Approximately 6 in 10 households in the United States own securities investments—typically through taxable accounts, IRAs or employer-sponsored retirement plans. However, this figure drops to a little over 3 in 10 if only taxable investments are considered. Households that own taxable accounts are more likely to be older, affluent, college educated and white relative to households with only retirement accounts or households without investment accounts. They also have much higher levels of financial literacy and moderately higher risk-tolerance levels. Certain demographic groups are significantly under-represented among investor households, including blacks and Hispanics—although these differences narrow after controlling for factors such as income, education and age.