Currents and Undercurrents: Changes in the Distribution of Wealth, 1989–2004

Arthur B. Kennickell

Senior Economist and Project Director

Survey of Consumer Finances

Mail Stop 153

Federal Reserve Board

Washington, DC 20551

Phone: (202) 452-2247

Fax: (202) 452-5295

Email: Arthur.Kennickell@frb.gov

SCF Web Site: http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/oss/oss2/scfindex.html

January 30, 2006

(Corrected August 2, 2006)

Abstract

This paper considers changes in the distribution of the wealth of U.S. families over the 1989–2004 period using data from

the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). Real net worth grew broadly over this period. At the same time, there are

indications that wealth became more concentrated, but the result does not hold unambiguously across a set of plausible

measures. For example, the Gini coefficient shows significant increases in the concentration of wealth from 1989 to

2004, but the wealth share of the wealthiest one percent of families did not change significantly. Graphical analysis

suggests that there was a shift in favor of the top of the distribution, while for the broad middle of the distribution

increases were about in proportion to earlier wealth. Within this period, there are other interesting patterns. For

example, from 1992 to 2004 the wealth share of the least wealthy half of the population fell significantly to 2.5 percent

of total wealth. The data show little in the way of significant distributional shifts since the 2001 survey. The paper also

presents some information on underlying factors that may explain a part of the distribution of wealth, including capital

gains, saving behavior and income, inheritances, and other factors. There are two special topic sections in the paper.

The first presents information on the distributions of wealth of African American and Hispanic families. The second

presents information on the use of debt across the distribution of wealth.

The views presented in this paper are those of the author alone, and they do not necessarily

reflect the views of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or its staff. The

author wishes to thank Michael Neal for assistance with the figures in this paper, staff at NORC

for collecting the data, and the SCF respondents for generously sharing their information for

research purposes. Thanks to Brian Bucks, Gerhard Fries, Diana Hancock, and Kevin Moore for

comments. The author bears sole responsibility for any errors.
1

See Kopczuk and Saez [2003] for an examination of the wealth of the population sufficiently wealthy to

file an estate tax return.

This paper considers changes in the distribution of the wealth of U.S. families over the

1989–2004 period, an interval that contains a variety of events that had strong effects on the

finances of families. The period includes two recessions, one in 1990–1992 and one in 2001. 

Leading up to 2001, there was a tech-led boom of the stock market, which deflated in that year

and had approximately recovered by the end of 2004. Between 2001 and 2004, real estate prices

rose sharply in most areas, while home equity borrowing flourished in a market of relatively low

interest rates. Over the whole period strong forces were altering the nature of production, work,

and many other aspects of life. For example, at the beginning of the period, the “World Wide

Web” was something known to only a relatively small number of technologically sophisticated

people, and by the end “www” addresses were commonly seen nearly everywhere. Entirely new

markets and jobs were created as older structures faded or transformed themselves to remain

competitive. In the underlying demographics, the bulge of baby boomers continued to move

through the age distribution, while total population grew about 19 percent over the 15 years, with

immigration explaining a non-negligible fraction.

As a consequence of these disparate forces, the distribution of family wealth did

shift—most certainly so for individual families. But trends in the overall distribution of wealth

are hard to characterize, and often different statistics give different impressions. The data used

in this paper, the triennial Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), supplemented by data from

Forbes, offer what is probably the best hope for identifying shifts in the wealth distribution for

the whole population.1

 But despite the special design of the SCF and the great care taken in

processing that data, it is still a relatively small survey, and as such it may lack the statistical

power to identify some relatively small changes clearly. That said, the data do identify

statistically significant shifts in the wealth distribution over the period considered here. But for

the 2001–2004 interval, even while the survey clearly records the surge in real estate values and

home-secured borrowing, it shows little in the way of significant overall distributional

movements.

The first section of this paper characterizes the data used. The second section reports a

series of different views of the wealth distribution and its dynamics between 1989 and 2004. 
2

2

See Bucks, Kennickell, and Moore [2006] for an overview of the 2004 survey and see Kennickell [2000]

for a review of the survey methodology.

3

For comparability, this measure is the same as that used in Bucks, Kennickell, and Moore [2006].

Three special topic sections follow. The first traces some of the sources of wealth variation that

can be seen in the SCF data. The second examines the relative wealth of African American

families and Hispanic families. The third examines the use of debt across the wealth

distribution. A final section offers a summary of key findings.

I. Data Used in this Paper

The primary data used in this paper derive from the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF),

a triennial survey sponsored by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in

cooperation with the Statistics of Income Division (SOI) of the Internal Revenue Service. The

version of the data used is the full internal data set available only within the SCF group at the

Federal Reserve Board. Beginning with the 1989 survey, great efforts have been made to ensure

the maximal amount of comparability of the surveys over time. Earlier years of the survey have

been used to examine wealth changes (see Kennickell [2003] and references cited therein). This

paper focuses on changes relative to the most recently available data at the time this paper was

written, the 2004 wave of the survey.2

 Data collection for this survey and all the surveys

beginning with the 1992 survey was undertaken by NORC, a social science and survey research

organization at the University of Chicago.

The SCF collects detailed information on the assets and liabilities of families, in addition

to data on their work history, their use of financial institutions, their attitudes and expectations, a

variety of demographic characteristics, and other variables. The asset and liability data are used

to build the measure of net worth used in this paper.3

 This measure includes the sum of financial

assets (checking, savings and money market accounts, certificates of deposit, savings bonds,

other types of bond, mutual funds, hedge funds, stocks, annuities, managed investment accounts,

trusts, the cash value of life insurance, retirement accounts, and miscellaneous financial assets)

and nonfinancial assets (principal residences, other residential real estate, net value of

nonresidential real estate, businesses, vehicles, and miscellaneous nonfinancial assets) net of the

sum of all outstanding debts (loans on a primary residence or other residential real estate, credit
3

4

See Gale and Pence [2005] and Kennickell and Sundén [1997] for approaches for including a present value

of annuity benefits in the calculation of net worth.

card balances, installment loans, margin loans, loans against cash value life insurance and

pension accounts, and miscellaneous debts).

It is important to note that retirement assets are only partly captured in this measure of

wealth. The wealth measure is intended to reflect only assets where the family has substantial

control or direct interest. Thus, the measure of retirement assets used includes Individual

Retirement Accounts (IRAs), Keogh Accounts, and balances in account-type pensions from

which withdrawals could be made, either as a simple withdrawal or a loan; other types of

employer- or union-based retirement account or annuity right and coverage under the Federal

Old Age and Survivors’ Insurance (OASI) are excluded. In 2004, of the 33 percent of families

headed by a person with some sort of pension on a current job, 64 percent had at least one

account-type plan of the sort included in the net worth measure, 20 percent had at least one

account-type plan that would not be included in the wealth measure, and 33 percent had at least

one non-account-type plan other than OASI. Although broadening the net worth measure to

include the omitted account-type plans would be straightforward, including an appropriate

representation of the other plans would not be so simple.4

 To do so would require computing an

expected present value of annuity benefits, which would entail assumptions about the proper

framework to use in including or excluding future employer and employee contributions to such

plans as well as assumptions about how benefits might be affected by future employment and

wages, the rate of future inflation, and future interest rates. There is no consensus about what

approach to take in making such assumptions. Moreover, the additional effort that would be

required is beyond the scope of this paper.

The data collected in the survey are subjected to an intensive review, with the aim of

detecting serious errors on the part of interviewers or respondents. Often comments recorded by

interviewers play a key role in this determination, but computer-driven searches for common

types of problem are equally important. Sometimes such editing discovers recorded values that

are clearly wrong, but there is not sufficient information to determine the correct answer; in such

cases, the erroneous value may be set to a missing value. In other instances where there are

multiple interrelated responses that are inconsistent, irreconcilable discrepancies may be allowed

to stand if there is no information to determine the most reliable of the interrelated values.
4

5

See Rubin [1987] for a discussion of multiple imputation in general and Kennickell [1998] for its

application to the SCF.

6

See Kennickell and Woodburn [1999] and Kennickell [1999] for a discussion of the construction of the

SCF sample and weighting design.

Missing data in the survey are imputed using a technique of multiple imputation.5

Multiple imputation allows an analyst of the imputed data to develop a measure of the

uncertainty associated with the fact that some of the values of variables were originally missing.

The sample for the SCF is designed to provide adequate information to examine a broad

range of financial behaviors. Because some assets are held very disproportionately by relatively

wealthy families, a straightforward area-probability sample (or other such sample with equal

selection probabilities) would be unlikely to capture enough wealthy families for meaningful

analysis of such variables, unless the sample size were quite large. Short of a huge sample size,

an area-probability sample would provide a very inefficient representation of wealthy families,

and consequently of assets concentrated among such families. In addition, there are strong

indications that wealthy families are far less likely to respond to surveys than other families (see

Kennickell [2005]); thus without some means of identifying relative wealth a priori, the realized

sample for a survey would be very likely to be biased in terms of its representation of such

families.

The SCF addresses both these statistical efficiency and bias concerns through the use of a

dual-frame sample design.6

 A national multi-stage area-probability design provides broad

coverage of common economic behavior; this part of the sample provides about two-thirds of the

final interviews. The other part of the sample employs information from SOI, under stringent

provisions to protect the privacy of taxpayers, to select a sample with disproportionate

representation of families more likely to be relatively wealthy; this sample is stratified by a

“wealth index” computed using observed capital income flows and related information (see

Kennickell [2001]. The two parts of the sample are adjusted for sample nonresponse and

combined using weights to provide a representation of families overall.

It is important to note that the SCF excludes one small set of families by design. People

who are listed in the October issue of Forbes as being among the 400 wealthiest in the U.S are

excluded. This exclusion is made for two reasons. First, it is very unlikely that an interviewer

could manage to reach a sufficient number of such people to justify the time and effort to attempt
5

7

See the October 2004 issue of Forbes and Canterbury and Nosari [1985] for details on the methodology. 

The Forbes data for recent years are available at www.forbes.com; the earlier data are only available in the printed

version of the magazine. Unfortunately, on the basis of the very limited documentation available, it is not clear how

consistent the Forbes methodology is within a given year and across time. From what is known, the estimates

represent an “educated guess,” with a variety of inputs. Probably the largest sources of potential error in these

estimates are in the assignment of ownership of assets spread within a family and the valuation of assets that may not

be publicly traded.

to do so. Second, it is almost certain that interviews with such people could not be included in

the public version of the SCF data without introducing too large a probability that the identity of

the respondent might be compromised. However, it should be noted that there are respondents

interviewed for the SCF whose wealth is greater than the lowest value for the Forbes list; these

cases are only included in the internal version of the data.

To enable the calculation of statistical hypothesis tests, the SCF uses a replication scheme

(Kennickell [2000] and Kennickell and Woodburn [1999]). A set of replicate samples is selected

by applying the key dimensions of the original sample stratification to the actual set of

completed SCF cases and then applying the full weighting algorithm to each of the replicate

samples. To estimate the variability of an estimate from the SCF, independent estimates are

made with each replicate and with each of the multiple imputations; a simple rule is used to

combine the two sources of variability into a single estimate of the standard error.

II. The Distribution of Wealth

A. Forbes Data

Every October, Forbes publishes a list of what it estimates to be the 400 wealthiest

people in the U.S.7

 These people probably represent the segment of wealthy families best known

to the public in general, though their characteristics may well differ from those of families even a

fraction of a percentile lower in the wealth distribution. Because, as noted above, the SCF and

Forbes samples do not overlap, these sources are, in principle, natural complements in

describing the distribution of wealth. For simplicity, the data from the two sources are treated

separately.

According to calculations based on the data reported in Forbes, the wealth held by the

400 wealthiest people grew by widely varying amounts over the period covered in this paper
6

8

Except where otherwise noted, all dollar values reported in this paper have been adjusted to 2004 dollars

using the CPI-U-RS, a research series computed by the Bureau of Labor statistics that is intended to extend

methodological improvements in the current consumer price index back in time to the degree possible.

(table 1). Based on the three years of data transcribed for the 1989-1995 period, the annualized

growth rate in real terms was 0.5 percent over the first three years and 3.0 percent over the

second three years.8 Reflecting in part the rise and decline of high technology stocks over the

succeeding five years, the growth rate hit a high of 33.7 percent in 1997 and a low of 12.0

percent in 2000, before turning strongly negative—minus 23.1 percent in 2001 and minus 9.3

percent in 2002. There was growth of 7.0 percent in 2003 and 2.2 in 2004. From 1989 to 2004,

total real wealth of the group grew by 6.4 percent at an annual rate, but obviously with

considerable variability within that period.

Within the Forbes group, there were substantial variations in the concentration of wealth

held by the group over the 15-year period shown. For example, the ratio of the highest value to

the minimum value rose monotonically from 18.9 in 1989 to a peak of 136.0 in 1999—about

seven times the ratio in 1989—and then declined with slight interruption to 68.0 in 2004. 

Although the general shape of the ratio of the average of the highest 10 values to the lowest

value is similar over this time, the change is much less dramatic—it peaks at 45.4, or about four

times the value of the ratio in 1989. The 100th value ranged from 2.5 to 3.8 times the lowest

value over the period; at its peak in 1996, this ratio was only about fifty percent higher than its

low point in 1989.

Year Total Max Min. Avg. 100th Max÷min Avg. top 100th value Forb. wealth÷

wealth wealth wealth top 10 value 10÷min ÷min value (Forb. wealth+

($B) ($B) ($M) ($B) ($M) wealth SCF wealth)

(percent)

1989 396.4 7.7 405 4.5 1029.8 18.9 11.1 2.5 1.54

1992 402.2 8.3 350 6.7 1055.5 23.8 19.1 3.0 1.68

1995 439.5 18.2 418 8.1 1107.8 43.5 19.3 2.6 1.67

1996 547.5 22.2 340 9.2 1318.6 65.1 27.0 3.9 NA

1997 732.2 46.7 557 15.4 1760.5 83.8 27.6 3.2 NA

1998 854.2 67.6 579 22.0 1967.5 116.8 38.0 3.4 2.49

1999 1,173.1 96.3 708 32.2 2720.4 136.0 45.4 3.8 NA

2000 1,313.7 69.1 795 32.6 2851.9 86.9 41.0 3.6 NA

2001 1,009.9 57.6 640 25.6 2134.2 90.0 40.0 3.3 2.20

2002 916.2 45.6 578 23.6 1890.7 78.2 40.2 3.3 NA

2003 980.1 47.62 616 24.4 2053.8 76.7 39.6 3.3 NA

2004 1,002.1 51.0 750 22.7 2200.0 68.0 30.3 2.9 1.96

Note: All dollar-related figures are adjusted to 2004 constant dollars.

Table 1: Wealth of the Forbes 400; 1989–2004.
7

9

Panel data would be needed to address wealth changes for individual families. There are SCF panel data

only for the 1983–1989 period. Because of the notable substantive and methodological differences between the

1983 data and the cross sectional surveys beginning with 1989, the 1983 information is not used here. See Avery

and Kennickell [1991] for an analysis of wealth dynamics based on the 1983 and 1989 SCF.

In the comparisons reported here, no adjustments are made for variations in the size and composition of

households. Furthermore, no use is made of the Forbes data in the SCF estimates reported.

10See Kennickell [2003] for a detailed discussion of families with negative net worth.

For the years where the SCF and the Forbes data overlap, it is possible to see what

proportion of wealth is, in principle, missing from the SCF. From 1989 to 1995, the total wealth

of the Forbes 400 as a proportion of the sum of that wealth and total wealth measured in the SCF

ranged from 1.5 to 1.7 percent; following the pattern of growth in the top rank of the Forbes

group, the proportion jumped to 2.5 percent in 1998, before falling off a bit in both 2001 and

2004. In 2004 the fraction was 2.0 percent.

Because membership in the Forbes group is not constant over time, these shifts refer to

changes in a slice of the wealth distribution, not the fortunes of individual families. However,

since the group members are identified by name, it is possible to trace their dynamics. As shown

in Kennickell [2003] for the period from 1989 to 2001, of the 400 people in the 2001 list, 230

were not anywhere in the 1989 list. Persistence in the list was highest for people who were in

the wealthiest 100—of the people in this group, 45 were in the same group in 1989 and 23 others

were elsewhere in the list.

B. SCF Data

Broad growth. Across the 1989 to 2004 period, the inflation-adjusted wealth distribution

rose broadly (table 2), though the pattern for individual families over the period might well have

been otherwise.9

 Although the fraction of families with negative net worth stayed about the

same across the fifteen-year period aside from a jump in 1998, the population with non-negative

wealth tended overall to shift to higher wealth groups, with some possibly cyclically-influenced

deviations within the period.10 For example, in 1989, 26.5 percent of families had net worth of

less than $10,000; by 2004 the figure was 22.7 percent. Over the same period, the share of

families with at least $500,000 in net worth rose from 10.8 percent to 17.7 percent. Beneath this

general trend are many undercurrents affecting the distribution of wealth, some of which are

explored in this paper.
8

Means and quantile

indicators. The relationship

between the mean and the median

of net worth is often taken as a

simple indicator of changes in

distribution. From 1989 to 2004,

the mean value of wealth

measured in the SCF rose 61.2

percent, while the median rose

35.3 percent (table 3). Although

the mean and median both grew,

the difference in these growth

rates over the 15-year period

signals that wealth moved in

relative terms to the upper half of

the distribution during this time. 

At the beginning of the period, the

mean was 4.0 times the median,

and owing the differences in growth rates, the mean was 4.8 times the median at the end. It is

noteworthy that the ratio of the mean to the median was relatively little changed from 1989 until

2001, when it rose 0.7 percentage point. Yet, it was in 2001 that the wealth of the Forbes 400

saw the largest percentage decline over the period considered here. This difference suggests that

changes for the Forbes group may be relatively loosely coupled with those for other families.

Examination of other key percentiles of the distribution suggests that the overall picture

is less straightforward than that shown by the means and medians. Although there was growth

from 1989 to 2004 at the 10th, 25th, 75th and 90th percentiles, the ratio of the 75th and 90th

percentiles of the wealth distribution to the value of the 25th percentile declined over the period 

1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004

<0 7.2 7.2 7.1 8.0 6.9 7.1

0.6 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.3

=0 3.9 3.2 2.6 2.5 2.6 1.7

0.5 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2

1-999 4.0 3.0 2.4 3.2 2.7 2.3

0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2

1K-2.49K 3.1 3.6 2.5 2.4 2.3 3.2

0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2

2.5K-4.9K 4.3 3.4 3.4 3.2 3.3 4.0

0.5 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.2

5K-9.9K 4.0 4.9 5.5 4.7 4.6 4.4

0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3

10K-24.9K 8.0 9.2 9.2 7.9 7.9 7.8

0.6 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.3 0.4

25K-49.9K 9.3 10.5 10.0 9.4 9.0 8.8

0.6 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.5

50K-99.9K 13.3 14.2 15.8 12.5 12.2 11.9

0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.5

100K-249.9K 20.8 21.5 22.2 21.9 19.1 18.6

1.0 0.9 0.7 0.9 0.6 0.7

250K-499.9K 11.3 10.0 9.9 12.5 13.5 12.4

0.7 0.5 0.3 0.8 0.6 0.6

500K-999.9K 5.6 5.2 5.5 6.5 8.4 9.6

0.5 0.3 0.3 0.6 0.6 0.7

>=1M 5.2 4.2 3.8 5.3 7.5 8.1

1.3 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.3

Standard errors are given in italics.

