The SpaceX IPO and the rise of retail investors
On June 15, 2026, the world witnessed the largest Initial Public Offering in history. SpaceX raised $85.7 billion out of a $1.7 trillion valuation.
The future will tell us if the company delivers on those extremely high expectations. In any case, the market clearly does not want to miss the massive potential that the leader of the space economy offers.
Beyond this major headline, I want to highlight that 20% of the equity raised that day was allocated to individual retail investors.
As a reminder, in a traditional IPO process, financial intermediaries like banks help companies raise capital by offering those new shares to their clients. Usually, large institutional investors—like pension funds and hedge funds—get the bulk of the allocation. Retail investors typically receive between 5% and 10%. Crucially, the hotter the IPO, the closer that number drops to 5%.
For the biggest IPO in history, retail investors brought more than $70 billion in demand and were allocated $15 billion, or 20% of the deal. This was achieved by design, as many online brokers were deliberately added to the selling group as selected dealers. We could argue about why this special treatment this time, but allow me to focus on another aspect.
The U.S. equity market and household wealth creation
In the United States, 60% of adults own equity directly. This is largely driven by the 165 million unique individual trading accounts currently registered. More than a third of total U.S. household wealth is directly linked to the stock market—though it is admittedly distributed extremely unequally.
While Americans do invest directly, the majority do so indirectly through investment vehicles like ETFs, mutual funds, and retirement accounts. Either way, individual participation in the stock market is exceptionally high.
Consequently, there is a tight link between personal wealth evolution and the performance of the local stock market—which has returned roughly 300% in 10 years, 700% in 20 years, and over 1’800% over the last 30 years. Said differently 100'000 usd invested in the main equity index in 1996 would be worth $1.8m today. Long-term thinking is key when the performance of your savings determines in large part how enjoyable your retirement will be.
Beyond the legitimate political and social debate on which retirement system is best or the fairness of wealth distribution, this massive household participation delivers a major macroeconomic advantage: it provides abundant, cheap, direct financing to American companies. This capital allows them to continuously deliver on innovation and growth. To be fair, strong foreign demand for U.S. assets, with foreign investors holding a net $27 trillion position in U.S. assets, also reinforces these favorable financing conditions.
Europe's savings-investment gap
If we cross the Atlantic, the story is entirely different. A paper published by the IMF summarized it perfectly: “Europe has ample deposits but not enough investment.” As the landmark Mario Draghi report pointed out, 80% of productive investment has historically come from the private sector. This private contribution is even more pertinent now given the high level of debt and deficits of Europe's larger economies. Mobilizing household savings in Europe will be a major theme of the decade.
Many factors explain this transatlantic gap: the high share of wealth tied up in real estate, the existence of public pay-as-you-go pension schemes, a conservative financial mentality, lower levels of financial education, complex taxation systems, and also too many fragmented national stock markets. In this sense, the Old Continent is a highly heterogeneous zone, displaying multiple models that drive diverse savings habits and financial cultures. Still, with very few exceptions, stock ownership among European households is much lower than in the U.S.
Equity investing and long-term wealth creation
In Switzerland, using Swiss National Bank data, 20% of total household net wealth is invested in stocks, counting both direct and indirect holdings through funds or pension plans. This exposure is roughly equivalent to what you find in the UK. While it is less than half of the U.S. level, it is double what you find in France and Germany, and more than three times the figures of Spain and Portugal where real estate represents north of 75% of household assets.
First, for the individual investor: over the long term, participating in the equity market is the most efficient way to grow personal wealth in real terms. Even when measured against a strong Swiss Franc, world equities have returned 180% (roughly 11% per annum) over the last 10 years with dividend reinvested. That is more than double the return of Swiss real estate in the same period. Public equity, through its ability to capture corporate earnings and GDP growth, is a vital ally to preserve and grow personal wealth over the long run. Even the European Central Bank warns that EU households are structurally underexposed to equities.
Why capital markets matter for economic growth
Second, for the capital markets—or simply put, for the companies’ source of funding.
Cheap and abundant funding is a massive tailwind for corporate growth in a fiercely competitive global landscape. In an era of increasing state-defined priorities, and amid a global major capex cycle the capacity to mobilize private capital has almost become a matter of economic sovereignty. On that front, the European Savings and Investments Union project is a critical first step. It aims to incentivize households to enter European capital markets.
We can’t forget private markets, where a large share of modern innovation is born. According to IMF calculations, venture capital funds raise seven times more capital in the U.S. than in the EU. Innovation is a non-stop, ongoing process, and Europe cannot afford to always be late to the party.
Building long-term portfolios across public and private markets
As private money managers helping families preserve their wealth in real term and across generations, we firmly believe that long-term portfolios must have their fair share of global public equities as a principal growth engine—balancing it with private equity, real estate and other public and private assets.
