Americans who own stock

2003- 67% of Americans owned stock

2014- 54% of Americans own stock

The reason for the loss of 13% less people owning stock now is because of the perceived instability and what happened between 2007 and 2009 here in the U.S.

You have to be much better educated about stocks now not to get burnt than you did in 2003. You have to be able to do without your principal for sometimes years at a time. You might need to only invest in Blue Chip dividend bearing stocks for it to be worth the risk over time. You might need to learn about Bond ladders for 40% of your principal to make it worthwhile to invest in the Stock market at all. 

Also, the average person in the U.S. has lost 50% to 75% of their investments since 2007 because of what happened to real estate. Unless a home is paid for now it is not considered an investment and might become a liability and even cause bankruptcy in a severe downturn of housing values at some point in the future. 

However, if you own your home outright then all you have to come up with is property taxes to keep it. At that point it is an investment that you can choose to sell or keep at any point to your own advantage. So you are much less vulnerable to whatever happens in the world economically.

The percentages come from PBS newshour weekend November 1st 2014