Table 2: Percent distribution of net worth in 2004 dollars,

1989–2004.
9

11The table shows the ratio of the 90th and 25th percentiles, rather than the ratio of the 90th and 10th

percentiles more familiar from analysis of income distributions, because the 10th percentile is often zero or a very

small positive or (absolute) negative value.

with considerable variation within the period.11 But this decline was not statistically significant,

owing in part to the unusually large standard errors for the 1989 estimates. However, if 1992 is

taken as the starting point of the period, the ratios increase significantly by 2004 and roughly in

parallel with the ratio of the mean to the median. Thus, the data at this level generally support

the idea that wealth may have shifted toward the upper part of the distribution at least from 1992

to 2004.

Gini coefficient. Another common indicator of the distribution of wealth is the Gini

coefficient, which is defined in terms of the Lorenz curve, a graph of the cumulative percent of

wealth against the cumulative percent of families, where the families are sorted by wealth. The

wealth Gini coefficient is given as one minus twice the area under the Lorenz curve. In a world

of perfect equality, (where the lorenz curve would be a 45 degree line) the value would be zero,

and in a world where all wealth was held by one person, the value would be approximately one. 

Thus, the wealth Gini coefficient gives a measure of the relative size of the deviation of a

distribution from perfect equality. Two important and interrelated auxiliary points are that the

deviations are weighted equally, independently of location in the distribution, and that two

Thousands of 2004 dollars Memo: Ratio

Mean P10 P25 Median P75 P90 P75/P25 P90/P25 Mean/Median

1989 277.9* 0.0 8.1* 68.8* 216.2* 539.5* 26.7 66.6 4.0*

22.2 0.0 1.0 3.8 11.1 79.1 3.8 13.3 0.3

1992 246.1* 0.0 9.6* 65.3* 194.6* 470.2* 20.3* 49.0* 3.8*

7.3 0.0 0.7 3.3 6.7 18.8 1.3 3.6 0.2

1995 260.7* 0.1 12.3 70.8* 197.8* 469.0* 16.1* 38.2* 3.7*

6.4 0.1 0.9 2.4 4.3 17.2 1.3 3.2 0.1

1998 328.5* 0.0 11.5 83.2* 242.2* 572.9* 21.0* 49.7* 3.9*

10.7 0.0 0.7 3.2 12.9 22.8 1.6 3.5 0.2

2001 423.9* 0.1 13.6 91.7 301.7 782.2 22.3 57.7 4.6

7.1 0.1 0.8 3.3 31.5 11.4 1.3 4.1 0.2

2004 448.0 0.2 13.3 93.1 328.5 831.6 24.8 62.8 4.8

9.7 0.1 0.8 4.3 17.0 24.8 1.5 3.6 0.2

Standard errors are given in italics.

*=significantly different from the 2004 level at 95 percent confidence.

Table 3: Mean, 10th and 25th percentiles, median, 75th and 90th percentiles of the distribution of net worth;

1989–2004.
10

different distributions could

generate the same Gini coefficient. 

Thus, the Gini coefficient does not

provide an unambiguous and neutral

index of the wealth distribution.

From 1989 to 2004, the

wealth Gini coefficient rose from

0.79 to 0.80, a relatively small but

statistically significant change (table

4). At the same time, there was a

slight increase in the comparable

Gini coefficient computed for assets

and a slight decrease in the Gini coefficient for debt. In contrast, the coefficient for income

began the period at about the same level at which it ended, after having fallen and risen in

between; moreover, it is about two-thirds the level of the coefficient for wealth.

Concentration ratios. Because the Gini coefficient attempts to summarize many complex

changes in terms of a single number, it may miss important variation for particular parts of a

distribution or for particular subpopulations. A more detailed means of summarizing the relative

distribution of wealth is the use of concentration ratios, the proportion of total wealth held by

specific groups. In 2004, slightly more than one-third of total net worth was held by the

wealthiest one percent of families (table 5). Although the estimated level of this share has

changed over the surveys since 1989, the differences are not statistically significant. In 2004, the

next-wealthiest nine percent of families held 36.1 percent of total wealth, again, a figure not

significantly changed over the course of the surveys. This leaves less than a third of the total for

the remaining ninety percent of the population. A subset of that group, families in the bottom

half of wealth distribution, held only 2.5 percent of total wealth in 2004, and this figure is

significantly different from the higher estimates for 1995, 1998, and 2001; of course, those

differences reflect movements elsewhere in the distribution, but the statistical power of the tests

is not sufficient to identify where among the groups shown the offsetting changes occurred. A

possible explanation of the decline for the lowest wealth group might be changes in their use of

debt, but a separate examination of gross assets yields a pattern similar to that seen for net worth.

Net worth Assets Debt Income

1989 0.7863* 0.7481 0.7447* 0.5399

0.0072 0.0080 0.0063 0.0086

1992 0.7808* 0.7379* 0.7479* 0.5005*

0.0061 0.0064 0.0049 0.0049

1995 0.7841* 0.7323* 0.7243* 0.5146*

0.0043 0.0044 0.0040 0.0042

1998 0.7935 0.7444 0.7138 0.5302

0.0051 0.0052b 0.0037 0.0040

2001 0.8034 0.7603 0.7104 0.5643*

0.0041 0.0042 0.0034 0.0037

2004 0.8047 0.7540 0.7053 0.5406

0.0049 0.0051 0.0036 0.0040

Standard errors are given in italics.

*=significantly different from the 2004 level at 95 percent confidence.

Table 4: Gini coefficients for net worth, assets, debt and income,

1989–2004.
11

12The dots around the central line indicate the 95 percent point-wise confidence intervals at selected points

across the distribution. The vertical axis is scaled using the inverse hyperbolic sine transformation (with a scale

factor of 0.0001), which has the convenient property of being approximately linear around zero and approximately

logarithmic away from zero.

Graphical analysis. A more direct

and comprehensive way of characterizing

changes across the wealth distribution is to

use a quantile-difference (QD) plot, a graph

of differences between the levels of two

distribution at each quantile of the

distributions. Figure 1a shows a QD plot of

the difference between the wealth

distributions for 2001 and 2004, where the

line plotted represents the 2004 level minus

the 2001 level.12 At the bottom of the

distribution, the estimate shows that wealth

became more negative in that range, though

the changes are not significantly different

from zero. From there up to about the 50th

percentile, there was very little change in

levels between the two years. Above that

point, the estimates show some substantial

gains, but they are significantly different

from zero in this point-wise sense only from

about the 75th to the 85th percentiles.

In general, the level changes may be misleading as indicators of shifts of wealth shares

across the distribution; for a group to increase its share of wealth, its wealth has to grow at a

faster rate than the wealth of other families. A relative quantile-difference (RQD) plot addresses

this point by normalizing the change in a QD plot by the level of the base year; that is, the

amount shown for each common quantile in the two distributions is the percent change in the

level of wealth corresponding to the quantile. Viewed in this way, the changes in the lowest

fifteen percent of the distribution tend to explode, largely because the denominator is quite small

Proportion of total net worth held by group

Net worth percentile group

0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100

1989 3.0 29.9 13.0 24.1 30.1

0.3 1.8 1.6 2.3 2.3

1992 3.3* 29.6 12.5 24.4 30.2

0.2 1.1 0.7 1.3 1.4

1995 3.6* 28.6 11.9 21.3 34.6

0.2 0.7 0.6 0.9 1.3

1998 3.0* 28.4 11.4 23.3 33.9

0.2 0.9 0.6 1.2 1.5

2001 2.8* 27.4 12.1 25.0 32.7

0.1 0.7 0.7 1.1 1.4

2004 2.5 27.9 12.0 24.1 33.4

0.1 0.9 0.7 1.2 1.2

Proportion of total gross assets held by group

Net worth percentile group

0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100

1989 5.4 32.5 12.6 22.3 27.1

0.4 1.8 1.6 2.1 2.1

1992 6.6* 32.1 12.0 22.6 26.7

0.3 1.1 0.7 1.2 1.3

1995 7.5* 31.2 11.4 19.5 30.4

0.3 0.7 0.6 0.8 1.2

1998 6.7* 30.8 10.9 21.7 29.9

0.3 0.9 0.6 1.2 1.4

2001 5.6 29.9 11.7 23.4 29.5

0.2 0.8 0.7 1.0 1.3

2004 5.8 31.0 11.4 22.2 29.5

0.2 0.9 0.7 1.2 1.1

Standard errors are given in italics.

*=significantly different from the 2004 level at 95 percent confidence.

Table 5: Proportions of total net worth and of gross

assets held by various percentile groups, 1989–2004.
12

13Both QD and RQD plots are given in the appendix for 2004 relative to all of the other intervening survey

years.

over much of this range (figure 1b). For the next approximately ten percent, the relatively small

dollar changes in the levels are shown to be more substantial as a proportion—on the order of

minus ten percent. For those higher in the distribution, the main effect of the normalizing is

progressively to flatten the differences. But as with the QD plot, the only changes that were

significantly different from zero were those in the range of about the 75th to 85 percentiles.

It is somewhat surprising over a three-year period when there were substantial increases

in real estate values and some recovery of earlier stock market losses that there were not more

notable changes at this level of distributional analysis, but the data suggest that the implied

wealth changes were offset to a substantial degree by borrowing and were also diffused fairly

broadly across the wealth distribution. Over longer periods, economic forces may have an

opportunity to play out more fully. Figure 2a shows change over the longest period possible

with the consistent series of SCF data, from 1989 to 2004.13 Here there are statistically

significant increases in wealth almost everywhere across the distribution. Above about the 10th

percentile, the plot slopes linearly upward in inverse hyperbolic sine space (an approximately

logarithmic transformation over most of this range) until about the 95th percentile, from which

point the line spikes sharply upward. In the RQD transformation (figure 2b), the data show large

proportional changes below the 25th percentile, but with very wide confidence intervals. 

Between the 25th and 80th percentiles, the graph forms a rough “bowl” shape, where the bowl is

flat across the middle at about 35 percent–implying about 2 percent growth on an annual basis

over the period. From the 80th percentile, the line drops off again before spiking upward in the

top few percentiles. The spike is sufficiently well estimated that it is significantly different from

the other changes above the 25th percentile. Thus, this plot does provide some support for the

increase in wealth concentration at the very top, as one would expect from the Forbes data over

the same period.

Variability of cross-sectional wealth over time. Because only cross sectional data are

available from the SCF in the period considered here, it is not possible to examine the

movements of families in the wealth distribution over time. Still, it is of macroeconomic interest

to know how variable the overall distribution was over the period. To this end, figure 3a shows

an estimate of the coefficient of variation (the standard deviation divided by the mean) of the
13

14The precision of estimation of each cross sectional element may vary because of differences in the degree

of sampling error. Thus, some of the differences observed in cross sectional variability may reflect the differences in

sampling error.

level of wealth associated with each quantile in the six surveys from 1989 to 2004 (a QCV plot). 

The shape of the figure looks like a somewhat exaggerated version of the RQD plot for

1989–2004 shown in figure 3a. That is, excluding the range of negative and zero wealth, the

least variability is in the middle of the distribution with generally increasing variability on either

side. Note that because the data are not de-trended, there is a substantial baseline level of

variability, and because growth differed notably across the distribution, some of the differences

in the figure may be largely a product of the spread induced by variations in the trend in growth

rates across the distribution.14 Adjusting the 1989–2004 figures for each quantile to remove the

geometric mean of growth over the period yields the graph of de-trended variation shown in

figure 3b. Restricting attention to the meaningful range for interpretation, beginning around the

20th percentile, the highest variability by far is for the lowest and highest wealth groups. 

Because wealth for these lowest groups is a relatively small buffer against personal and

macroeconomic shocks, it is not surprising to see such high variation across a period that

included two recessions as well as important restructuring of employment. A minimum of

variation is reached at about the 35th percentile, and above that point, variability increases

approximately linearly until the very top of the distribution. The rising variation across the

upper 65 percent of the distribution reflects the riskiness of the underlying portfolios, a factor

discussed later in this section.
14

Figure 1a: QD plot for net worth, 2004 minus 2001.

Figure 1b: RQD plot for net worth, 2004 minus 2001 as a percent of 2001.
15

Figure 2a: QD plot for net worth, 2004 minus 1989.

Figure 2b: RQD plot for net worth, 2004 minus 1989 as a percent of 1989.
16

Figure 3a: QCV plot for net worth, not de-trended, 1989–2004.

Figure 3b: QCV plot for net worth, de-trended, 1989–2004.
17

15The appendix provides QD and RQD plots comparing the distribution of family income in 2004 with that

in the earlier surveys.

III. Sources of Wealth Changes

Changes in wealth overall are due to capital gains and losses—realized and

unrealized—on portfolio items and to variations in saving out of varying current income,

including returns on assets. Portfolio selections, inheritance or gifts—both those received and

those given—and changes in household structure and other demographic factors may also be

important for individual families. Given the cross-sectional nature of the SCF data and the lack

of relevant retrospective information in the survey, these points can be addressed only obliquely. 

Here income, saving behavior, capital gains, inheritances, portfolio structure, and demographics

are addressed separately as contributors to the shape of the wealth distribution.

The role of income. Two relevant sources of income data are available for this analysis. 

There are six cross sections of SCF data, and for the period 1999 to 2001 there is information on

the variability of income over time for individual observations from the SOI data used in the

design of the 2004 SCF sample.

When the SCF cross sections are analyzed with a QCV plot, the result is that the data

show very little difference in variability across almost all of the income distribution (figure 4a).15

Only at the extremes of the distribution does the variability increase substantially. The lowest

region of variability is the area around the median. De-trending the data by quantiles makes the

plot more spikey, but other than shifting the low point to about the 25th percentile, the relative

pattern is maintained (figure 4b). These results reflect the volatility of the income distribution,

so if families remained at the same relative position over the period, the volatility would have

implications for the plausibility of income shocks as a driver of wealth changes. But the small

changes compared to wealth shifts over the period suggests that idiosyncratic variations are key

or that income is not the primary driver of changes in wealth distribution.
18

Figure 4b: QCV plot of income, detrended, 1989–2004.

Figure 4a: QCV plot for income, not detrended, 1989–2004.
19

16Cases where more limited income information is used include those where there was a change in filing

status (typically from married filing jointly to filing separately, or vice versa) or where a return was not filed at all.

17Note that the wealth index turns more strongly on capital income flows (e.g., interest, dividend, and

business income and capital gains and losses) than on total income. Observations with fewer than three years of

income data are not included in the plot.

Individual-specific

income information is available

in the SOI data used to construct

the list sample for the SCF. To

support the selection of that

sample and later nonresponse

adjustments, every observation

of domestic residents in the file

is assigned a value of the wealth

index used to create the strata

for sample selection. For the great majority of cases, this assignment is made on the basis of

three years of data on the components of income, with the intent of smoothing transitory shocks

in the estimation of the wealth index.16 In addition to its utility for the subject of this paper, the

inspection of the variability of the SOI income data is an important element of the evaluation of

the sample design. For each wealth-index stratum in the SOI data, figure 5 reports selected

quantiles (25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th) of the distribution of the coefficient of variation of total

income, where the underlying coefficients of variation are computed using three observations for

each of the individual taxpayer units.17 Although the exact correspondences of the stratum

indicators with income and wealth are not disclosable, it can be said that the first stratum

encompasses approximately the lowest 75 percent of the wealth index distribution and the strata

above the third one encompass about the highest 2 percent of the distribution.

What is clear in the figure is that there is a longer right-hand tail for the higher strata. 

Variability of labor income is the most important factor at the bottom end of the distribution and

variability of capital income is the most important factor at the other end. According to financial

theory, risky assets (those more variable in price) should have a higher expected rate of return. 

Thus, loosely speaking, one would expect to see a relatively greater density of higher positive

returns for risky assets than would be the case for safer assets. For some families in this data set,

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

ALL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Stratum

Percent

Figure 5: Distribution of the coefficient of variation of income,

1999–2001, by wealth index stratum; 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th

percentiles.
20

18Because the general patterns across wealth groups of both typical saving behavior and saving over the

previous year are very similar across the 1989–2004 surveys, only the 2004 data are shown.

the spikes in returns could then be taken as directly reflective of one reason they were as wealthy

as they were. However, it may also be that other families, particularly very wealthy ones, acted

over this time in a deliberate way to time their income receipts, either for tax-related purposes or

for more narrow personal purposes. In this case, the variability would have no direct implication

for wealth.

For many families, the income measured either in the SCF or in SOI data is, in principle,

reasonably close to their true economic income. For others, employer contributions to retirement

plans and health insurance may be important elements in a broader concept of income. 

According to the 2004 SCF, 7.7 percent of families had some sort of employer-provided vehicle

that could be used for personal purposes. Some families have access to perquisites such as

employer-provided vacation properties. But surely the largest hole in the measurement of the

income of U.S. families is unrealized capital gains. Some gains may be realized only very

rarely–for example, upon the sale of a house–and others may never be realized as income–for

example, an appreciated business passed to heirs. As discussed in more detail later in this

section, unrealized gains appear to be a very important factor in the observed distribution of

wealth.

Saving out of income. The SCF also contains information on families’ saving practices. 

Respondents are asked to describe their family’s typical saving practices and then to characterize

the level of their expenditures (excluding capital investments) relative to their income. In 2004,

the proportion of families that routinely spent at least as much as their income declines across

wealth percentile groups—from 42.7 percent in the bottom quartile of the wealth distribution to

5.9 percent in the highest one percent of the distribution (table 6).18 The proportion of families

with some type of saving plan rises from 26.5 percent in the bottom quartile to 69.1 percent for

the top one percent. A substantial proportion in every wealth group saves whatever is “left over”

at the end of the month. A very similar pattern of increasing saving with wealth is seen in the

data on the actual saving behavior of families in the preceding year. Thus, it seems reasonable to

characterize relatively wealthy families as being ones where it is more likely that at least

additional wealth is generated by active saving out of current income.
21

19The household sector includes actual households as well as non-profit organizations.

