[TuringNYC]

The wealthy don’t just invest in hedge funds, they also have index funds and plenty of real estate. Also, pension funds don’t just have index funds, many are invested in hedge funds. At a certain level of AUM and intent the allocations become similar. It would be wrong to say the common man has suddenly outrun the wealthy, wealth continues to be highly skewed, esp given asset inflation.

[albertshin]

Sure - agreed that I may have simplified a bit too much for the sake of illustrating the apples ($) to oranges(%) comparison u/thundergolfer was making.

Still, I highly doubt that the asset allocation of the median investor of the bottom 90% is similar to that of the median investor of the top 10% -- even if PFs have access to the same vehicles that HNW/FO have.

Wealth is definitely skewed. But, if you're willing to accept the wealthy have allocated more to HFs which have underperformed market, recently, it seems that the "common man" have outperformed by keeping it simple and letting their automatic biweekly 401k contributions go to VOO instead of some highly complex financial product.

EDIT: simplified wording