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For generations, putting money in the bank has been synonymous with financial responsibility.
But BlackRock CEO Larry Fink thinks following that conventional wisdom would be a major mistake for today’s Americans.
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“Having your money in a bank account is one of the worst financial decisions of a lifetime,” Fink said at the Milken Institute 2026 Global Conference (1).
It’s a startling statement from the man who runs the world’s largest asset manager. But Fink’s argument goes beyond the return — or lack thereof — on money sitting in a bank.
He believes artificial intelligence (AI) could fundamentally change the way wealth is created, with the owners of capital potentially capturing gains that wages alone cannot match.
“We are not going to be able to broaden economic success only by wages, because wages in this AI world are not going to grow as fast as the potential of the AI growth — and capital that is going to be invested in these investments will outperform,” Fink said.
His proposed solution is to get more ordinary people invested.
“Trying to get more and more people to grow with our country and to invest side by side, that is the only way we are going to broaden economic success,” he said.
Fink has been hammering this point home elsewhere as well.
In his 2026 annual chairman’s letter (2), he warned that AI could create enormous economic value while concentrating more of that wealth among people who already own assets. Roughly 40% of Americans have no exposure to capital markets, according to figures cited by Fink.
In other words, his message is simple: Saving money may not be enough. Owning assets that can grow could become increasingly important.
Don’t let inflation eat your cash
There’s another problem with leaving large amounts of long-term savings in cash: inflation.
While headline inflation has cooled from its 2022 highs, Americans are still getting hammered by dramatically higher prices. U.S. consumer prices have jumped roughly 28% (3) since 2020 — with necessities like food (4) and housing (5) each surging more than 33% in the same period.