Capital gains and wealth. Many families accumulate wealth simply by continuing to

own certain assets. The Federal Reserve Board’s flow of funds accounts provide data on

aggregate capital gains for several assets owned by the household sector (Z.1 Release, table

R.100).19 For most of the years considered in this paper, holding gains on assets explain a very

large fraction of the change in net worth in the flow of funds accounts; for example, in the fourth

quarter of 2004, holding gains accounted for about 92 percent of the change in the net worth of

the household sector.

For assets held directly by households, gains are relevant mainly for real estate

investments, private businesses, mutual funds, and publicly traded stocks. The SCF contains 

All 0-25 25-50 50-75 75-90 90-95 95-99 99-100

Usual saving:

Spend more than income 7.0 13.5 7.6 4.2 3.4 2.8 1.6 1.5

Spend same as income 16.3 29.2 18.0 11.5 6.5 5.7 7.0 4.4

Save “left over” income 30.2 30.8 33.0 30.3 27.0 25.2 28.5 25.0

Some saving plan 46.5 26.5 41.4 54.1 63.0 66.3 62.8 69.1

Saving last year:

Spent more than income 15.4 24.8 16.4 11.2 10.4 6.8 9.3 5.9

Spent same as income 28.5 40.4 30.0 26.7 17.2 21.5 12.8 4.4

Spent less than income 56.1 34.8 53.6 62.2 72.4 71.6 78.0 89.8

Table 6: Usual saving behavior and saving behavior last year, by percentile of the distribution of net

worth, percent, 2004.

1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004

Median Agg. Median Agg. Median Agg. Median Agg. Median Agg. Median Agg.

ratio ratio ratio ratio ratio ratio ratio ratio ratio ratio ratio ratio

All 11.1 34.0 7.9 32.1 5.6 27.3 7.6 28.3 8.8 28.8 11.2 30.7

0-25 0.0 -6.2 0.0 -7.5 0.0 1.1 0.0 2.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 5.7

25-50 5.4 14.5 4.6 13.7 2.9 11.2 5.5 13.3 6.8 13.6 8.4 16.0

50-75 30.2 28.1 22.0 24.5 19.5 21.4 18.8 21.1 20.1 23.5 24.8 27.0

75-90 32.0 32.0 28.9 29.1 24.2 25.6 21.0 23.9 20.7 25.7 24.3 27.5

90-95 32.2 32.7 27.5 29.1 21.4 20.9 21.0 24.9 21.3 24.3 26.7 28.0

95-99 31.9 33.3 31.1 33.5 21.1 26.0 26.1 29.0 24.5 28.0 30.0 32.7

99-100 42.1 44.2 41.1 43.8 33.6 38.6 39.6 42.0 33.7 38.9 31.2 37.0

Table 7: Median ratio of capital gains to assets and ratio of aggregate capital gains to aggregate assets, by

percentiles of the wealth distribution, 1989–2004, percent.
22

20An important omission in the survey for this purpose is the lack of information about capital gains on

assets held through retirement accounts and trusts.

21SOI data for the same period shows about twice as much in realized gains as the SCF. Although the SCF

income data should, in principle, follow the classification of a personal income tax return, it may differ in some

instances. For example, families that experience gains and losses through a sole proprietorship or other business

may report gains as business income that should appear separately on a tax return.

information on the unrealized gains embedded in all of these assets.20 For principal residences,

the original purchase price and subsequent improvements are known; for other real estate, only

the original price is known; for private businesses, the tax basis is known; and for mutual funds

and directly-held stocks, the amount of gain or loss in the current value is known.

For families in the lowest 25 percent of the wealth distribution (table 7), capital gains

explain very little of a typical family’s wealth, and even in aggregate the fraction is quite small

for the group (or negative in periods where the total wealth of the group is negative); this finding

reflects the fact that ownership of assets that experience capital gains is relatively less common

in this group. For the second 25 percent of the wealth distribution, the median ratio of gains to

assets ranged only between 2.9 and 8.4 percent over the 1989–2004 period and the aggregate

ratio of gains to assets ranged between 11.2 and 16.0 percent. But for the remaining half of the

wealth distribution, both the median and aggregate ratios are generally above 20 percent, and for

the highest 1 percent of the wealth distribution, the ratio ranges even higher—over 40 percent;

the difference reflects the much higher rate of ownership among this group of the relatively risky

assets that experience capital gains.

Some families may turn over their assets frequently and receive capital gains as a regular

part of their financial management, but have little in the way of unrealized gains; others may

have realized more sporadic gains in the past. Although the survey does not provide historical

data on gains and losses, it does provides information on realized gains and losses in the calendar

year preceding the survey.21 The 2004 survey’s information for 2003 income indicates that 10.7

percent of families had gains or losses, the median amount for those having losses or gains was

$20,600, and the ratio of the total amount of realized gains and losses to total assets was 0.4

percent.

Inheritances and wealth. Depending on how they are divided, inheritances and gifts may

affect the shape of the overall wealth distribution. In principle, the SCF provides information on

all inheritances and substantial gifts received by the family, though nothing is known about the
23

22Transfers such as payments for education and intangible transfers such as “connections” are not captured

in the survey.

wealth of the person making the transfer; substantial gifts given by the family are less well

covered in the survey.22

From 1989 to 2004, the share of

families that reported having ever

received an inheritance or substantial gift

fell from 23.4 percent to 20.4 percent

(table 8), with nearly all of that decline

occurring from 1989 to 1992. Although

the set of families in existence changes

over time, it seems likely that the drop in

1992 and the similarly large dip in 2001

are at least partially reflective of variability due to sampling error. Receipt of such transfers

varied somewhat during the 1989–2004 period for the lower half of the wealth distribution, but

was almost unchanged from 1989 at 12.6 percent of families in 2004. Receipt is much more

common in the higher wealth groups, but it appears that the proportion of families who had

received these transfers tended to decline. For example, in 1989 50.8 percent of the wealthiest 1

percent of families had received such transfers at some time, whereas in 2004 the figure was 33.3

percent.

Families may receive inheritances and gifts at various times over their lives, and they

may choose to consume part of what they receive. Adjustments for differences in the price level

between the time of the receipt and the time of the survey may be made using an historical CPI

series. But three other questions must be faced before evaluating the contribution of inheritances

and gifts to the current distribution of wealth: what to do about the wealth generated through

gains and income from assets received earlier, what to do about the possibility that the amount

was invested unfortunately and incurred losses, and what to do about the possibility that the

receiver either spent or gave away part of the assets received. Here several alternatives are

considered in order to gain a sense of the robustness of the relationships in the data.

First, the values of all inheritances and substantial gifts are first adjusted to dollars of the

survey year using the historical CPI. A second measure is created assuming that the inflationYear Wealth percentile group

All 0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100

1989 23.4 12.5 31.5 47.7 45.7 50.8

1992 20.7 11.2 27.0 37.2 48.6 48.5

1995 21.4 12.5 26.0 46.8 50.1 39.9

1998 20.4 12.6 25.4 33.9 44.3 43.3

2001 17.8 9.4 23.4 34.6 40.4 44.9

2004 20.3 12.6 25.3 40.0 38.9 33.3

Table 8: Percent of families having ever received an

inheritance or substantial gift, by wealth percentile group,

1989–2004.
24

23Obviously, returns have vary considerably over time and across people depending on how assets are

invested. One might also adjust the amount of inheritances using particular market indicators, such as the Wilshire

5000 index or the thirty-year Treasury rate.

adjusted amount grew at a real rate of three percent since it was received.23 Then two additional

measures are created by truncating the two “current” measures of the amount received at the

level of gross assets.

Total untruncated gifts and inheritances as a percent of total wealth declined from a high

of 13.8 percent in 1989 to a low of 5.7 percent in 2001, before turning up again in 2004 (table 9). 

The untruncated measure incorporating earnings on the gifts and inheritances ranges much

higher–to 31.6 percent in 1989–but also follows the same relative path. The truncated versions

show a similar relative path at a lower level, as expected, but with a weaker terminal up-tick. 

The same patterns hold if the ratio is taken relative to gross assets instead of net worth. 

When the ratios are broken out by wealth percentile groups, the time paths appear

considerably noisier, particularly in the untruncated series. However, for the truncated measures

involving net worth in all the years except 1989, the wealthiest one percent had the smallest

fraction of its net worth from inheritances. For the truncated measures involving gross assets,

the relative importance of inheritances tends to be greatest among the groups between the 90th

and 99th percentiles; the levels in these groups roughly track the overall movement. One could

interpret the data as suggesting that inheritances are responsible for an important part of the

wealth of each wealth group and that the wealthiest families were more likely than most to have

come by their wealth by means other than inheritances, though a “seed” of inherited resources

may still have been a critical factor in their achieving such a high wealth level.
25

As a percent of net worth As a percent of gross assets

Survey year Inflation adj. Infl. & growth adj. Inflation adj. Infl. & growth adj.

Wealth prcntl Sum Trunc. sum Sum Trunc. sum Sum Trunc. sum Sum Trunc. sum

1989

All families 13.8 9.5 31.6 16.4 12.1 9.5 27.7 14.5

0-50 26.4 7.8 57.9 21.6 12.6 7.8 27.6 10.3

50-90 13.0 8.1 25.6 15.0 10.5 8.1 20.7 12.1

90-95 17.5 11.4 35.4 18.2 15.9 11.4 32.1 16.5

95-99 14.4 10.0 38.7 18.2 13.6 10.4 36.5 17.1

99-100 11.2 9.7 27.5 15.3 11.0 9.7 26.9 15.0

1992

All families 13.4 9.6 28.5 14.0 11.5 8.3 24.4 11.9

0-50 16.1 11.3 30.5 15.7 6.9 4.9 13.2 6.8

50-90 12.2 9.5 25.7 13.3 9.7 7.5 20.3 10.5

90-95 15.5 10.9 31.8 14.8 13.8 9.7 28.3 13.2

95-99 13.5 11.2 30.9 17.0 12.4 10.3 28.5 15.6

99-100 13.5 7.8 27.9 11.6 13.0 7.6 26.9 11.2

1995

All families 11.7 7.6 23.9 11.1 10.0 6.5 20.4 9.5

0-50 14.4 10.0 24.4 12.6 5.9 4.1 10.0 5.1

50-90 10.3 8.8 20.6 12.3 8.1 6.9 16.2 9.6

90-95 10.4 10.2 17.1 14.5 9.2 9.0 15.2 12.9

95-99 20.4 8.3 39 11.9 19.0 7.8 36.4 11.1

99-100 7.6 5.0 19.6 8.4 7.4 4.9 19 8.1

1998

All families 7.6 6.6 17.9 9.0 6.6 5.7 15.3 7.7

0-50 20.7 13.3 36.0 16.5 8.0 5.1 13.9 6.4

50-90 8.2 7.0 13.1 9.2 6.5 5.6 10.4 7.3

90-95 8.0 7.8 12.8 10.1 7.1 7.0 11.5 9.1

95-99 7.5 7.4 11.9 10.4 6.9 6.8 10.9 9.6

99-100 6.0 4.8 26.1 6.7 5.9 4.7 25.4 6.5

2001

All families 5.7 5.1 9.0 6.6 5.0 4.5 7.9 5.8

0-50 12.0 8.6 20.4 10.3 5.3 3.8 9.0 4.5

50-90 8.9 7.2 14.4 8.8 7.2 5.8 11.6 7.1

90-95 6.8 6.7 11.5 8.9 6.2 6.1 10.5 8.1

95-99 4.7 4.7 6.8 6.5 4.5 4.4 6.4 6.1

99-100 2.7 2.7 4.0 3.8 2.7 2.7 3.9 3.7

2004

All families 8.6 6.2 17.0 7.2 7.3 5.3 14.5 6.1

0-50 26.1 14.1 63.3 15.3 9.8 5.3 23.7 5.7

50-90 9.6 7.1 17.4 8.5 7.3 5.4 13.3 6.5

90-95 7.8 7.5 11.2 8.8 7. 6.7 10.0 7.9

95-99 6.9 6.2 9.1 7.2 6.3 5.7 8.4 6.6

99-100 8.0 4.3 21.0 5.0 7.7 4.2 20.2 4.8

Table 9: Untruncated and truncated total inheritances as a percent of total assets and total net

worth, by wealth percentile groups, inheritances adjusted for inflation and inheritances adjusted

for inflation and 3 percent growth, 1989–2004.
26

Portfolio composition. The key role of capital gains in observed wealth serves to

emphasize the importance of portfolio composition on families’ wealth. For families in the

highest 10 percent of the wealth distribution, the ownership rates of directly- and indirectly-held

stock was above 87 percent in 2004, and that for principal residences was over 90 percent

(table 10). Even within the top 10 percent, ownership rates rise strongly with wealth for real

estate (residential and nonresidential) and for businesses. Ownership rates for every type of

asset are lower—generally much lower—for the bottom 50 percent of the wealth distribution; the

ownership rate for principal residences was 43.3 percent and that for stock equity was 24.7

percent in 2004. Use of debt overall shows less variation across the wealth groups, but there is

more variation in the use of specific types of debt. For example, installment borrowing and

credit card balances are more common among lower wealth groups than among higher ones.

Across all wealth groups from 1989 to 2004, there were increases in ownership of

principal residences, directly- and indirectly-held corporate equities, and tax-deferred retirement

accounts; curiously, over wealth groups, home ownership grew most for the wealthiest 1 percent. 

Over the same period, ownership of certificates of deposit, bonds, and cash value life insurance

fell notably all across the wealth distribution. Along with the increase in ownership of principal

residences, use of mortgages on such properties also rose broadly; the prevalence of installment

borrowing fell for all except the top wealth group, and that for credit card balances rose for all

groups except the wealthiest. The declines in the prevalence of non-mortgage borrowing may

reflect substitution of borrowing based on home equity.
27

Ownership shares. For some assets, the distributions of the amounts held are far more

disproportionate than the differences in ownership rates. Most striking is the 62.3 percent share

of business assets owned by the wealthiest 1 percent of the wealth distribution in 2004

(table 11a); the next-wealthiest 4 percent owned another 22.4 percent of the total. Other key

items subject to capital gains also show strong disproportions: the wealthiest 5 percent of

families owned 61.9 percent of residential real estate other than principal residences, 71.7

percent of nonresidential real estate, and 65.9 percent of directly- and indirectly-held stocks. For

bonds, 93.7 percent of the total was held by this group. The lowest 50 percent of the wealth

1989 2004

Percentile group Percentile group

All 0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100 All 0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100

ASSET 94.7 89.3 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 97.9 95.9 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

FIN 88.9 78.8 98.7 100.0 100.0 100.0 93.8 87.9 99.6 100.0 100.0 100.0

LIQ 85.6 73.0 97.7 100.0 100.0 100.0 91.3 83.8 98.6 100.0 100.0 100.0

CDS 19.9 7.7 28.9 43.5 48.3 32.5 12.7 4.4 19.0 29.9 28.7 26.3

SAVBND 23.9 14.1 33.8 35.6 34.3 18.2 17.6 9.7 24.8 29.1 30.0 17.8

BOND 5.7 0.7 5.9 21.1 37.2 45.8 1.8 0.1 1.3 7.4 15.2 30.6

STOCKS 16.9 5.6 21.3 46.2 62.4 72.7 20.7 6.5 27.8 56.3 68.8 69.6

NMMF 7.3 1.6 8.8 25.9 31.4 39.3 15.0 4.6 20.0 39.5 57.3 44.9

RETQLIQ 37.0 18.8 51.5 67.3 72.6 71.6 49.7 28.7 67.7 80.3 84.4 82.7

CASHLI 35.5 21.0 47.3 58.9 62.6 64.8 24.2 13.5 32.6 43.6 42.4 48.1

OTHMA 3.7 0.7 5.0 9.9 14.9 26.6 7.3 1.2 11.5 19.7 20.7 26.3

OTHFIN 13.8 12.4 12.2 26.8 25.6 32.1 9.9 8.2 10.5 14.1 16.2 28.2

NFIN 89.2 78.9 99.5 100.0 99.9 99.3 92.5 85.6 99.3 99.9 100.0 100.0

VEHIC 83.8 72.9 94.8 94.2 94.5 90.7 86.3 79.5 93.3 94.7 90.8 94.2

HOUSES 63.9 34.9 92.9 93.6 92.3 86.5 69.1 43.3 94.3 97.3 96.3 97.5

ORESRE 13.2 3.3 17.7 37.3 49.4 62.7 12.5 2.7 16.5 37.6 51.4 64.7

NNRESRE 11.1 3.1 14.8 28.1 42.4 54.7 8.3 2.1 10.9 24.9 27.9 49.7

BUS 11.7 3.4 13.1 34.9 55.2 72.8 11.5 3.2 14.5 30.6 45.3 72.1

OTHNFIN 12.4 7.0 14.9 28.6 28.0 41.9 7.8 4.2 9.6 13.3 23.5 27.8

DEBT 72.3 69.4 76.6 67.9 71.3 65.3 76.4 74.4 80.0 74.8 70.6 67.9

MRTHEL 39.5 22.5 58.5 51.1 47.1 36.0 47.9 32.7 64.3 60.7 56.8 51.5

RESDBT 5.2 1.2 6.4 17.2 23.0 21.7 4.0 0.7 5.0 11.5 21.1 23.1

INSTALL 49.4 53.7 48.2 33.5 34.8 17.9 46.0 50.0 45.7 28.5 25.3 26.1

OTHLOC 3.2 3.4 2.6 3.4 5.0 6.6 1.6 1.5 1.7 0.3 2.1 4.1

CCBAL 39.7 37.9 46.9 23.7 16.0 14.8 46.2 49.2 48.2 25.9 22.6 13.3

ODEBT 6.7 5.6 6.5 9.2 16.9 14.6 7.6 7.8 7.1 8.7 8.8 11.6

Memo item:

EQUITY 31.8 13.9 43.1 69.9 79.3 86.8 48.6 25.8 66.5 87.8 93.3 93.3

See appendix table A1 for variable definitions.

Table 10: Ownership of assets and liabilities, by wealth percentile groups, percent, 1989 and 2004.
28

distribution, which held only 2.5 percent of total net worth in 2004, came close to its population

share only in holdings of installment debt (46.2 percent of the total) and credit card debt (45.7

percent of total outstanding balances). Although the 50th-to-90th percentile group held only 27.9

percent of total net worth, they came closer to holding their population share than any of the

other wealth groups. In the case of principal residences and associated debts, vehicles, and

credit card balances, they exceeded their population share; note that their income share was

equal to their population share in 2004.

