Larry Fink runs BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, and he has spent much of this year making one argument: In America, the money has gone to people who own investments, not to people who live on a paycheck.
In his 2026 annual letter to investors, Fink wrote that “the vast majority of wealth has flowed to people who owned assets, not to people who earned most of their money by working.”
He added, “Since 1989, a dollar in the U.S. stock market has grown more than 15 times the value of a dollar tied to median wages.”
He returned to the theme Sept. 30, 2026, at a Ford event in Detroit, telling the audience that people with investment assets have fared better than those relying on wages, and that U.S. stocks returned about 10% per year, compounded, over the past 25 years, Fortune reported.
Averages like that smooth over a bumpy ride. U.S. stocks went through two deep bear markets in the 2000s alone, and money you will need within a few years does not belong in them. Still, the core point holds: A paycheck alone rarely builds wealth, and ownership compounds.
Fink also wrote that “roughly 40% of the population has no exposure to the capital markets,” and that last year “a record number of workers withdrew money from their 401(k) plans so they could cover financial emergencies.”
Getting on the owning side of that divide does not take a fortune. It takes a way in, and the tax code offers several.
1. Collect every dollar of the match
If your employer matches 401(k) contributions, contributing at least enough to get the full match is the closest thing to a raise you can give yourself.
Defaults matter here. According to Vanguard’s latest How America Saves report, plans that enrolled workers automatically had a 94% participation rate in 2025, compared with 64% in plans where workers had to sign up on their own.
If you never signed up, or signed up years ago at a low rate, check your contribution percentage this week.
2. No plan at work? Build your own
Many workers don’t have that option. In March 2026, 72% of private-industry workers had access to retirement benefits through work, but only 48% in the lowest-paid quarter did, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in September.
An individual retirement account can help close the gap. For 2026, you can contribute up to $7,500 to an IRA, or $8,600 if you are 50 or older, according to the IRS.
Your state may also help. Twenty-two states have adopted programs that make it easier to save through work, 17 of them automatic IRAs, and about 1.2 million people are saving through them, the head of Georgetown University’s Center for Retirement Initiatives said in July 2026.
3. Use the extra room after 50
If you started late, the limits rise as you age. In 2026, workers can defer up to $24,500 into a 401(k), plus an $8,000 catch-up contribution at age 50 or older, according to the IRS.
Workers ages 60 through 63 can take a larger catch-up contribution of $11,250.
A few years of maxing out those limits can make a real difference in your retirement savings.
4. Mark your calendar for the Saver’s Match
Starting with contributions for the 2027 tax year, the federal government will match up to 50% of the first $2,000 eligible lower- and moderate-income workers put into a workplace plan or IRA, up to $1,000 a year. Payments begin in 2028 and go directly into the saver’s retirement account, the IRS said in August.
Treasury plans to launch a website, TrumpIRA.gov, on Jan. 1, 2027, listing IRA providers that accept the match.
For 2027, the match phases out between $41,000 and $71,000 of modified adjusted gross income for married couples filing jointly, $30,750 and $53,250 for heads of household, and $20,500 and $35,500 for single filers, according to IRS guidance. Those ranges will be adjusted for inflation after 2027.
If you are at least 18, are not a full-time student or someone’s dependent, and your income is below the bottom of your range, contributing $2,000 next year could earn the full $1,000. Within the range, the match shrinks as income rises, and withdrawals from a retirement account in the current or prior two years can reduce it.
5. Keep cash so you never have to sell
The fastest way to fall back to the paycheck side of Fink’s divide is to cash out investments when an emergency hits. Vanguard found that 6% of plan participants took a hardship withdrawal in 2025, up from 5% the year before.
Keeping a few months of expenses in a savings account protects your invested money, and you can compare places to keep your savings to find one that pays a competitive rate.
When the decisions get bigger
Once your savings pass six figures, choices about taxes, withdrawals and Social Security get more complicated. If you have over $100,000 in savings, consider SmartAsset, which matches you with up to three fiduciary financial advisors legally required to put your interests first.
The matching service is free and comes with no obligation. The questionnaire takes about 10 minutes, asks for a phone number near the end, and lets you decide whether and when to respond to any advisor. SmartAsset connects you with advisors; it does not give advice itself. Money Talks News may receive a referral fee if you use it.
The gap Fink describes took decades to open. Narrowing your side of it starts with the next paycheck, not the next market rally.
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