BlackRock CEO Larry Fink says AI has the potential to spark a massive wealth creation cycle that everyday Americans should take advantage of.
In his 2026 annual letter to investors, Fink says history shows that capitalism has rewarded asset holders more than wage earners.
He also says AI could amplify the trend by an order of magnitude, leaving those on the sidelines behind.
“Meanwhile, the vast majority of wealth has flowed to people who owned assets, not to people who earned most of their money by working. Since 1989, a dollar in the US stock market has grown more than 15 times the value of a dollar tied to median wages. Now AI threatens to repeat that pattern at an even larger scale—concentrating wealth among the companies and investors positioned to capture it.”
According to the BlackRock executive, ordinary Americans should hop on the bandwagon by investing their savings in stocks or other assets with a long-term horizon.
“This is where much of today’s economic anxiety comes from: a deeper feeling that capitalism is working—just not for enough people. And a focus on short-term investing is not a fix for that. Rather, it is long-term investing that allows countries to build domestic industries, that lets people build enduring wealth and shows how their country’s growth can benefit them too.
At its best, long-term investing performs a kind of civic miracle. When people invest their savings—over decades, not days—the capital markets put that money to work, financing companies, infrastructure, and jobs. And when that cycle happens in your own country, your future and your nation’s future become linked. You help finance its growth. It helps finance yours.”
Data from Gallup shows that 62% of American households own stocks, but most of the ownership is concentrated among those earning at least $50,000. About 28% of households earning less than $50,000 say they own stocks, indicating that more Americans can build wealth through long-term investing.
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