Relative to the balance sheet for the wealth percentile groups in 1989 (table 11b), there

were substantial changes in amounts by 2004—for example total net worth rose 94.4 percent

over the period. At the same time, there was remarkably little change in ownership shares that

was statistically consistent. However, for principal residences and other residential real estate,

the data do show a significant increase in the share of the wealthiest 1 percent, which was mainly

offset by declines for the 50th-to-90th percentile group.
29

Table 11a: Amounts (billions of 2004 dollars) and shares of net worth and components distributed by net

worth groups, 2004.

Wealth percentile group

All families 0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100 

Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share

NETWORTH 50,250.6 100.0 1,278.6 2.5 14,045.9 27.9 6,025.1 12.0 12,126.5 24.1 16,774.4 33.4

1,082.2 0.0 50.1 0.1 569.1 0.9 326.2 0.7 667.1 1.2 734.1 1.2

ASSET 59,108.9 100.0 3,423.4 5.8 18,350.8 31.0 6,762.7 11.4 13,147.4 22.2 17,424.5 29.5

1,156.3 0.0 114.9 0.2 650.0 0.9 369.8 0.7 730.7 1.2 761.7 1.1

FIN 21,097.8 100.0 529.2 2.5 5,478.4 26.0 2,877.9 13.6 5,549.6 26.3 6,662.8 31.6 622.3 0.0 23.8 0.1 263.4 1.1 199.7 0.9 368.7 1.7 456.4 1.7

LIQ 2,779.8 100.0 151.1 5.4 925.6 33.3 312.0 11.2 749.4 27.0 641.7 23.1 150.5 0.0 8.2 0.4 46.0 1.9 39.2 1.4 79.0 2.5 116.1 3.4

CDS 780.3 100.0 18.0 2.3 330.5 42.3 167.8 21.5 174.3 22.3 89.7 11.5 70.1 0.0 2.2 0.4 38.9 3.6 33.7 3.6 27.5 3.2 21.8 2.6

SAVBND 113.7 100.0 11.2 9.8 58.0 51.0 17.5 15.3 22.6 19.9 4.5 4.0 11.2 0.0 2.4 2.3 7.6 4.9 6.8 5.4 4.6 3.8 1.3 1.2

BOND 1,115.2 100.0 0.6 0.1 32.0 2.9 34.8 3.1 264.5 23.7 783.2 70.2 130.6 0.0 0.7 0.1 11.2 1.0 14.9 1.4 59.5 5.2 127.1 5.6

STOCKS 3,711.2 100.0 21.3 0.6 381.6 10.3 375.0 10.1 1,045.1 28.2 1,888.1 50.9 256.0 0.0 3.5 0.1 43.3 1.3 64.5 1.7 101.4 2.9 226.9 3.4

NMMF 3,101.5 100.0 22.5 0.7 564.3 18.2 332.0 10.7 1,016.0 32.7 1,166.8 37.6 232.1 0.0 3.2 0.1 50.8 1.9 57.0 2.0 117.0 3.5 194.7 4.3

RETQLIQ 6,752.4 100.0 226.4 3.4 2,586.8 38.3 1,321.2 19.6 1,701.3 25.2 916.8 13.6 251.8 0.0 13.2 0.2 164.2 2.0 126.6 1.8 166.7 2.3 118.7 1.6

CASHLI 625.2 100.0 40.9 6.5 226.1 36.2 67.1 10.7 155.8 24.9 135.3 21.6 47.4 0.0 3.9 0.8 16.7 3.0 13.1 2.1 41.3 5.3 26.6 3.8

OTHMA 1,683.6 100.0 11.5 0.7 300.0 17.8 213.9 12.7 354.5 21.0 803.7 47.8 182.9 0.0 3.6 0.2 30.6 2.6 61.2 3.7 86.8 4.8 162.8 6.2

OTHFIN 435.0 100.0 25.7 5.9 73.6 16.9 36.5 8.4 66.2 15.3 233.0 53.5 64.5 0.0 4.7 1.4 11.2 3.3 10.5 2.7 46.6 9.1 52.9 9.4

NFIN 38,011.0 100.0 2,894.2 7.6 12,872.4 33.9 3,884.9 10.2 7,597.8 20.0 10,761.8 28.3 800.2 0.0 101.8 0.3 427.9 1.0 248.6 0.7 476.3 1.1 578.8 1.3

VEHIC 1,944.8 100.0 522.0 26.8 968.0 49.8 154.3 7.9 187.4 9.6 113.2 5.8 31.8 0.0 13.0 0.7 27.7 1.1 16.3 0.8 16.7 0.8 10.5 0.5

HOUSES 19,109.7 100.0 2,240.5 11.7 9,573.6 50.1 2,270.7 11.9 3,135.0 16.4 1,890.0 9.9 369.3 0.0 89.9 0.5 283.8 1.1 162.2 0.9 204.7 1.0 184.9 0.9

ORESRE 3,757.7 100.0 57.0 1.5 828.1 22.0 545.9 14.5 1,222.0 32.5 1,104.8 29.4 208.7 0.0 9.2 0.3 63.1 1.9 86.2 2.2 121.7 2.8 148.7 3.0

NNRESRE 2,772.3 100.0 19.7 0.7 451.7 16.3 312.6 11.3 677.3 24.4 1,311.0 47.3 237.3 0.0 4.4 0.2 63.0 2.3 58.3 2.2 104.1 3.4 190.4 4.3

BUS 9,841.2 100.0 34.1 0.3 908.1 9.2 560.1 5.7 2,208.1 22.4 6,130.8 62.3 525.2 0.0 5.2 0.1 97.2 1.0 83.1 0.9 274.9 2.5 440.5 2.7

OTHNFIN 585.2 100.0 20.9 3.6 143.0 24.4 41.2 7.0 168.1 28.7 212.0 36.2 64.6 0.0 3.6 0.7 22.6 3.9 14.0 2.4 36.7 5.2 47.5 5.8

DEBT 8,858.2 100.0 2,144.7 24.2 4,304.9 48.6 737.6 8.3 1,020.9 11.5 650.1 7.3 197.5 0.0 86.2 0.9 132.2 1.2 76.1 0.9 98.4 1.0 85.7 0.9

MRTHEL 6,660.4 100.0 1,520.4 22.8 3,560.7 53.5 590.9 8.9 663.8 10.0 324.6 4.9 149.9 0.0 72.2 1.0 111.9 1.2 66.8 1.0 57.9 0.9 48.2 0.7

RESDBT 751.0 100.0 22.2 3.0 192.4 25.7 95.5 12.7 271.2 36.1 169.6 22.5 87.8 0.0 6.6 1.0 23.6 4.1 18.3 2.4 55.0 5.5 59.8 6.1

INSTALL 970.9 100.0 449.0 46.2 381.2 39.3 27.2 2.8 43.5 4.5 70.0 7.2 43.0 0.0 25.6 1.8 18.2 1.9 5.1 0.5 7.8 0.8 25.3 2.4

OTHLOC 64.1 100.0 7.0 10.9 16.2 25.1 1.2 1.9 9.8 15.3 30.0 46.9 13.1 0.0 2.4 3.9 5.9 8.3 2.4 3.9 4.8 7.0 9.9 10.2

CCBAL 266.0 100.0 121.5 45.7 124.7 46.9 9.7 3.6 8.2 3.1 1.9 0.7 8.6 0.0 6.1 1.9 7.4 2.2 2.3 0.8 1.9 0.7 0.9 0.3

ODEBT 145.8 100.0 24.7 16.9 29.7 20.3 13.1 8.9 24.4 16.8 53.9 37.0 21.8 0.0 5.2 4.4 4.6 3.9 4.4 3.1 8.6 5.9 18.6 9.1

Memo items:

 EQUITY 10,001.5 100.0 119.0 1.2 2,001.5 20.0 1,319.1 13.2 2,877.5 28.8 3,684.3 36.8 390.4 0.0 9.1 0.1 127.0 1.3 125.8 1.3 205.6 2.1 335.6 2.4

INCOME 7,930.4 100.0 1,887.4 23.8 3,174.1 40.0 671.9 8.5 1,117.4 14.1 1,079.7 13.6 131.7 0.0 35.9 0.5 86.6 0.9 51.6 0.7 71.0 0.8 75.0 0.9

# observations 4,522 1,741 1,343 269 454 715

# families (mil.) 112.1 56.0 44.8 5.6 4.5 1.1

Min. NW (thou.) Negative Negative 92.9 827.6 1,393.0 6,006.0

See appendix table A1 for variable definitions.
30

Table 11b: Amounts (billions of 2004 dollars) and shares of net worth and components distributed by net

worth groups, 1989.

Wealth percentile group

All families 0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100 

Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share

NETWORTH 25,853.7 100.0 763.3 3.0 7,714.4 29.9 3,373.8 13.0 6,226.5 24.1 7,775.7 30.1

2,061.0 0.0 31.4 0.3 411.3 1.8 617.9 1.6 988.9 2.3 798.0 2.3

ASSET 29,417.3 100.0 1,597.8 5.4 9,549.1 32.5 3,727.3 12.6 6,573.7 22.3 7,969.4 27.1

2,168.7 0.0 57.1 0.4 470.1 1.8 690.2 1.6 993.8 2.1 845.6 2.1

FIN 9,079.3 100.0 311.4 3.4 2,541.1 28.0 1,238.2 13.6 2,424.7 26.7 2,564.0 28.3 760.6 0.0 16.4 0.4 204.3 1.9 170.8 1.4 396.0 3.0 391.5 3.5

LIQ 1,688.0 100.0 101.2 6.0 542.0 32.2 222.3 13.2 365.7 21.7 456.9 26.9 159.4 0.0 5.6 0.7 43.4 3.7 28.7 2.2 102.1 5.7 193.1 9.3

CDS 896.2 100.0 36.7 4.1 392.1 43.8 148.7 16.6 228.2 25.3 90.4 10.2 81.2 0.0 5.8 0.7 36.9 4.0 23.7 2.7 73.1 6.2 38.8 4.1

SAVBND 134.0 100.0 9.0 6.7 63.9 47.6 25.3 19.1 26.2 19.3 9.7 7.3 20.3 0.0 1.6 1.7 10.9 7.4 10.2 6.9 12.4 6.6 5.6 4.3

BOND 897.8 100.0 2.9 0.3 69.6 7.8 99.7 11.0 261.6 29.1 463.9 51.8 188.1 0.0 1.3 0.1 12.7 1.8 38.7 3.7 74.8 6.2 148.9 8.3

STOCKS 1,385.4 100.0 17.0 1.2 218.7 15.8 142.2 10.1 434.3 31.4 573.1 41.3 183.5 0.0 4.5 0.4 24.7 2.3 55.1 3.3 85.1 5.8 137.8 6.7

NMMF 486.6 100.0 4.4 0.9 74.1 15.3 78.7 16.2 166.5 34.1 163.0 33.5 80.5 0.0 2.5 0.5 17.0 4.1 22.0 4.5 56.2 8.4 54.2 8.4

RETQLIQ 1,925.6 100.0 64.7 3.4 778.2 40.5 289.4 15.1 509.7 26.3 283.7 14.8 220.3 0.0 8.4 0.6 96.1 3.5 43.4 2.2 126.8 4.2 65.8 3.1

CASHLI 539.3 100.0 47.5 8.8 230.6 42.8 86.2 16.0 88.7 16.4 86.4 15.9 55.7 0.0 6.7 1.7 23.7 4.2 16.4 3.0 22.1 3.4 35.1 5.2

OTHMA 669.8 100.0 2.7 0.4 89.5 13.3 78.7 11.4 191.6 29.4 307.3 45.5 149.0 0.0 1.1 0.2 22.5 3.0 54.5 7.2 99.9 13.6 116.0 10.9

OTHFIN 456.6 100.0 25.2 5.6 82.6 18.3 67.0 14.9 152.3 33.2 129.6 28.0 102.0 0.0 4.4 1.5 14.4 4.3 25.1 5.4 61.5 7.7 51.7 7.6

NFIN 20,338.0 100.0 1,286.4 6.3 7,007.9 34.5 2,489.2 12.2 4,149.0 20.4 5,405.4 26.6

1,555.0 0.0 54.4 0.5 295.5 2.1 552.7 2.0 702.9 2.3 681.1 2.3

VEHIC 1,125.1 100.0 288.1 25.6 547.4 48.7 106.9 9.5 117.2 10.4 65.4 5.8 46.6 0.0 10.9 1.3 22.0 2.2 12.7 1.1 17.7 1.4 38.9 2.9

HOUSES 9,247.8 100.0 899.7 9.7 5,148.3 55.7 1,185.5 12.8 1,403.3 15.2 610.9 6.6 418.2 0.0 44.5 0.7 191.5 2.3 143.2 1.2 244.1 2.1 113.8 1.0

ORESRE 1,653.0 100.0 43.0 2.6 502.0 30.4 330.1 19.9 461.8 27.9 316.2 19.2 171.2 0.0 9.5 0.6 62.6 3.1 75.8 3.4 92.5 4.3 60.2 3.4

NNRESRE 2,251.7 100.0 11.6 0.5 202.7 9.0 218.7 9.6 580.9 25.9 1,237.7 55.1 420.0 0.0 15.0 0.7 70.7 3.2 107.2 4.0 126.7 4.5 306.1 6.2

BUS 5,511.4 100.0 21.4 0.4 489.7 8.9 573.1 10.2 1,490.2 27.1 2,937.0 53.5 799.6 0.0 6.4 0.1 75.1 1.2 300.7 4.2 374.9 4.6 454.2 5.8

OTHNFIN 549.0 100.0 22.6 4.1 117.8 21.5 74.8 13.6 95.6 17.4 238.2 43.4 82.4 0.0 4.4 0.9 14.2 3.9 23.2 4.2 35.0 5.6 73.5 8.4

DEBT 3,563.6 100.0 834.5 23.4 1,834.7 51.5 353.5 9.9 347.3 9.8 193.6 5.4 162.4 0.0 43.1 1.6 97.8 2.2 85.9 2.1 55.7 1.6 78.7 2.0

MRTHEL 2,445.0 100.0 508.4 20.8 1,413.0 57.8 241.8 9.9 211.0 8.6 70.8 2.9 114.7 0.0 36.3 1.7 81.0 2.5 52.5 1.9 42.3 1.7 42.4 1.6

RESDBT 276.1 100.0 17.9 6.5 90.4 32.8 58.8 21.1 69.4 25.2 39.6 14.4 37.1 0.0 6.2 2.2 16.0 4.4 22.4 6.6 18.3 5.8 12.0 4.2

INSTALL 594.2 100.0 245.2 41.3 258.3 43.5 32.7 5.5 36.2 6.1 21.9 3.7 41.9 0.0 13.0 3.0 17.9 3.0 8.5 1.4 9.8 1.6 34.4 4.8

OTHLOC 65.9 100.0 4.9 7.7 7.1 10.9 7.9 11.6 5.5 8.6 40.5 61.3 24.6 0.0 1.0 4.3 2.7 6.9 5.9 7.9 4.1 8.9 22.1 16.7

CCBAL 100.1 100.0 42.9 42.8 49.1 49.0 5.1 5.0 2.8 2.8 0.3 0.3 5.4 0.0 3.4 3.0 4.0 3.2 2.3 2.2 0.9 0.9 0.2 0.2

ODEBT 82.3 100.0 15.2 18.6 16.8 20.4 7.3 8.6 22.4 27.5 20.6 25.0 16.0 0.0 5.2 6.6 4.4 5.7 7.9 8.5 9.7 10.7 12.5 11.1

Memo items:

EQUITY 2,585.3 100.0 40.7 1.6 534.5 20.7 306.8 11.7 766.1 29.7 937.4 36.2 290.6 0.0 6.4 0.3 53.6 2.1 99.2 2.8 119.1 4.5 180.0 4.7

INCOME 5,589.1 100.0 1,358.1 24.3 2,277.4 40.8 499.2 8.9 688.0 12.3 766.5 13.7 219.3 0.0 35.6 1.1 84.8 1.5 75.3 1.2 98.1 1.7 148.3 2.3

# observations 3,143 1,074 1,088 211 350 420

# families (mil.) 93.0 46.5 37.2 4.7 3.7 1.0

Min. NW (thou.) Negative Negative 68.8 519.3 902.4 3,345.4

See appendix table A1 for variable definitions.
31

Wealth and demographics. From 1989 to 2004, the number of families in the SCF grew

20.7 percent. A potentially important factor in moving the wealth distribution is changes in the

composition of those families. Over this period, the average number of people in an SCF

primary family fell from 2.7 people to 2.4 people

(table 12). The only wealth group for which the

average increased was the 99th–100th group; their

average rose by 0.1 to 2.7 in 2004. For the other

wealth percentile groups, the average moved

approximately in tandem with the overall average.

In both 1989 and 2004, 

wealthier groups tended to have

an age distribution more shifted

toward older ages than was the

case for the less wealthy groups,

a pattern consistent with life

cycle accumulation (table 14). 

A key demographic fact over

this period was the progress of

the bulge of the baby boom

generation through the age

distribution. For example, in

1989, 15.1 percent of families

were headed by a person aged

45–54, whereas in 2004 the proportion was 20.8 (table 13). The shift in the age distributions for

the two lowest wealth groups roughly mirror the overall shift. But the wealthiest 10 percent

became relatively more dense in families headed by a person over the age of 55 between 1989

and 2004, while the proportion of families in the 45-to-54 age group declined.

Preferences. Saving and portfolio decisions reflect preferences as filtered through

various constraints and expectations. Economic theory suggests that time preferences and risk

preferences should be key factors. Families with lower subjective discount factors should

accumulate more than others and families with higher tolerances for risks should be relatively

Year All 0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100

1989 2.7 2.6 2.8 2.7 2.7 2.6

1992 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.3 2.7 2.6

1995 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.5 2.5 2.4

1998 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.5 2.5 2.5

2001 2.4 2.4 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5

2004 2.4 2.3 2.4 2.3 2.5 2.7

Table 12: Average number of people in the

primary family by wealth percentile group,

1989–2004.

Year Wealth percentile

Age All 0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100

1989

<35 28.1 44.2 13.5 7.3 6.9 1.6

35-44 21.5 19.3 25.1 21.9 14.2 9.9

45-54 15.1 10.6 18.6 23.8 23.3 26.8

55-64 13.9 9.2 16.9 24.8 24.0 25.8

64-74 12.6 9.1 15.6 13.1 21.6 22.3

$75 8.9 7.5 10.4 9.0 10.0 13.5

2004

<35 22.2 36.0 9.9 1.8 2.8 0.7

35-44 20.6 23.0 19.7 10.3 14.2 12.7

45-54 20.8 16.8 25.0 23.5 22.9 25.4

55-64 15.2 9.5 18.6 30.0 29.7 33.4

65-74 10.5 7.6 12.2 20.7 15.0 18.4

$75 10.7 7.0 14.5 13.7 15.5 9.5

Table 13: Distribution of age of family head, by wealth percentile

group, percent, 1989 and 2004.
32

more invested in assets that yield returns that are relatively variable but higher on average. 

