just build your future — it lowers your MAGI, keeping you under the income threshold that determines your Medi-Cal eligibility today.

The investment and the protection are the same action. You don't have to choose between them.

Whether you trade or use a robo-advisor, the gains compound

There's sometimes a perception that "real" investing requires stock-picking skill, market knowledge, and time to watch the screens. It doesn't. The research is consistent and has been for decades: most active traders underperform a simple index fund over time. Not because they're unsophisticated — but because the market, over long periods, tends to go up, and the cost of constantly trading (in fees, taxes, and timing errors) eats into returns.

Whether you open a Betterment account and let an algorithm manage your portfolio, or you use Fidelity's zero-fee index funds and never touch it, or you're someone who enjoys learning to trade and wants to be more hands-on — the compound growth is working in your favor from the first dollar you put in.

$100/month invested at a historical average of 10%/year doesn't feel like much today. In 30 years it's over $200,000. In 40 years it approaches $600,000. That's not a pitch. That's arithmetic.

Don't let the cliff stop you from picking up the extra shift

Here's the message I want to leave you with — the one I wish someone had said to me when I was sitting with that spreadsheet open, trying to decide whether to turn down the raise.

Don't let the cliff deter you from picking up an extra shift to start saving for your future.

Yes, the cliff is real. Yes, earning more can cost you benefits worth more than the raise if you don't manage it. But the answer to that problem is not to stay small. The answer is to use the tools that are already available — a Traditional IRA, a SEP-IRA if you're self-employed, an FSA — to protect your benefits while you build.

You are allowed to earn more. You are allowed to save. You are allowed to want a future that doesn't depend entirely on a government program or a Social Security check that may look very different by the time you need it.