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On Oct. 5 in Grand Island, Nebraska, Donald Trump pointed to a stock market number he’s proud of.
“But the stock market in just a little bit more than a year and a half has soared to 81 all-time record highs since the election, 81,” he told the crowd. (1)
Then he answered his critics before they could speak: “And they say, ‘Well, that’s for rich people.’ Well, it’s for all people ’cause the public owns, you know, these are big public companies.” (1)
I was a stockbroker on Black Monday in 1987, and I’ve made millions in stocks since. So I’ll give the president half a point. Plenty of regular people do own stock.
Gallup says 62% of Americans reported owning stock in 2025, counting shares held in mutual funds and retirement accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs. (2) Among people 65 and older, it was 61%. (2)
But owning some isn’t the same as owning much. Federal Reserve data show the wealthiest 10% of households held about 88% of corporate equities and mutual fund shares in the second quarter of 2026. (3) By my math from the same data, the bottom half held about 0.5%. (3)
Gallup found the same split by income: 87% of adults in households earning $100,000 or more own stock, versus 28% of those in households earning under $50,000. (2)
So the records are for everybody in theory and mostly for the wealthy in practice. But if you’re retired with real money in the market, “who’s winning” isn’t the useful question. Here are five things record highs should prompt you to do.
1. Check where your money actually sits
Record highs look great on a statement. They also quietly change your risk.
Investor.gov, the SEC’s site for investors, warns that because some investments grow faster than others, that uneven growth “may push your holdings out of alignment with your investment goals and change the risk level of your portfolio.” (4)
Here’s what that looks like. Say you started 2023 with $500,000: 60% in an S&P 500 index fund and 40% in bonds.
Using NYU’s S&P 500 returns with dividends for 2023 through 2025 (5), and assuming your bonds earned 4% a year, you’d have had about $781,000 at the end of 2025. About 71% of it would be in stocks.
You never decided to take more risk. The market decided for you.
2. Run the ‘bad year’ math before the bad year
The S&P 500 lost 36.55% in 2008, including dividends. (5)
Hit that 71%-stock portfolio with a 2008-size drop in stocks, and the stock side alone would lose about $203,000. Had the portfolio been rebalanced back to 60% stocks, the same drop would cost about $171,000.
That’s roughly $32,000 of damage avoided just by resetting your mix.
To be clear, I’m not predicting a crash. My point is that a retiree living off a portfolio can’t wait out a big loss the way a 35-year-old can. That’s why this math matters more after 65 than before.
It’s as we get older and hopefully richer that it makes the most sense to at least talk to a professional advisor. This is exactly where a pro earns their keep: managing risk and helping you decide the best possible mix of investments.
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3. Rebalance on a schedule, not a feeling
Investor.gov notes that some experts rebalance “at regular intervals, such as every six or 12 months,” while others rebalance when an asset class moves more than a pre-set percentage. (4) Pick one method and stick to it.
I’ve been fortunate enough over the years that I had to take my own advice when it comes to rebalancing. My Apple shares did so well, for example, that the position grew into too large a share of my portfolio. Same with Nvidia. So I trimmed some of both to manage the risk, even though I still own plenty of both.
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4. Keep your next couple of years out of stocks
Here’s a simple rule of thumb for retirees: money you’ll need to spend over the next couple of years doesn’t belong in the stock market. If the market drops, you don’t want to be forced to sell shares at the bottom to pay the electric bill.
I also own a small slice of precious metals to hedge against higher rates, a lower dollar and global turmoil.
Lear Capital has specialized in precious metals for over 25 years, guiding IRA and 401(k) rollovers one-on-one. Every purchase includes a 24-hour cancellation window, and their free kit explains pricing, storage, and the process upfront.
Go in with your eyes open: precious metals prices are volatile, dealers charge markups, and IRA storage and custodian fees add up. But if you have $20,000 or more saved, it’s worth it to request the free investor kit and get more information.
5. Don’t mistake a record for a promise
The last few years have been kind. The S&P 500 returned 26.06% in 2023, 24.88% in 2024 and 17.78% in 2025, including dividends. (5) And so far this year, things are looking good. But lest we forget, in 2022, it lost 18.04%. (5)
On Black Monday, Oct. 19, 1987, the Dow dropped 22.6% in a single trading session, a loss the Federal Reserve’s history site calls “the largest one-day stock market decline in history.” (6)
I was a stockbroker that day. Days like that come without warning, which is why you set your mix before you need it.
My take
Trump is right that stocks aren’t only for the rich. Most Americans 65 and older own some, counting what’s in 401(k)s and IRAs. But the Fed’s numbers make clear that most of the market’s wealth sits with the people who already own the most.
However much you’ve invested, check your mix, trim what’s grown too big, and keep the next couple of years of spending somewhere boring.
Let the market set records. Your job is to make sure the next bad year doesn’t get to rewrite your retirement.
Sources: 1. Roll Call (Factba.se transcript); 2. Gallup; 3. Federal Reserve Distributional Financial Accounts via FRED; 4. Investor.gov (SEC); 5. NYU Stern (Aswath Damodaran); 6. Federal Reserve History
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