Although the SCF does not provide direct information on the subjective discount factors and

coefficients of risk aversion that are common in the more theoretical literature, it does provide

data on more informal measures.

The survey asks

respondents to chose the

planning period that is

most relevant for their

saving and consumption

decisions: the next few

months, the next year,

the next few years, the

next 5–10 years, and

more than the next 10

years. Over wealth

groups, it is clear that the

families in the top half of

the wealth distribution are more likely to report longer planning periods than those in the bottom

half (table 14). The substantially larger fraction reporting “next few months” in the lowest group

may be indicative of liquidity constraints among the group, but the fact that the next-longest

planning period shows that same pattern across groups suggests that fundamental preferences

may also be involved. Although the responses show what appears to be substantial variation

from 2001 to 2004 for the lowest wealth group, examination of the intervening years of SCF data

suggests that 1989 may be an outlier for this group. Among the wealthiest 1 percent of families

in 2004, 63.0 percent reported a planning period of at least three years.

1989 Wealth percentile group

All 0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100

Next few months 27.8 40.7 17.2 10.7 12.1 4.9

Next year 13.6 15.8 12.2 7.9 8.9 8.7

Next few years 25.0 22.2 28.6 25.6 22.0 29.5

Next 5–10 years 20.6 13.8 26.7 31.5 28.6 35.1

Longer than 10 years 13.0 8.5 15.4 24.4 28.5 21.7

2004 Wealth percentile group

All 0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100

Next few months 19.2 26.9 12.9 5.3 6.1 6.0

Next year 14.0 17.6 10.8 10.1 7.5 7.6

Next few years 27.8 27.7 29.3 23.5 21.5 15.4

Next 5–10 years 25.7 19.3 30.4 39.5 37.6 42.1

Longer than 10 years 13.3 8.4 16.7 21.8 27.3 28.9

Table 14: Planning period for saving and consumption decisions, by wealth

percentile group, percent, 1989 and 2004.
33

24Kennickell [2003] provides detailed information on the change in the wealth of African Americans

between 1989 and 2001. In the analysis here, families are treated as African American if the respondent did not

respond positively to the question about Hispanic identification and if the respondent gave African American as the

first of possible multiple responses about racial identification. Families are treated as Hispanic if the respondent

responded positively to the question about Hispanic identification or chose Hispanic as the first racial identification. 

The survey asks

people to evaluate the

amount of financial risk

they are willing to bear:

substantial risks

expecting substantial

returns, above-average

risk expect aboveaverage returns, average

risk expecting average

returns, or no risk at all. 

The proportion of families reporting that they are willing to take substantial risks is small but not

negligible in all wealth groups, and it is substantially higher for the wealthiest 1 percent of

families (table 15). The proportion of families unwilling to take any financial risks drops with

the level of wealth. These general patterns hold across different years of the survey.

IV. Wealth of African Americans and Hispanics

This section examines the wealth of the two largest minority groups in the U.S., African

Americans and Hispanics. In compliance with Federal guidelines, the 2004 SCF introduced a

new means of classifying families by including a question that asks the survey respondent

whether he considers himself “Hispanic or Latino in culture or origin.” Previously, families in

the SCF could only be classified as Hispanic if they gave such a response to a question asking

about their racial identification; a substantial fraction of families chose to do so. Because the

new question on Hispanic identification precedes the racial identification question, the

comparability of the racial identity question over time is potentially compromised. Thus, the

focus here is on differences between the two minority groups in 2004 only.24

1989 Wealth percentile group

All 0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100

Substantial risk 4.2 5.4 2.6 4.4 3.8 9.0

Above avg. risk 8.9 8.1 8.0 14.2 16.4 26.9

Average risk 37.9 29.6 44.2 52.8 57.4 46.4

No risk 49.1 56.9 45.2 28.6 22.5 17.6

2004 Wealth percentile group

All 0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100

Substantial risk 3.1 3.3 3.5 0.7 5.3 8.2

Above avg. risk 15.9 11.5 17.9 30.1 29.5 30.0

Average risk 38.4 29.3 46.2 53.0 53.0 51.8

No risk 42.3 56.0 32.3 16.2 12.2 10.0

Table 15: Risk attitude for investment decisions, by wealth percentile group,

percent, 1989 and 2004.
34

Only 2.8 percent of families reported multiple races (where “Hispanic” was available as a racial classification as

well as an ethnic classification) in 2004. Of those reporting an initial Hispanic identification, 85.7 percent also

reported Hispanic as a racial identification and 82.1 percent reported that as their primary racial identification.

African Americans 0.7955

0.0232

Hispanics 0.8334

0.0185

Memo: All families 0.8047

0.0049

Standard errors are given in italics.

Table 17: Gini coefficient for net

worth, African Americans and

Hispanics, 2004.

Differences in distributions. In 2004, the

mean wealth of African Americans appears to

have been substantially less than that of Hispanics

(table 16), but the difference is not statistically

significant. Indeed, it is only in the lower part of

the wealth distributions for these groups, where

values are negative, or positive and quite small,

that the two distributions differ significantly; at

the 10th and 25th percentiles, the values for

Hispanics lie a small amount above those for

African Americans. Although the distributions

do not differ significantly across the higher

percentiles, both are clearly significantly below

the corresponding points of the distribution for all families shown earlier in this paper.

To show these distributional differences more clearly, figure 6 provides the cumulative

distributions of wealth for African Americans, Hispanics, and all families. What is most obvious

from the figure is the much larger proportion of African American and Hispanic families that

have zero or near-zero net worth than is the case for families in general. Above that level, the

distributions for African Americans and Hispanics roughly parallel that for all families, up until

about $200,000 of wealth. At the top end, the distribution for all families remains more dense at

high values than those for the two minority groups.

Gini coefficient. Although the point estimate of the

Gini coefficients for Hispanics and African Americans

appear to signal a greater disparity in the distribution of

wealth among Hispanics than among African Americans, the

estimates are not significantly different (table 17), at least in

part because the estimates are imprecisely measured. 

African Americans Hispanics

Mean 111.2 152.7

18.0 13.8

10th percentile -1.4* 0.0

0.1 0.7

25th percentile 1.7* 2.8

0.2 0.3

Median 20.6 18.6

2.6 1.8

75th percentile 97.0 103.2

10.6 8.4

90th percentile 248.0 304.1

36.1 24.7

Standard errors are given in italics.

*=value for African Americans significantly different from

value for Hispanics.

Table 16: Mean, 10th and 25th percentiles, median,

75th and 90th percentiles of the distribution of net

worth; African Americans, Hispanics, thousands

of 2004 dollars, 2004.
35

Figure 6: Cumulative distribution of net worth; African Americans, Hispanics, and all families;

2004

Moreover, neither estimate differs significantly from the measure computed for all families.

Portfolio composition. With a only few exceptions, the ownership of all types of asset

and liability is less frequent among African American and Hispanic families than for families as

a whole (table 18); in many cases the frequency of ownership is much less. For example,

African Americans overall are 23.3 percentage points less likely to have direct or indirect

holdings of publicly traded stocks than all families; Hispanics are 28.3 percent less likely. At the

same time, African Americans overall are about as likely as all families to have a category of

assets including cash value life insurance and miscellaneous financial assets, credit card debt,

and a category of debt including installment loans and miscellaneous other debt; Hispanics

overall are about as likely as all families to have credit card balances. Most of the differences in

ownership still hold when the two minority groups are divided by the distributions of wealth for

each group; a notable exception is the greater frequency of the use of various types of debt

among upper wealth groups of the two minorities than is the case among the comparable wealth

groups for all families.

— African Americans

...... Hispanics

--- All families
36

The two minority groups also differ from each other in some important ways. The data

show that ownership for Hispanics substantially exceeds that for African Americans for only one

category—vehicles. African Americans are much more likely than Hispanics to hold taxdeferred retirement assets, cash value life insurance and other miscellaneous financial assets,

installment debt and miscellaneous other debt, and directly- or indirectly-held publicly traded

stocks. Although most of the differences also persist across wealth percentile groups for each

minority population, there are a few exceptions; for example, the wealthiest 10 percent of

Hispanics is more likely to have tax-deferred retirement assets and to have home-secured debt

than is the top wealth group of African Americans.

Relative holdings of assets and liabilities. To compare the relative holdings of the

components of wealth between groups of different sizes, an adjustment is needed for the number

of families in each group. Unconditional means are the most straightforward such adjustment.

Ratios of such means for different assets and liabilities indicate that the differential patterns in

ownership across groups are also largely reflected in the amount of holdings, but that some

differences in the amounts are even sharper (table 19). In particular, among African Americans

the average holding of directly- and indirectly-held publicly traded stock was only 9.9 percent of

African Americans Hispanics All families

Prcntile of group distribution Prcntile of group distribution Prcntile of group distribution

All 0-50 50-90 90-100 All 0-50 50-90 90-100 All 0-50 50-90 90-100

ASSET 93.1 86.3 100.0 100.0 93.6 87.1 100.0 100.0 97.9 95.9 100.0 100.0

FIN 86.4 76.2 95.6 100.0 78.9 66.7 88.7 100.0 93.8 87.9 99.6 100.0

LIQ+CDS+SAVBND 79.8 69.9 88.2 95.2 76.9 64.0 87.1 100.0 91.9 84.6 99.0 100.0

RETQLIQ 32.1 15.7 46.0 58.5 26.6 9.5 35.6 75.6 49.7 28.7 67.7 82.2

BOND+STOCKS+OTHMA+NMMF 10.4 3.7 10.5 42.4 9.7 2.1 11.2 41.1 32.1 11.6 45.0 83.2

CASHLI+OTHFIN 24.8 16.0 31.4 41.7 8.3 1.1 10.3 35.2 24.2 13.5 32.6 43.6

NFIN 80.2 62.0 98.4 98.4 86.3 73.2 99.1 100.0 92.5 85.6 99.3 99.9

VEHIC 70.7 55.8 85.8 84.8 80.0 71.3 86.6 96.1 86.3 79.5 93.2 93.1

HOUSES+ORESRE 50.6 16.3 83.5 89.2 47.8 10.2 82.7 94.2 69.1 43.3 94.3 96.9

NNRESRE+BUS 9.4 2.0 11.4 37.7 9.9 1.1 11.6 47.1 17.5 5.2 23.4 55.6

OTHNFIN 3.7 1.9 4.2 1.1 2.6 1.1 2.1 12.3 7.8 4.2 9.6 18.8

DEBT 71.7 59.8 84.4 79.7 70.9 50.8 90.4 92.5 76.4 74.4 80.0 72.4

MRTHEL+RESDBT 37.1 13.7 59.7 63.3 36.5 7.6 60.3 83.9 48.9 33.0 65.3 62.3

CCBAL 47.2 36.3 58.9 54.5 46.5 33.4 59.9 58.2 46.2 49.2 48.2 23.3

INSTALL+OTHLOC+ODEBT 50.8 48.3 54.7 47.9 43.5 34.7 54.7 42.6 49.8 53.7 48.9 34.1

Memo item:

EQUITY 25.6 9.1 33.8 74.3 20.5 5.7 28.8 60.8 48.5 25.8 66.5 90.6

See appendix table A1 for variable definitions.

Table 18: Ownership of assets and liabilities, by net worth percentile groups; African Americans, Hispanics,

and all Families; percent; 2004.
37

the figure for all families, and for Hispanics the figure was 15.4 percent; this result also holds

across the wealth spectrum for these groups. Overall, compared to Hispanics, African

Americans have lower average holdings of most portfolio items; exceptions are tax-deferred

retirement accounts and a category of debt including installment debt and miscellaneous other

debts, of which African Americans have substantially larger average holdings. By wealth group,

the finding that African Americans have lower average holdings is clearest for the top 10 percent

of the wealth distribution for each minority group. But the results are quite different for the

wealth components of the least wealthy 50 percent of the two minority groups. The average

holdings of both assets and liabilities are generally larger for African Americans in this group;

however, because their higher assets are entirely offset by their higher debt, their average net

worth is zero.
38

Table 19: Average wealth of African American Families and of Hispanic families as a percent of average wealth of all families aAmerican families as a percent of wealth of Hispanic families, by wealth percentile groups, 2004.

Avg. for African American Avg. for Hispanic families ÷ Avg. for Afrfamilies ÷ avg. for all families avg. for all families families ÷ aAll 0-50 50-90 90-100 All 0-50 50-90 90-100 All 0-5

NETWORTH 24.8 0.0 27.9 23.5 34.1 12.5 31.5 34.5 72.8 0.0 

ASSET 29.3 31.7 35.2 25.1 39.1 27.2 42.6 36.9 75.0 11

FIN 19.9 28.0 22.0 18.0 21.9 17.5 14.8 23.7 90.8 15

LIQ+CDS+SAVBND 23.5 28.6 23.8 21.9 27.1 26.4 19.3 30.7 86.6 10RETQLIQ 31.9 26.1 21.8 37.2 22.0 15.9 16.0 25.3 144.8 16BOND+STOCKS+OTHMA+NMMF 6.5 10.7 5.5 6.4 13.0 8.0 4.8 13.8 50.2 13CASHLI+OTHFIN 51.6 48.3 85.2 35.8 82.9 6.7 27.1 110.0 62.2 71

NFIN 34.5 32.3 40.9 29.9 48.6 29.0 54.4 45.9 71.1 11

VEHIC 53.2 53.4 49.4 58.7 69.9 59.9 73.8 70.4 76.1 89HOUSES+ORESRE 42.0 28.3 43.8 41.5 54.0 22.4 57.8 54.9 77.9 12NNRESRE+BUS 19.4 8.3 15.0 19.1 35.8 6.7 20.0 36.5 54.0 12OTHNFIN 6.5 10.7 16.1 2.9 41.8 38.7 6.2 52.0 15.6 27

DEBT 54.8 50.6 59.2 48.5 67.4 35.9 78.7 72.0 81.3 14

MRTHEL+RESDBT 50.4 32.4 57.3 49.1 67.9 30.5 76.9 76.1 74.2 10CCBAL 66.5 46.8 66.9 177.1 74.1 48.8 88.0 135.1 89.7 95INSTALL+OTHLOC+ODEBT 79.6 109.9 73.9 34.1 62.4 50.3 91.8 36.3 127.5 21

Memo items:EQUITY 10.3 13.8 10.2 9.8 15.5 10.6 10.6 16.1 66.6 13

INCOME 55.3 72.7 58.6 38.5 58.6 71.0 63.4 43.3 94.4 10

See appendix table A1 for variable definitions.
39

Concentration of assets and liabilities within groups. As suggested by the Gini

coefficient estimates for the two minority groups, the shares of group wealth held by the

wealthiest 10 percent of African Americans and by the wealthiest 10 percent of Hispanics do not

differ significantly from each other, and neither differs significantly from the wealth share of the

wealthiest 10 percent of the population in general (tables 20a and 20b). Indeed, overall there are

few statistically significant differences between the minority groups in the shares of portfolio

items held by different wealth groups, again in part because the sample sizes are relatively small. 

The most interesting significant exceptions concern the relative holdings of debt. Among the 50

percent least wealthy in each minority group, African Americans hold a larger share of the total

debt held by that group overall. It is also noteworthy that the income shares across the wealth

groups are very similar for these two groups, but compared to the population as a whole, more of

total group income is received by the least wealthy 50 percent and less by the wealthiest 10

percent.
40

Table 20a: Amounts (billions of 2004 dollars) and shares of net worth and components distributed by net

worth groups, African American families, 2004.

Wealth percentile group

All families 0-50 50-90 90-100 

Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share

NETWORTH 1,671.7 100.0 0.0 0.0 526.0 31.5 1,145.7 68.5 215.8 0.0 11.5 0.7 38.5 4.6 214.2 4.5

ASSET 2,322.5 100.0 145.0 6.2 868.6 37.4 1,308.8 56.3 238.3 0.0 17.6 1.0 65.4 4.3 234.0 4.9

FIN 561.8 100.0 19.8 3.5 161.6 28.8 380.4 67.6 62.4 0.0 2.6 0.6 12.6 4.0 63.0 4.3

LIQ+CDS+SAVBND 115.6 100.0 6.9 6.0 42.0 36.4 66.6 57.7 17.6 0.0 0.9 1.1 6.9 6.7 16.0 7.1

RETQLIQ 288.5 100.0 7.9 2.7 75.8 26.4 204.9 70.9 38.5 0.0 1.5 0.7 11.5 5.6 40.4 6.0

BOND+STOCKS+OTHMA+NMMF 84.4 100.0 0.8 1.0 9.4 11.4 74.1 87.6 24.4 0.0 0.3 0.5 3.6 6.1 24.7 6.3

CASHLI+OTHFIN 73.3 100.0 4.3 5.8 34.3 46.9 34.7 47.3 20.8 0.0 1.0 2.4 5.3 13.6 20.2 15.2

NFIN 1,760.7 100.0 125.2 7.1 707.0 40.2 928.4 52.7 196.0 0.0 16.9 1.2 57.7 4.9 190.3 5.6

VEHIC 138.8 100.0 37.3 26.9 64.2 46.3 37.3 26.8 9.9 0.0 3.3 2.2 5.3 2.9 6.7 3.7

HOUSES+ORESRE 1,289.2 100.0 87.0 6.7 612.3 47.5 589.9 45.7 104.9 0.0 15.4 1.2 52.3 4.6 100.1 5.0

NNRESRE+BUS 327.4 100.0 0.6 0.2 27.4 8.3 299.5 91.5 128.6 0.0 0.4 0.1 6.7 4.6 128.2 4.7

OTHNFIN 5.1 100.0 0.3 6.0 3.1 59.7 1.7 34.3 1.3 0.0 0.2 5.4 1.1 14.9 0.7 13.6

DEBT 650.7 100.0 145.0 22.3 342.6 52.6 163.1 25.1 43.6 0.0 22.4 3.0 39.8 5.0 30.5 4.5

MRTHEL+RESDBT 501.0 100.0 66.9 13.4 288.9 57.7 145.2 29.0 36.6 0.0 13.3 2.5 36.3 5.7 29.0 5.5

CCBAL 23.7 100.0 7.6 31.9 11.2 47.4 4.9 20.7 2.9 0.0 1.2 4.4 2.4 6.3 1.2 5.0

INSTALL+OTHLOC+ODEBT 126.0 100.0 70.6 56.1 42.4 33.7 13.0 10.3 16.7 0.0 16.1 6.8 5.8 5.6 2.4 2.4

Memo items:

EQUITY 138.1 100.0 2.2 1.6 27.5 20.1. 108.4 78.3 28.5 0.0 0.7 0.6 5.2 5.3 28.7 5.6

INCOME 587.6 100.0 183.5 31.2 249.8 42.5 154.3 26.3 29.0 0.0 11.6 1.8 17.3 2.7 23.5 3.3

# observations 478 268 157 53

# families (mil.) 15.0 7.5 6.0 1.6

Min. NW (thou.) Negative Negative 20.6 233.0

See appendix table A1 for variable definitions.
41

Table 20b: Amounts (billions of 2004 dollars) and shares of net worth and components distributed by net

worth groups, Hispanic families, 2004.

