🎉 Happy 2026: The decade retail investing changed forever

Good morning, and happy 2026. ☕

While you were recovering from last night's champagne, JPMorgan Chase dropped a bombshell report that changes everything we thought we knew about retail investing.

The data is wild: 37% of 25-year-olds are now investing (vs. 6% a decade ago), retail investors are moving more money into markets than during the pandemic peak, and young people are choosing stocks over homes.

Translation: The democratization of private markets isn't coming—it's already here. And the numbers prove it.

Here's what you need to know.

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📈 Record flows — Retail investing at pandemic-era levels (despite low savings rates)

👶 Getting younger — 25-year-olds investing at 6x the rate of 2015

💰 More inclusive — Lower-income investors growing 5x faster than high earners

🏠 Shifting priorities — Stock portfolios replacing home equity for millennials and Gen Z

JPMorgan Chase Institute just published the most comprehensive look at retail investing behavior over the past decade, and the results should make every VC, financial advisor, and policy maker pay attention.

The headline numbers:

8.1% of checking account holders transferred money to investment accounts in early 2025—matching the February 2021 pandemic peak.

$470 average transferred per person in March 2025—an all-time high, even adjusted for inflation.

5x increase in investing activity since 2015 for the overall population.

But here's where it gets really interesting...

Remember when investing was something you started thinking about in your 30s after you bought a house and settled down?

Yeah, that's over.

The numbers:

Why it matters: The traditional wealth-building playbook (home → retirement account → maybe some stocks) is being rewritten in real-time. Gen Z is skipping the home part and going straight to markets.

The "investing is only for rich people" narrative is officially dead.

What changed:

Translation: The democratization of investing isn't a talking point—it's showing up in the data. Apps like Robinhood, fractional shares, and $0 trading fees actually worked.

Here's the most important trend buried in the report:

Housing affordability has cratered. Investing activity has soared.

The context:

What's happening: For the first time in modern American history, an entire generation is building wealth through financial markets instead of real estate. This isn't by choice—it's because they're priced out of housing.

The question: Is this good or bad?

Good: Earlier investing means more time for compound returns. Someone who starts at 25 instead of 35 with $10K can end up with an extra $100K+ by retirement (assuming 8% annual returns).

Bad: Homes provide forced savings, leverage, and tax benefits that stocks don't. Plus, they're less volatile psychologically (you don't check your home value 10x per day).

This is the weirdest part of the data.

The contradiction:

How is this possible?

Two theories from the report:

Neither of these is driven by fundamentals (rising incomes, excess cash). Which means...

The risk: If markets correct significantly, retail investors—especially new ones—could face losses they're not emotionally or financially prepared for.

If retail investors are pouring into public markets at record levels, what does that mean for private markets?

Three implications:

The same forces driving public market participation (accessibility, education, FOMO) are now hitting private markets.

What we're seeing:

The opportunity: Get in early while information asymmetry still exists. Once private markets become as accessible as Robinhood, edge disappears.

JPMorgan's report emphasizes this: financial education needs to catch up to participation rates.

The reality:

What could go wrong: First significant correction will be a brutal learning experience for millions of new investors.

What we're doing: Our Tuesday "Insider Guide" and Wednesday "Democratized Investor" newsletters exist specifically to fill this gap. Understanding dilution, fees, and risk management isn't optional—it's survival.

The bull case: More people participating in markets = more wealth creation across income levels. The data shows lower-income investors ARE participating more.

The bear case: Most wealth is still concentrated at the top, and market volatility hits newer/smaller investors harder. If markets correct and new investors panic-sell at the bottom, inequality gets worse, not better.

The verdict: Financial education + disciplined investing = positive outcome. FOMO + overleveraging = wealth destruction.

The Retail Investing Boom:

8.1% — Share of people investing in Feb 2021 (pandemic peak)
8.0% — Share of people investing in early 2025 (we're back)
$470 — Average invested per person in March 2025 (all-time high)
37% — 25-year-olds with investment accounts in 2024
6% — 25-year-olds with investment accounts in 2015
31% — Share of monthly investors who are below-median income (2025)
20% — Share of monthly investors who are below-median income (2010-15)
38 — Average age of first-time homebuyers (2024, series high)

What JPMorgan's data tells us:

For us at Founderscrowd, this means:

We're not just providing access to deals. We're building the educational infrastructure to help a new generation of investors make smart decisions.

Because giving someone access to a $40B Anthropic deal doesn't help if they don't understand dilution.

Showing someone a 44x markup doesn't matter if they don't know about fees.

Our mission in 2026: Combine access with education. Deal flow with due diligence. FOMO with fundamentals.