The rich are getting richer and income inequality is widening.

The top 1% of U.S. households controlled almost a third (31.7%) of the nation's wealth in Q3 2025, according to Federal Reserve data (1). Of those, the top 0.01% — the richest of the rich — controlled a whopping 14.5%.

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This worries former trader-turned-economist Gary Stevenson, who was a guest on a recent episode of Scott Galloway's podcast.

"What I see is rapidly growing inequality of wealth," Stevenson said on The Prof G Pod (2). And this is "directly causing rapidly increasing poverty, rapidly falling living standards."

Stevenson warns that growing inequality means "your kids will be poorer than you."

While the billionaire class is rising, the middle class is shrinking. "People need to understand that we do not live in an infinite sum world and you cannot have a group of people who own everything unless you and your group of people own nothing," he said.

While wealth taxes, estate taxes, and stricter tax enforcement could potentially reverse this trend, what can the average American do when the cards seem stacked against them?

If it feels like life is less affordable these days, it's not just your imagination. Despite gross domestic product (GDP) growth, American workers took home only 53.8% of national income, which is the lowest level recorded since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started keeping this data in 1947 (3).

At the same time, U.S. households in the top 1% gained at least 101 times more wealth than the median household between 1989 and 2022, according to a 2025 Oxfam report (4).

And that gap is expected to widen. Tax reforms in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, for example, will reduce the tax bill of the highest-earning 0.1% by an estimated $311,000 in 2027, while the lowest-income households are expected to face tax increases (5).

The report describes this as the "single largest transfer of wealth upwards in decades."

Tax cuts aren't the only reason for this growing disparity. Income inequality has "skyrocketed" over the past three-and-a-half decades "because of intentional policy choices that suppressed wages for typical families to accelerate income growth at the top," according to the Economic Policy Institute (6).

By its calculations, middle-class household incomes "would be roughly $30,000 higher today if their incomes had simply kept pace with average income growth since 1979."

At the same time, housing costs have risen faster than incomes (7), making the dream of home ownership harder to achieve for younger generations. Wages haven't kept up with inflation (8), while education costs have skyrocketed (9) — leaving students with high levels of debt when they enter the workforce (while simultaneously having to worry about being replaced by AI (10)).

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As younger generations face an uncertain future, it probably doesn't come as a surprise that 61% of those aged 18 to 35 experience financial anxiety, according to a 2025 consumer survey by Intuit (11).

While policy changes and tax reforms could help, there's no certainty if and when that could happen. So younger generations may want to take matters into their own hands.

That starts with a budget. Intuit's survey found that well over half (58%) of respondents say they improved their quality of life by actively managing their finances.

A general rule of thumb is to set aside 15% to 20% of your gross income each month for savings and investments. The 50/30/20 strategy allots 50% to needs, 30% to wants and the rest to savings, investments and debt repayment. There are several variations on this rule, so it's important to find a strategy that will work for you.

Investing isn't just about picking stocks; it's also about putting money into retirement accounts such as your 401(k), 403(b) or an IRA. If you're eligible for an employer match, try contributing at least enough to get the full match. If those contributions are automatically deducted from your paycheck, you won't be tempted to spend it.

When it comes to debt repayment, there are a number of strategies that can help you, such as the avalanche method (pay off the debt with the highest interest first) and snowball method (pay off the smallest debt first). In some cases, you may want to consider a debt consolidation loan that can offer lower rates than you're currently paying on high-interest debt like credit cards.

If you're still coming up short each month, you may want to look for ways to bring in some extra cash. Intuit's survey found that many respondents "have turned to side hustles as a means of financial security."

If you don't know where to start, a financial planner or counselor could help you develop a plan to meet your goals while weathering economic ups and downs.

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U.S. Federal Reserve (1); YouTube (2); Reuters (3); Oxfam America (4),(5); Economic Policy Institute (6),(8); National Mortgage Professional (7); NPR (9); Gallup (10); Intuit (11)

This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com under the title: Gary Stevenson says 'your kids will be poorer than you' — as U.S. income inequality widens

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