Wealth percentile group

All families 0-50 50-90 90-100 

Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share

NETWORTH 1,911.8 100.0 17.8 0.9 496.4 26.0 1,397.6 73.1 220.5 0.0 3.1 0.2 47.7 3.5 217.0 3.6

ASSET 2,578.2 100.0 103.5 4.0 876.0 34.0 1,598.6 62.0 246.9 0.0 18.4 0.7 70.3 3.5 232.1 3.8

FIN 515.3 100.0 10.3 2.0 90.7 17.6 414.4 80.4 84.7 0.0 1.3 0.4 12.2 3.8 85.1 4.1

LIQ+CDS+SAVBND 111.2 100.0 5.3 4.7 28.4 25.5 77.6 69.7 18.5 0.0 0.5 0.9 4.8 4.7 17.0 5.2

RETQLIQ 165.9 100.0 4.0 2.4 46.3 27.8 115.6 69.7 30.8 0.0 1.1 0.8 8.9 6.4 29.6 6.5

BOND+STOCKS+OTHMA+NMMF 140.0 100.0 0.5 0.4 6.9 4.9 132.7 94.7 46.8 0.0 0.4 0.4 2.2 2.6 47.0 2.8

CASHLI+OTHFIN 98.2 100.0 0.5 0.5 9.1 9.7 88.5 89.8 48.4 0.0 0.2 0.5 3.5 7.9 49.0 8.3

NFIN 2,062.8 100.0 93.2 4.5 785.3 38.1 1,184.3 57.4 199.2 0.0 17.8 0.9 61.7 3.7 183.2 4.0

VEHIC 151.9 100.0 34.8 22.9 80.0 52.7 37.1 24.4 15.0 0.0 4.1 2.0 7.8 3.5 9.1 4.4

HOUSES+ORESRE 1,378.7 100.0 57.2 4.1 673.9 48.9 647.6 47.0 100.3 0.0 15.9 1.1 49.5 3.4 80.3 3.5

NNRESRE+BUS 504.9 100.0 0.4 0.1 30.4 6.1 474.2 93.9 129.7 0.0 0.2 0.0 11.0 2.6 130.3 2.6

OTHNFIN 27.3 100.0 0.9 3.2 1.0 3.7 25.4 93.1 18.6 0.0 0.5 6.5 1.2 5.9 18.6 10.1

DEBT 666.4 100.0 85.7 12.9 379.6 57.0 201.0 30.2 51.9 0.0 17.4 2.2 31.3 3.1 26.6 2.9

MRTHEL+RESDBT 562.2 100.0 52.3 9.3 323.4 57.5 186.5 33.2 47.9 0.0 15.5 2.5 28.8 3.4 24.8 3.0

CCBAL 22.0 100.0 6.6 30.1 12.3 56.0 3.1 14.0 2.6 0.0 1.1 5.0 2.2 5.4 0.7 2.8

INSTALL+OTHLOC+ODEBT 82.3 100.0 26.9 32.6 43.9 53.4 11.5 14.0 8.4 0.0 4.3 3.2 4.9 4.1 3.2 3.5

Memo items:

EQUITY 172.7 100.0 1.4 0.8 23.8 13.9 147.4 85.3 45.7 0.0 0.7 0.5 4.3 2.8 46.1 5.1

INCOME 518.6 100.0 149.0 28.7 225.5 43.5 144.0 27.8 37.0 0.0 11.9 1.6 20.5 2.8 21.1 3.2

# observations 434 197 156 81

# families (mil.) 12.5 6.2 5.0 1.3

Min. NW (thou.) Negative Negative 17.6 265.0

See appendix table A1 for variable definitions.
42

25For wealthiest 10 percent of Hispanics, the proportion that spent more than their income in the previous

year is 21.6 percent, a figure substantially higher than for either of the other groups. Although a strictly comparable

classification of Hispanics is not possible in earlier years of the survey, the closest approximation suggests that this

figure may be an outlier. In 2001, 0.0 percent of Hispanic families in this group spent more than their income, 28.4

percent spent about the same, and 71.6 percent spent less than their income; in 1998, the corresponding figures were

12.7 percent, 2.9 percent and 84.4 percent.

Saving and capital gains.

The patterns of saving behavior for

the two minority groups are similar

to each other, but differ somewhat

from that for the population overall

(table 21). In terms of both usual

saving practices and saving over the

past year, African Americans and

Hispanics were less likely to be

savers than families overall. 

However, when the groups are

divided by wealth deciles computed

separately for each group, this

pattern is less clear. Among the

wealthiest 10 percent of African

Americans the proportion of

families with a saving plan and the

proportion that spent less than their

income is higher than in the case of

families overall. For Hispanics, the

proportion with a saving plan is

lower than the figure for all

families, but the proportion

spending less than their income was

nearly the same as that for all

families.25

African Hispanics All

Americans families families

Usual saving:

Spend more than income

All 12.0 10.6 7.0

0-50 15.7 12.2 10.5

50-90 1.1 6.9 3.9

90-100 0.0 0.0 2.2

Spend same as income

All 19.3 22.3 16.3

0-50 22.4 26.1 23.6

50-90 10.9 11.5 9.6

90-100 0.6 17.6 6.1

Save “left over” income

All 24.7 29.6 30.2

0-50 22.8 28.8 31.9

50-90 23.6 32.3 29.1

90-100 31.2 24.6 26.5

Some saving plan

All 44.0 37.5 46.5

0-50 37.1 32.9 33.9

50-90 64.4 49.3 57.4

90-100 68.2 57.8 65.2

Saving last year:

Spent more than income

All 23.9 20.8 15.4

0-50 26.0 22.3 20.6

50-90 18.7 16.0 10.9

90-100 0.0 21.6 7.7

Spent same as income

All 32.8 35.8 28.5

0-50 37.7 41.0 35.2

50-90 19.5 23.1 23.1

90-100 2.1 3.2 16.3

Spent less than income

All 43.3 43.5 56.1

0-50 36.3 36.7 44.2

50-90 61.7 60.8 66.0

90-100 97.7 75.2 76.0

Table 21: Usual saving behavior and saving behavior last year;

African Americans, Hispanics, and all families; by percentile of

the group distribution of net worth; percent; 2004.
43

26For families with no assets, the value of the ratio was taken to be zero.

27The survey does collect separate mortgage information for the nonresidential real estate category included

in the analysis in this paper. However, it appears that a large share of such properties are not substantively distinct

from businesses in the survey where the reported value is net of borrowing. In large part for this reason, the

nonresidential real estate values used are net of balances on any outstanding mortgages on the properties.

As with the overall population, unrealized

capital gains explain a large part of the observed

wealth of African Americans and Hispanics

(table 22). In 2004, 34.2 percent of the wealth of

African Americans and 35.2 percent of the wealth

of Hispanics was explained by net capital gains on

the set of assets in the SCF for which such

information is available, as discussed earlier in this

paper. These shares are slightly higher than that for

the population as a whole, though the shares for the

minority groups based on a much lower average

value than in the case of the population overall. 

The minority groups differ notably in the estimate

of the median amount of gain, where the median is

taken over all families whether or not they have

assets.26 For the minority groups the fraction is zero, whereas for the population as a whole the

figure is 11.2 percent.

V. The Use of Debt

Many assets—particularly real estate and vehicles–are routinely financed as a part of their

purchase. Stock holdings may be financed in part with margin loans. For personal businesses,

borrowing may play a key role in the expansion of assets, but such borrowing may be subsumed

within the business in some cases and, thus, not appear in the family balance sheet collected in

the SCF.27

Group Aggregate Median

Wealth group ratio ratio

African Americans

All 34.2 0.0

0-50 12.3 0.0

50-90 26.8 23.4

90-100 41.5 29.8

Hispanics

All 35.2 0.0

0-50 4.4 0.0

50-90 28.7 22.7

90-100 40.8 35.9

All families

All 30.7 11.2

0-50 14.3 0.0

50-90 27.3 24.6

90-100 33.8 28.3

Table 22: Median ratio of capital gains to

assets and ratio of aggregate capital gains to

aggregate assets; for African Americans,

Hispanics, and all families; by percentiles of

the group wealth distribution; 2004; percent.
44

From 1989 to 2004, the total debt

of all families as measured in the SCF

rose 148.6 percent in real terms. As a

proportion of assets, debt varied between

12.0 percent and 15.0 percent over the

period (table 23). As noted earlier,

holdings of debt are disproportionately

concentrated among wealthy families. But compared with assets, debt is much more equally

distributed across wealth groups. In 2004, the least wealthy 50 percent of families held 24.2

percent of the total outstanding debt, the next 40 percent of the distribution held 48.6, and the

wealthiest 10 percent held the remaining 27.1 percent; in contrast the least wealthy half held 5.8

percent of total assets, the next 40 percent held 31.0 percent, and the wealthiest 10 percent held

63.1 percent (see table 11a). Thus, leverage rates drop across the wealth percentile groups. In

part, this pattern reflects differences in the age distribution within the wealth groups and the

differences across age groups in the typical use of debt.

Overall, home-secured debt grew as a share of all family borrowing from 1989 to 2004,

but within that period the increase was not consistent (table 24). Spotty declines were spread

throughout the remaining types of loan other than mortgages for other residential real estate and

credit card balances, whose shares did not shift consistently over the period. When borrowing is

disaggregated by wealth groups, additional patterns emerge. Mortgage borrowing as a share of

all borrowing peaks in the 50th–to–90th percentile group and then declines at higher points in the

wealth distribution. Some of the decline for the upper groups is offset by the rise in borrowing

for other residential real estate, which is highly concentrated among wealthy families. The

category “other debt,” which includes margin loans, loans against insurance policies, as well as

miscellaneous personal and other loans, tends to be most important for the highest wealth

groups. Installment borrowing and credit card balances tend to be relatively more important in

the portfolios of the lower wealth groups.

Home-secured debt may be taken out (or increased through mortgage refinancing or

additional equity-based loans) for many purposes other than the purchase of a home. Indeed,

Wealth percentile group

All 0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100

1989 12.1 52.2 19.2 9.5 5.3 2.4

1992 14.6 59.2 21.5 11.0 6.8 2.9

1995 14.5 56.8 21.0 10.9 7.9 3.3

1998 14.2 61.4 20.9 10.6 7.9 2.6

2001 12.0 56.2 19.4 8.9 5.9 2.4

2004 15.0 62.6 23.5 10.9 7.8 3.7

Table 23: Leverage ratio, by wealth groups, 1989–2004.
45

because of the fungibility of loan proceeds, it is

impossible in a strict sense to say precisely how

such funds are used. However, as a first

approximation, the survey asks respondents to

report the use of funds borrowed on most types

of loan; important exceptions are credit card

balances and miscellaneous personal loans. The

most complete such information is available in

the 2004 SCF. According to the survey for that

year, borrowing for a home purchase is the

largest single share of borrowing in all the

wealth groups; that fraction declines from 66.8

percent for the least wealthy 50 percent of

families to 43.2 percent for the wealthiest 1

percent of families (table 25). The next largest

share of the aggregate, borrowing for residential

real estate other than a principal residence, is

substantial only for the wealthiest 10 percent of

families. In contrast, borrowing for vehicles or

education is a larger share of the borrowing of

families in the least wealthy 50 percent. 

Borrowing for goods and services, a category

that includes all

outstanding credit card

balances, is in the range

of 5 to 10 percent across

all wealth groups. 

Borrowing for

investments, the next

smallest share of the

aggregate after the

Wealth percentile group

All 0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100

Home purchase 67.6 66.8 75.3 68.4 51.6 43.2

Home improvement 2.8 2.0 3.2 2.5 3.8 1.4

Other residential real estate 9.7 1.3 5.2 16.6 29.7 27.1

Investment 2.3 0.2 0.7 1.9 5.3 16.1

Education 3.2 8.1 2.0 1.4 0.4 0.3

Vehicle purchase 6.7 10.5 7.1 3.4 3.1 1.8

Good and services 7.1 10.0 6.1 5.0 5.3 9.2

Other 0.6 1.1 0.2 0.7 0.6 0.8

Table 25: Percent of outstanding debt attributable to various purposes, by

wealth group, 2004.

Wealth percentile group

All 0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100

MRTHEL

1989 68.6 60.9 77.0 68.4 60.8 36.6

1992 72.0 64.9 80.7 70.7 68.5 43.8

1995 73.1 67.9 80.3 67.5 73.4 52.1

1998 71.4 64.8 78.5 72.0 68.3 54.7

2001 75.2 68.1 81.0 79.7 72.4 59.4

2004 75.2 70.9 82.7 80.1 65.0 49.9

RESDBT

1989 7.7 2.1 4.9 16.6 20.0 20.5

1992 10.2 3.7 6.1 21.4 21.5 29.9

1995 7.6 2.3 4.8 21.4 17.5 21.5

1998 7.5 3.0 6.0 11.0 16.6 17.9

2001 6.2 1.0 5.3 7.7 15.0 16.9

2004 8.5 1.0 4.5 12.9 26.6 26.1

INSTALL

1989 16.7 29.4 14.1 9.3 10.4 11.3

1992 11.3 23.4 8.6 3.9 5.4 4.9

1995 12.0 21.1 9.5 6.0 5.0 4.0

1998 13.1 22.1 10.5 10.1 6.1 7.1

2001 12.3 22.8 9.6 8.2 5.5 7.8

2004 11.0 20.9 8.9 3.7 4.3 10.8

OTHLOC

1989 1.8 0.6 0.4 2.2 1.6 20.9

1992 0.8 0.2 0.5 1.0 0.4 6.9

1995 0.6 0.4 0.3 0.5 0.5 3.9

1998 0.3 0.3 0.1 0.4 0.5 1.7

2001 0.5 0.3 0.2 0.3 1.3 2.5

2004 0.7 0.3 0.4 0.2 1.0 4.6

CCBAL

1989 2.8 5.1 2.7 1.4 0.8 0.2

1992 3.2 5.9 3.0 1.7 0.8 0.5

1995 3.9 6.0 3.9 1.9 1.1 0.3

1998 3.9 7.0 3.3 2.1 1.5 0.5

2001 3.4 6.5 2.9 1.3 1.4 0.3

2004 3.0 5.7 2.9 1.3 0.8 0.3

ODEBT

1989 2.3 1.8 0.9 2.1 6.4 10.6

1992 2.4 1.8 1.2 1.4 3.5 13.9

1995 2.9 2.3 1.3 2.7 2.6 18.3

1998 3.7 2.8 1.6 4.5 7.0 18.1

2001 2.3 1.4 0.9 2.9 4.4 13.0

2004 1.6 1.2 0.7 1.8 2.4 8.3

Table 24: Percentage distribution of debt by types

of debt, by wealth groups, 2001 and 2004.
46

residual category, is a substantial share of the borrowing of only the two groups in the highest 5

percent of the wealth distribution; for the wealthiest 1 percent, this purpose represents 16.1

percent of their total borrowing.

VI. Conclusion

The data used in this paper are not sufficient to address changes in the wealth of individual

families over time, but they can be used to characterize the overall wealth distribution. Over the

1989–2004 period considered, inflation-adjusted net worth as measured in the triennial SCF

grew broadly. The share of families with negative net worth was about unchanged, but

otherwise the distribution of family wealth shifted higher. Over the fifteen-year period, mean

wealth rose 61.2 percent whereas the median rose 35.3 percent, a disproportion that suggests the

shares of wealth held by different groups may also have shifted over the period. Indeed, by some

measures, the data do show significant changes in the concentration of wealth across the

distribution, but the result does not hold unambiguously across a set of plausible alternative

measures, in part because different measures answer different questions and in part because the

measures severely test the statistical power of the survey data. The Gini coefficient shows

significant increases in the concentration of wealth in 2004 relative to 1989, 1992, and 1995; but

the estimates from the 1998 and 2001 surveys are not significantly different from that from the

2004 survey. On the other hand, estimates of the total amount of wealth held by different

subgroups of the wealth distribution show that the share of the least wealthy 50 percent of

families fell significantly from the 1992–2001 surveys (the high point was 3.6 percent in 1995)

to about 2.5 percent of total family wealth in 2004; but the data are not sufficient to identify what

offsetting group or groups gained that amount. Graphical analysis indicates that over the

1989–2004 period, there were statistically significant gains across the wealth distribution and

that the level of gains was largest by far for the top few percent of the distribution. However,

when taken as a proportion of wealth in 1989, the increases are closer to uniform across much of

the distribution, though the upward spike at the top of the distribution remains. Over the more

recent term, from 2001 to 2004, the data show little statistically significant change.

Data from Forbes, which are intended to represent the wealthiest 400 people in the U.S.,

show a peak in several measures of the concentration of wealth within that group in 1999. But
47

comparison with SCF data where the two sources overlap in time suggests that movements in the

wealth of the Forbes group may be only loosely coupled with the wealth of the remaining

99.9996 percent of the population. In 2004, the wealth of the Forbes group was about 2 percent

of the sum of total wealth measured in that source and the SCF.

The SCF data also provide information on the variability of the cross-sectional distribution

of wealth over time. When the data are detrended for average growth over the 1989–2004 period

by percentile of net worth, the proportional variability of wealth appears to have been greatest

below the 20th percentile of the distribution, to have hit a minimum at about the 35th percentile,

and then to have increased linearly until near the top of the distribution. This pattern marks a

transition from groups of families with very small buffers against shocks, to those with fairly

conservative portfolios, to those who incorporate more risky assets into their portfolios.

The sources of wealth and changes in wealth are much more difficult to characterize. 

Variations in realized income and in saving practices are surely important factors, but a very

large factor is capital gains. In 2004 among the wealthiest 1 percent of families, unrealized

capital gains accounted for 31.2 percent of gross assets at the median; for the whole population

the median was 11.2 percent. Thus, variations in the ownership of assets subject to capital gains

appear to be very important over time as a determinant of wealth. Gain-intensive assets, such as

stocks, businesses, and real estate are disproportionately held by the wealthiest families. The

major source of gains at lower levels is appreciation of the value of a principal residence.

Inheritances and substantial gifts are also important factors in the distribution of family

wealth. In 2004, such past transfers accounted for about 6 to 17 percent of total net worth,

depending on the measure used. Over the 1989–2004 period, inheritances may have declined in

importance for the families at the top of the wealth distribution.

The paper also compares the wealth of African American families and Hispanic families in

2004. Despite some relatively small dollar-level differences in the lowest part of the wealth

distributions for these two groups, their overall distributions are far more similar to each other

than either is to that for the set of all families. The main distinguishing characteristic for both

groups is the relatively large fraction of families who have zero or near-zero wealth. Aside from

holdings of credit card and installment loan balances, ownership of various assets and liabilities

is much less common among these groups than among the population as a whole.
48

For some families, borrowing is an instrument for acquiring assets. Vehicles and real

estate are often financed, but borrowing can also be quite important for investment in stocks and

personal businesses. Like assets, debts are relatively concentrated among the wealthiest

families, but the disproportion is less. For example, the wealthiest 10 percent of families held

about 26 percent of all family debt in 2004, but they also held 63 percent of total family assets. 

Borrowing related to residential real estate is the largest share of families’ outstanding debt, and

this is true across the spectrum of wealth groups considered. But for the wealthiest 1 percent of

families in 2004, over 16 percent of their outstanding debt was related to investments other than

real estate. Among the least wealthy 50 percent, 10 percent of their borrowing was to finance a

vehicle.

By now, there are six comparably measured cross sectional observations of family wealth

from the SCF covering a period containing two recessions. Future work should begin to make a

more thorough examination of macroeconomic influences on the times series of wealth

movements. Possibly one of the largest constraints in gaining a more detailed understanding of

wealth dynamics is the absence of a panel dimension in the SCF, aside from the relatively small

1983–89 panel. Cross sectional data can only provide information on changes for groups. 

Although panel data are of obvious utility for studying wealth dyanmics and many other

problems in economics, that potential utility must be weighed against both the cost of creating

such data and the quality of the information that could be obtained. Examination of wealth

dynamics using the wealth supplements to the Panel Study on Income Dynamics may provide

helpful insights into the tradeoffs.
49

Avery, Robert B. and Arthur B. Kennickell [1991] “Household Saving in the U.S.,” Review of

Income and Wealth, (December 1991) pp. 409-432.

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System [2005] “Z.1 Release: Flow of Funds

Accounts of the United States: Annual Flows and Outstandings,”

http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/Z1/Current/data.htm.

Bucks, Brian K., Arthur B. Kennickell, and Kevin B. Moore [2006] “Recent Changes in U.S.

Family Finances: Evidence from the 2001 and 2004 Survey of Consumer Finances,” Federal

Reserve Bulletin, vol. 92, www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/bulletin/2006/financesurvey.pdf, posted

February 2006.

Canterbury, E. Ray and E. Joe Nosari [1985] “The Forbes Four Hundred: The Determinants of

Super-Wealth,” Southern Economic Journal, v. 51 (April), pp. 1073-1982.

Gale, William G. and Karen M. Pence [2005] "Household Wealth Accumulation in the 1990s:

The Role of Demographic Factors," unpublished manuscript, October.

Kopczuk, Woiciech and Emmanuel Saez [2003] “Top Wealth Shares in the United States,

1916–2000: Evidence from Estate Tax Returns,” working paper.

Kennickell, Arthur B. [2005] “Darkness Made Visible: Field Management and Nonresponse in

the 2004 SCF," September 2005. SRMS proceedings Proceedings of the Section on Survey

Research Methods, 2005 Annual Meetings of the American Statistical Association, Minneapolis,

MN.

Kennickell, Arthur B. [2003] “A Rolling Tide: Changes in the Distribution of Wealth in the U.S.,

1989–2001,, www.federalreserve.gov/pubs.oss/oss2/method.html.

Kennickell, Arthur B. [2000] “Revisions to the Variance Estimation Procedure for the SCF,”

working paper, www.federalreserve.gov/pubs.oss/oss2/method.html.

Arthur B. Kennickell [2000] “Wealth Measurement in the Survey of Consumer Finances:

Methodology and Directions for Future Research,” working paper Board of Governors of the

Federal Reserve System, www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/oss/oss2/method.html.

Kennickell, Arthur B. [2001] “Modeling Wealth with Multiple Observations of Income:

Redesign of the Sample for the 2001 Survey of Consumer Finances,” Proceedings of the Section

on Survey Research Methods, 2001 Annual Meetings of the American Statistical Association,

Atlanta, August.

Kennickell, Arthur B. [1999] “Revisions to the SCF Weighting Methodology: Accounting for

Race/Ethnicity and Homeownership,” working paper, www.federalreserve.gov/pubs.oss/oss2/

method.html.
50

Kennickell, Arthur B. [1998] “Multiple Imputation in the Survey of Consumer Finances,”

Proceedings of the Section on Business and Economic Statistics, Annual Meetings of the

American Statistical Association, Dallas, Texas.

Kennickell, Arthur and Annika E. Sundén, "Pensions, Social Security, and the Distribution of

Wealth," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1997-55 (Board of Governors of the Federal

Reserve System, October 1997).

Kennickell, Arthur B. and R. Louise Woodburn [1999] “Consistent Weight Design for the 1989,

1992, and 1995 SCFs, and the Distribution of Wealth,” Review of Income and Wealth (Series 45,

number 2), June, pp. 193-215.

Rubin, Donald B. [1987] Multiple Imputation for Nonresponse in Surveys, Wiley: New York.
51

Variable Definitions: Tables 10, 11a,1b, 18, 19, 20a, 20b, 24, A1–A7

NETWORTH: ASSET-DEBT.

ASSET: FIN+NFIN.

FIN: LIQ+CDS+SAVBND+BOND+STOCKS+NMMF+RETQLIQ+CASHLI+OTHMA+OTHFIN.

LIQ: Holdings of checking, savings, money market, and call accounts.

CDS: Holdings of certificates of deposit.

SAVBND: Holdings of savings bonds.

BOND: Direct holdings of bonds.*

STOCKS: Direct holdings of publicly traded stocks.*

NMMF: Mutual funds other than money market mutual funds, and hedge funds.

RETQLIQ: IRAs, Keogh accounts, and other pension accounts where withdrawals or loans may be taken (such as

401(k) accounts).

CASHLI: Cash value of life insurance.

OTHMA: Equity holdings of annuities, trusts, and managed investment accounts.

OTHFIN: Value of miscellaneous financial assets (e.g., futures contracts, oil leases, royalties, etc.).

NFIN: VEHIC+HOUSES+ORESRE+BUS+OTHNFIN.

VEHIC: Market value of all personally owned automobiles, trucks, motor homes, campers, motorcycles, boats,

airplanes, helicopters, and miscellaneous vehicles. 

HOUSES: Market value of principal residences.

ORESRE: Market value of residential real estate other than principal residences.

NNRESRE: Net equity in real estate other than HOUSES and ORESRE.

BUS: Net equity in closely held businesses.

OTHNFIN: Value of miscellaneous nonfinancial assets (e.g., antiques, artwork, etc.).

DEBT: MRTHEL+INSTALL+OTHLOC+CCBAL+ODEBT.

MRTHEL: Amount outstanding on mortgages and home equity lines of credit secured by principal residences.

RESDBT: Amount outstanding on mortgages secured by residential real estate other than a principal residence.

INSTALL: Amount outstanding on installment debt.

OTHLOC: Amount outstanding on lines of credit other than home equity lines of credit.

CCBAL: Amount outstanding on credit cards.

ODEBT: Amount outstanding on miscellaneous debts (e.g., debts to family members, borrowing against insurance

policies or pension accounts, margin debt, etc.).

EQUITY: Total value of direct and indirect stock holdings (included in STOCKS and RETQLIQ).*

INCOME: Total income for the year preceding the survey year.

* Direct holdings are those held outside of a managed asset such as mutual funds, trusts, managed investment

accounts, annuities, and tax-deferred retirement accounts.

Where shown, standard errors are given in italics below the associated variable.
52

Table A1: Amounts (billions of 2004 dollars) and shares of net worth and components distributed by net

worth groups, 1992.

Wealth percentile group

All families 0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100 

Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share

NETWORTH 23621.3 100 781.6 3.3 6999.7 29.6 2963.2 12.5 5753.1 24.4 7123.7 30.2 699.6 0 41 0.2 197.8 1.1 175.1 0.7 359.8 1.3 474 1.4

ASSET 27616.5 100 1809.6 6.6 8864.4 32.1 3325.5 12 6248.1 22.6 7368.9 26.7 737.4 0 63.8 0.3 244.7 1.1 194.2 0.7 382.9 1.2 486.4 1.3

FIN 8707 100 295.5 3.4 2470 28.4 1266.3 14.5 2375.7 27.3 2299.5 26.4 252.9 0 13.5 0.2 106.1 1.4 88.8 1 171.2 1.7 182.9 1.7

LIQ 1518.2 100 98.6 6.5 528.1 34.8 208.9 13.8 346.4 22.8 336.2 22.1 61.7 0 5.1 0.4 32.2 2.2 19.9 1.3 39.7 2.4 50.1 2.7

CDS 697.8 100 26.6 3.8 332.8 47.7 172.1 24.7 106.9 15.3 59.4 8.5 50.2 0 4 0.6 31.2 4.4 27.5 3.5 17.4 2.4 29.8 3.8

SAVBND 99.1 100 9.9 10 46.7 47.1 17.1 17.2 16.5 16.6 8.9 9 9.2 0 1.5 1.8 4.9 4.7 6.2 5.4 3.8 3.6 3.2 3.1

BOND 732.4 100 2.1 0.3 46.2 6.3 81.1 11.1 222.3 30.3 380.7 52 74 0 1 0.1 8.4 1.4 22.1 3 42.8 5 58.9 5.1

STOCKS 1432.2 100 11.8 0.8 164.5 11.5 129.8 9.1 426.4 29.7 699.6 48.9 114.7 0 1.9 0.2 15.1 1.5 21.2 1.4 74.3 4.1 81.2 3.9

NMMF 663.5 100 8.5 1.3 154.3 23.3 102.9 15.6 225.9 34 171.9 25.8 69.7 0 1.8 0.3 18.7 3.2 20 3.4 46.5 4.8 32.8 3.7

RETQLIQ 2231.7 100 72.8 3.3 794.2 35.6 383.8 17.2 661.6 29.6 319.3 14.3 116.1 0 6.5 0.3 43.4 2.5 36 1.4 71.8 2.6 75.7 2.9

CASHLI 531.7 100 44 8.3 253.4 47.7 64.3 12.1 131.1 24.6 39 7.3 53.1 0 3.2 1.2 23.3 4.7 14.2 2.6 42.1 6 5.7 1.1

OTHMA 473.2 100 3.6 0.8 71.4 15.1 70.9 15 144 30.4 183.2 38.7 65 0 1.8 0.4 12.9 2.5 17.4 3.7 37 5.4 43.3 5.2

OTHFIN 327.3 100 17.6 5.4 78.4 23.9 35.5 10.8 94.6 29 101.2 30.9 38.9 0 2 1 12.7 3.6 11.7 3.4 26.9 6.9 23.7 5.7

NFIN 18909.6 100 1514.1 8 6394.4 33.8 2059.2 10.9 3872.4 20.5 5069.4 26.8 603.8 0 57.7 0.4 177.8 1.3 139.5 0.7 275.5 1.2 430.6 1.6

VEHIC 1074.2 100 292.4 27.2 512 47.7 97 9 118.8 11.1 53.9 5 22.3 0 9.5 1 16.8 1.2 8.3 0.7 9.1 0.7 6.5 0.6

HOUSES 8874.1 100 1104.4 12.4 4685.4 52.8 1082.6 12.2 1370 15.4 631.7 7.1 196 0 48.4 0.6 139 1.4 86 0.9 104.7 1 75.1 0.8

ORESRE 1598.6 100 52.6 3.3 434.3 27.2 295.2 18.5 446.2 27.9 370.3 23.2 88.5 0 9.8 0.6 38.2 2.3 41.6 2.5 49.9 2.5 50.7 2.6

NNRESRE 2067.1 100 14.8 0.7 223.9 10.8 171.6 8.3 516.3 25 1140.4 55.2 227.7 0 3.4 0.2 22.2 1.3 35.1 1.6 82.4 3 173.5 3.6

BUS 4982 100 35.6 0.7 445.3 9 391.2 7.9 1343.8 27 2766.1 55.5 396.5 0 7 0.2 39.8 1 63.1 1.2 170.7 3 305.3 3.1

OTHNFIN 313.6 100 14.2 4.5 93.5 29.8 21.5 6.9 77.2 24.7 107.1 34.1 33.5 0 2.1 0.8 14.7 4 5.6 1.7 18.6 5.1 21.5 5.2

DEBT 3995.2 100 1028 25.7 1864.7 46.7 362.3 9.1 495 12.4 245.2 6.1 116.6 0 53.5 1.3 80.6 1.6 42.6 1 47.7 1.1 27.9 0.6

MRTHEL 2874.9 100 667 23.2 1505.1 52.4 256 8.9 339.2 11.8 107.5 3.7 89 0 40.6 1.4 68.5 2 36.1 1.2 36.8 1.2 14.5 0.5

RESDBT 409 100 38.3 9.4 113.7 27.8 77.4 18.9 106.2 25.9 73.4 17.9 38.4 0 14.7 3.2 18.5 4.1 18.7 4.1 18.2 3.7 13.8 3.1

INSTALL 453 100 240.4 53.1 160 35.3 14 3.1 26.6 5.9 12.1 2.7 25.6 0 22.6 2.5 8.4 1.8 2.7 0.6 5 1.1 2.6 0.6

OTHLOC 33.3 100 2.5 7.4 8.6 26 3.5 10.6 1.8 5.2 16.9 50.8 7.9 0 0.4 2 3.5 9 2.8 8 1.1 3.1 6.4 11.3

CCBAL 127.8 100 60.9 47.6 55.3 43.3 6.2 4.8 4.2 3.3 1.2 0.9 6.1 0 3.5 2.1 3.8 2.1 2.5 1.8 0.8 0.6 0.5 0.4

ODEBT 97.2 100 18.9 19.4 21.9 22.6 5.2 5.3 17.1 17.5 34.1 35.1 13.5 0 4.2 4.9 4.2 4.9 1.9 1.9 5.5 5.4 11 8.1

Memo items:

EQUITY 2942.1 100 50 1.7 613.3 20.9 339.9 11.6 898.5 30.5 1040.4 35.4 169.9 0 4.4 0.2 31.4 1.7 39.8 1.2 120.8 3 102.1 2.6

INCOME 5061 100 1421.6 28.1 2117.3 41.8 453.2 9 639.4 12.6 429.4 8.5 68.8 0 34.7 0.7 65.6 1.2 33.4 0.6 39 0.7 38.6 0.7

# observations 3,906 1,415 1,156 242 449 644

# families (mil.) 95.9 47.9 38.4 4.8 3.9 1.0

Min. NW (thou.) Negative Negative 64.2 457.4 847.6 3,172.7

See appendix table A1 for variable definitions.
53

Table A2: Amounts (billions of 2004 dollars) and shares of net worth and components distributed by net

worth groups, 1995.

Wealth percentile group

All families 0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100 

Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share

NETWORTH 25,822.6 100.0 925.5 3.6 7,393.8 28.6 3,066.2 11.9 5,502.0 21.3 8,935.1 34.6 636.3 0.0 33.0 0.2 151.3 0.7 160.9 0.6 265.0 0.9 485.9 1.3

ASSET 30,241.5 100.0 2,268.9 7.5 9,422.9 31.2 3,446.4 11.4 5,900.5 19.5 9,202.7 30.4 649.3 0.0 73.1 0.3 188.2 0.7 180.5 0.6 280.3 0.8 490.7 1.2

FIN 11,102.3 100.0 406.8 3.7 2,821.6 25.4 1,512.0 13.6 2,696.7 24.3 3,665.2 33.0 407.6 0.0 15.6 0.2 75.2 0.9 114.4 1.0 156.1 1.2 318.9 1.9

LIQ 1,547.1 100.0 105.3 6.8 467.8 30.3 170.3 11.0 272.1 17.6 531.5 34.3 131.0 0.0 5.1 0.6 20.3 2.3 16.4 1.3 32.7 2.0 118.4 4.7

CDS 625.5 100.0 22.9 3.7 241.0 38.5 102.3 16.3 163.3 26.1 95.9 15.4 48.9 0.0 3.5 0.6 27.1 3.7 25.3 3.7 27.6 3.6 24.7 3.9

SAVBND 146.5 100.0 10.9 7.4 69.9 47.7 28.5 19.5 29.5 20.1 7.7 5.3 12.4 0.0 1.3 0.9 6.7 4.5 6.6 3.7 7.8 4.3 2.7 1.8

BOND 695.6 100.0 1.4 0.2 35.0 5.0 47.0 6.8 127.4 18.3 484.7 69.7 80.4 0.0 0.9 0.1 7.3 1.1 10.9 1.5 29.0 3.9 72.9 4.5

STOCKS 1,734.8 100.0 14.0 0.8 154.2 8.9 117.5 6.8 479.9 27.7 969.2 55.9 144.7 0.0 2.1 0.1 13.9 1.0 25.5 1.3 73.3 4.2 133.9 4.6

NMMF 1,409.0 100.0 10.8 0.8 223.5 15.9 167.7 11.9 432.2 30.8 574.8 40.7 184.8 0.0 2.3 0.2 21.8 2.3 22.9 1.6 57.7 4.6 166.8 6.4

RETQLIQ 3,122.9 100.0 152.0 4.9 1,057.9 33.9 640.0 20.5 780.3 25.0 492.7 15.8 135.3 0.0 8.8 0.3 48.4 1.5 68.7 1.9 84.1 2.5 82.3 2.3

CASHLI 799.0 100.0 63.2 7.9 382.4 47.9 113.5 14.2 100.3 12.5 139.7 17.5 48.3 0.0 4.9 0.7 26.0 2.9 19.6 2.6 32.6 3.7 28.8 3.0

OTHMA 650.5 100.0 8.8 1.4 80.9 12.5 71.4 11.0 203.0 31.2 286.4 44.0 79.8 0.0 2.7 0.4 12.1 2.2 20.0 2.9 36.1 4.8 66.8 6.1

OTHFIN 371.5 100.0 17.6 4.7 109.0 29.3 53.7 14.5 108.7 29.2 82.6 22.3 47.1 0.0 2.1 0.8 14.1 3.9 16.9 4.7 43.8 8.2 15.5 4.1

NFIN 19,139.2 100.0 1,862.2 9.7 6,601.3 34.5 1,934.4 10.1 3,203.8 16.7 5,537.5 28.9 404.9 0.0 63.3 0.4 151.6 0.9 106.7 0.6 178.0 0.8 328.6 1.3

VEHIC 1,363.9 100.0 403.1 29.6 655.2 48.0 122.1 9.0 120.9 8.9 62.7 4.6 21.2 0.0 11.6 0.9 17.9 1.0 7.8 0.5 8.1 0.6 7.3 0.5

HOUSES 9,081.7 100.0 1,343.7 14.8 4,855.0 53.5 1,033.0 11.4 1,205.8 13.3 644.2 7.1 131.7 0.0 55.4 0.6 111.5 0.9 59.3 0.6 61.8 0.6 45.4 0.5

ORESRE 1,525.6 100.0 57.9 3.8 385.3 25.3 297.5 19.5 425.9 27.9 359.1 23.5 86.7 0.0 8.4 0.5 29.8 1.6 43.7 2.4 40.1 2.2 42.1 2.1

NNRESRE 1,515.3 100.0 8.7 0.6 198.8 13.1 165.6 10.9 466.4 30.8 675.8 44.6 110.8 0.0 6.0 0.4 22.8 1.6 29.0 1.8 56.7 3.2 87.4 3.8

BUS 5,210.2 100.0 30.8 0.6 404.8 7.8 274.2 5.3 882.0 16.9 3,618.5 69.5 321.9 0.0 5.4 0.1 37.9 0.8 44.2 0.8 118.9 2.1 284.2 2.4

OTHNFIN 442.4 100.0 18.0 4.1 102.3 23.1 42.0 9.5 102.9 23.3 177.2 40.0 43.0 0.0 2.1 0.7 13.4 3.5 7.4 1.9 21.1 4.2 34.7 5.3

DEBT 4,418.9 100.0 1,343.4 30.4 2,029.1 45.9 380.2 8.6 398.5 9.0 267.6 6.1 78.8 0.0 51.8 1.1 64.7 1.2 34.9 0.8 33.2 0.7 33.0 0.7

MRTHEL 3,230.8 100.0 912.1 28.2 1,630.1 50.5 256.5 7.9 292.6 9.1 139.5 4.3 66.8 0.0 45.0 1.3 53.1 1.3 24.1 0.7 26.1 0.8 14.5 0.4

RESDBT 335.7 100.0 30.8 9.2 96.5 28.8 81.4 24.2 69.6 20.7 57.5 17.1 30.2 0.0 9.1 2.5 10.8 3.4 23.3 5.7 12.1 3.5 11.7 3.2

INSTALL 528.9 100.0 283.5 53.6 192.0 36.3 22.9 4.3 19.9 3.8 10.6 2.0 16.1 0.0 13.3 1.7 10.0 1.6 3.3 0.6 4.1 0.8 4.1 0.8

OTHLOC 25.3 100.0 5.7 22.7 5.3 20.9 2.0 8.0 1.9 7.5 10.4 41.0 4.8 0.0 1.3 5.1 1.9 6.6 0.6 2.6 1.0 3.3 3.7 8.8

CCBAL 172.2 100.0 80.4 46.7 79.6 46.2 7.2 4.2 4.3 2.5 0.7 0.4 6.3 0.0 4.1 1.9 4.8 1.9 1.2 0.7 0.7 0.4 0.2 0.1

ODEBT 126.0 100.0 30.8 24.7 25.7 20.3 10.3 8.2 10.2 8.3 49.0 38.6 23.1 0.0 4.3 5.3 7.4 5.1 3.7 2.8 7.1 5.9 19.5 10.3

Memo items:

EQUITY 4,447.1 100.0 96.6 2.2 795.4 17.9 526.1 11.8 1,341.3 30.2 1,687.6 37.9 211.7 0.0 7.2 0.2 37.6 1.0 50.7 1.1 101.6 2.1 176.4 2.7

INCOME 5,438.2 100.0 1,518.3 27.9 2,208.2 40.6 495.0 9.1 591.2 10.9 625.6 11.5 85.5 0.0 33.4 0.7 54.5 0.9 37.0 0.7 36.3 0.6 58.2 1.0

# observations 4,299 1,547 1,290 293 504 665

# families (mil.) 99.0 49.5 39.6 5.0 4.0 1.0

Min. NW (thou.) Negative Negative 71.3 478.0 829.7 3,156.0

See appendix table A1 for variable definitions.
54

Table A3: Amounts (billions of 2004 dollars) and shares of net worth and components distributed by net

worth groups, 1998.

Wealth percentile group

All families 0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100 

Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share

NETWORTH 33,700.3 100.0 1,011.8 3.0 9,563.0 28.4 3,837.1 11.4 7,863.6 23.3 11,424.9 33.9

1,098.5 0.0 55.3 0.2 388.7 0.9 231.4 0.6 573.3 1.2 610.6 1.5

ASSET 39,276.0 100.0 2,619.9 6.7 12,088.1 30.8 4,292.4 10.9 8,542.5 21.7 11,733.1 29.9

1,134.4 0.0 86.9 0.3 443.6 0.9 258.2 0.6 599.8 1.2 622.9 1.4

FIN 16,002.5 100.0 499.2 3.1 4,232.5 26.4 1,995.2 12.5 4,161.1 26.0 5,114.5 32.0 634.2 0.0 21.6 0.2 221.7 1.1 161.3 0.9 372.7 1.8 385.0 2.0

LIQ 1,813.2 100.0 125.1 6.9 675.6 37.3 241.6 13.3 393.2 21.7 377.6 20.8 92.4 0.0 6.0 0.4 46.5 2.6 70.5 3.5 43.8 2.5 57.2 2.7

CDS 685.5 100.0 30.7 4.5 356.0 51.9 97.0 14.2 119.5 17.4 82.3 12.0 64.2 0.0 3.8 0.7 34.8 4.0 20.2 2.7 37.4 4.2 20.5 2.7

SAVBND 108.1 100.0 8.1 7.5 65.3 60.4 14.5 13.4 12.0 11.1 8.2 7.6 9.5 0.0 1.4 1.1 7.9 4.1 2.9 2.9 2.8 2.4 2.9 2.5

BOND 688.5 100.0 0.6 0.1 43.8 6.4 42.7 6.2 205.2 29.7 396.1 57.6 66.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 10.7 1.4 21.4 3.0 56.8 7.6 59.7 6.6

STOCKS 3,630.3 100.0 19.9 0.5 371.3 10.2 272.6 7.5 938.7 25.8 2,027.7 55.9 230.9 0.0 3.1 0.1 42.8 1.1 52.1 1.4 130.0 3.2 200.1 3.4

NMMF 1,979.3 100.0 26.6 1.3 463.9 23.5 304.0 15.3 657.0 33.2 527.8 26.7 153.7 0.0 3.7 0.2 42.2 2.5 57.1 2.7 84.1 3.5 95.8 3.8

RETQLIQ 4,391.6 100.0 190.7 4.3 1,611.2 36.7 656.0 14.9 1,147.5 26.1 786.1 17.9 216.9 0.0 14.1 0.4 89.9 1.7 64.6 1.4 128.1 2.3 128.9 2.6

CASHLI 1,013.4 100.0 63.3 6.3 431.2 42.5 223.8 22.1 192.0 18.9 103.1 10.2 75.7 0.0 4.9 0.7 53.8 4.5 45.7 4.2 47.1 3.8 17.8 1.9

OTHMA 1,425.8 100.0 12.1 0.9 130.3 9.2 115.0 8.0 441.8 31.0 726.7 51.0 150.8 0.0 2.9 0.2 18.8 1.8 24.8 1.7 88.8 5.2 115.8 5.4

OTHFIN 266.7 100.0 22.0 8.2 83.7 31.4 28.0 10.5 54.2 20.3 78.8 29.5 29.6 0.0 4.2 1.7 17.0 5.8 10.6 4.0 15.2 5.0 18.6 5.7

NFIN 23,273.5 100.0 2,120.7 9.1 7,855.6 33.8 2,297.2 9.9 4,381.4 18.8 6,618.6 28.4 707.4 0.0 77.8 0.4 259.9 1.1 155.9 0.6 312.0 1.1 466.7 1.5

VEHIC 1,499.4 100.0 412.1 27.5 714.9 47.7 135.6 9.0 144.9 9.7 91.9 6.1 27.8 0.0 9.9 0.7 24.8 1.2 11.1 0.8 13.4 0.8 10.8 0.7

HOUSES 10,923.5 100.0 1,556.3 14.2 5,600.0 51.3 1,251.7 11.5 1,646.7 15.1 868.8 8.0 221.2 0.0 68.9 0.6 179.8 1.3 97.3 0.8 107.8 0.9 86.9 0.8

ORESRE 1,975.4 100.0 81.0 4.1 623.8 31.6 299.9 15.2 566.5 28.6 404.2 20.5 131.6 0.0 13.8 0.7 57.2 2.3 38.8 1.9 75.6 2.8 55.3 2.3

NNRESRE 1,799.0 100.0 13.6 0.8 270.9 15.1 174.0 9.7 508.9 28.3 831.6 46.2 162.6 0.0 3.2 0.2 32.4 2.0 24.1 1.4 83.6 3.8 126.3 4.2

BUS 6,669.9 100.0 35.1 0.5 548.3 8.2 390.3 5.8 1,403.6 21.0 4,292.7 64.4 494.9 0.0 5.8 0.1 51.6 0.9 50.1 0.7 192.1 2.3 394.2 2.7

OTHNFIN 406.2 100.0 22.7 5.6 97.6 24.0 45.7 11.2 110.8 27.3 129.4 31.9 38.2 0.0 3.3 0.9 13.1 3.0 13.1 3.1 18.3 3.7 27.3 4.7

DEBT 5,575.6 100.0 1,608.0 28.8 2,525.1 45.3 455.3 8.2 679.0 12.2 308.2 5.5 136.8 0.0 78.4 1.2 96.8 1.3 45.0 0.8 54.5 0.9 36.0 0.6

MRTHEL 3,982.9 100.0 1,042.2 26.2 1,981.0 49.7 327.6 8.2 463.5 11.6 168.7 4.2 102.0 0.0 56.6 1.4 85.1 1.6 32.4 0.8 39.6 0.9 24.7 0.6

RESDBT 418.5 100.0 48.7 11.6 151.8 36.3 50.1 12.0 112.7 26.9 55.3 13.2 37.5 0.0 11.1 2.5 23.4 3.8 13.1 2.9 18.6 3.6 10.5 2.5

INSTALL 731.0 100.0 355.4 48.6 265.8 36.4 46.1 6.3 41.7 5.7 22.0 3.0 23.0 0.0 15.5 1.8 15.2 1.8 8.4 1.1 8.0 1.1 7.1 0.9

OTHLOC 18.7 100.0 4.7 25.1 3.5 19.0 1.6 8.7 3.7 19.7 5.2 27.6 3.3 0.0 0.7 4.5 1.0 5.2 0.7 3.8 1.3 6.5 2.7 9.8

CCBAL 216.0 100.0 112.5 52.1 82.6 38.2 9.4 4.4 10.1 4.7 1.4 0.7 8.6 0.0 7.0 2.3 5.1 2.2 2.2 1.0 2.6 1.2 0.8 0.4

ODEBT 208.6 100.0 44.7 21.2 40.4 19.4 20.4 9.8 47.4 22.8 55.7 26.7 48.0 0.0 40.7 13.4 10.4 5.5 9.8 4.6 14.6 6.8 18.2 7.7

Memo items:

EQUITY 8,615.8 100.0 154.2 1.8 1,753.1 20.3 932.9 10.8 2,435.9 28.3 3,339.7 38.8 420.0 0.0 10.8 0.1 103.1 1.1 89.4 1.1 260.8 2.4 293.7 2.6

INCOME 6,323.7 100.0 1,610.3 25.5 2,599.8 41.1 492.6 7.8 843.1 13.3 777.8 12.3 128.6 0.0 34.7 0.7 73.4 1.0 35.3 0.5 71.1 1.0 72.8 1.0

# observations 4,309 1,645 1,280 248 500 636

# families (mil.) 102.6 51.3 41.0 5.1 4.1 1.0

Min. NW (thou.) Negative Negative 85.6 572.9 1,015.8 4,291.7

See appendix table A1 for variable definitions.
55

Table A4: Amounts (billions of 2004 dollars) and shares of net worth and components distributed by net

worth groups, 2001.

Wealth percentile group

All families 0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100 

Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share

NETWORTH 45,162.9 100.0 1,252.2 2.8 12,360.8 27.4 5,476.5 12.1 11,306.9 25.0 14,766.5 32.7 758.6 0.0 40.6 0.1 292.0 0.7 331.7 0.7 493.5 1.1 816.7 1.4

ASSET 51,350.2 100.0 2,857.4 5.6 15,330.8 29.9 6,011.2 11.7 12,019.4 23.4 15,131.4 29.5 780.7 0.0 83.5 0.2 347.0 0.8 366.7 0.7 520.2 1.0 837.2 1.3

FIN 21,677.3 100.0 546.2 2.5 5,497.7 25.4 3,047.0 14.1 5,761.9 26.6 6,824.6 31.5 592.2 0.0 21.5 0.1 184.6 1.0 216.3 0.9 341.1 1.5 526.3 1.9

LIQ 2,535.6 100.0 151.9 6.0 829.2 32.7 336.6 13.3 554.3 21.9 663.5 26.2 119.4 0.0 7.1 0.4 37.6 1.8 42.5 1.6 49.9 1.9 103.9 3.2

CDS 665.5 100.0 28.3 4.3 355.9 53.5 115.4 17.3 124.1 18.6 41.9 6.3 52.5 0.0 4.5 0.7 33.7 3.8 28.1 3.7 26.1 3.3 12.6 1.7

SAVBND 148.8 100.0 6.1 4.1 67.7 45.5 15.0 10.1 32.5 21.9 27.6 18.5 25.5 0.0 1.3 1.2 11.3 8.0 4.4 3.2 17.2 8.5 14.1 8.5

BOND 984.3 100.0 2.5 0.3 39.0 4.0 86.3 8.8 222.9 22.7 633.6 64.3 115.5 0.0 1.4 0.1 12.4 1.3 35.7 3.5 45.4 4.2 104.5 5.6

STOCKS 4,666.8 100.0 23.5 0.5 532.6 11.4 463.0 9.9 1,178.0 25.2 2,469.8 52.9 305.8 0.0 3.1 0.1 51.1 1.3 81.0 1.7 123.7 2.8 291.0 3.4

NMMF 2,639.1 100.0 24.6 0.9 540.5 20.5 473.1 17.9 860.2 32.6 740.8 28.1 165.3 0.0 3.5 0.1 28.8 1.5 59.1 2.0 100.1 3.3 132.2 4.0

RETQLIQ 6,092.7 100.0 199.6 3.3 2,216.9 36.4 1,071.2 17.6 1,775.8 29.1 829.3 13.6 229.4 0.0 10.9 0.2 104.6 1.7 95.2 1.4 168.5 2.2 115.1 1.8

CASHLI 1,147.9 100.0 83.1 7.2 534.1 46.5 178.7 15.6 206.3 17.9 145.7 12.7 65.4 0.0 8.5 0.8 46.6 3.3 39.9 3.3 44.0 3.5 27.5 2.3

OTHMA 2,352.0 100.0 7.8 0.3 306.5 13.0 284.5 12.1 662.5 28.3 1,090.7 46.2 235.4 0.0 2.9 0.1 64.7 2.6 52.3 2.5 137.3 6.2 238.3 7.2

OTHFIN 444.5 100.0 18.9 4.2 75.3 16.9 23.2 5.2 145.3 32.7 181.8 40.9 65.8 0.0 2.4 0.8 13.5 3.3 5.6 1.5 35.2 6.3 49.6 7.3

NFIN 29,672.9 100.0 2,311.2 7.8 9,833.1 33.1 2,964.2 10.0 6,257.5 21.1 8,306.8 28.0 667.3 0.0 75.1 0.3 263.3 1.0 217.8 0.7 337.3 1.2 643.6 1.7

VEHIC 1,764.0 100.0 492.7 27.9 851.7 48.3 167.1 9.5 163.1 9.2 89.4 5.1 25.5 0.0 13.0 0.7 17.5 0.8 13.4 0.7 10.7 0.6 8.5 0.5

HOUSES 13,914.0 100.0 1,706.9 12.3 7,043.4 50.6 1,692.0 12.2 2,221.7 16.0 1,249.9 9.0 234.6 0.0 67.1 0.5 191.1 1.1 137.9 1.0 121.5 0.8 121.4 0.8

ORESRE 2,403.5 100.0 44.9 1.9 644.9 26.8 281.3 11.7 734.0 30.5 698.4 29.1 135.5 0.0 6.3 0.3 50.0 2.4 48.7 1.9 83.8 2.8 86.3 2.9

NNRESRE 2,432.6 100.0 14.1 0.6 351.3 14.5 219.9 9.0 854.9 35.1 992.4 40.8 204.9 0.0 4.1 0.2 57.7 2.5 35.8 1.6 100.9 3.8 169.6 4.6

BUS 8,678.9 100.0 31.1 0.4 855.7 9.9 571.0 6.6 2,159.5 24.9 5,061.5 58.3 552.1 0.0 4.6 0.1 74.1 1.0 84.4 1.0 237.0 2.7 524.0 3.1

OTHNFIN 479.9 100.0 21.5 4.5 86.0 17.9 32.8 6.8 124.3 25.9 215.2 44.8 78.1 0.0 2.8 0.8 10.0 3.0 12.8 2.6 31.8 5.7 68.3 7.6

DEBT 6,187.2 100.0 1,605.2 25.9 2,970.0 48.0 534.7 8.6 712.5 11.5 364.9 5.9 126.0 0.0 65.8 1.1 115.4 1.5 59.4 0.9 56.1 0.9 43.0 0.7

MRTHEL 4,655.3 100.0 1,092.4 23.5 2,404.9 51.7 425.9 9.2 515.5 11.1 216.7 4.7 115.1 0.0 56.2 1.2 103.0 1.6 50.7 1.1 42.5 0.9 29.7 0.6

RESDBT 385.1 100.0 16.5 4.3 158.5 41.2 41.1 10.7 107.1 27.8 61.8 16.1 29.1 0.0 3.7 0.9 17.4 4.1 10.0 2.5 19.8 4.4 15.9 3.8

INSTALL 762.3 100.0 365.3 47.9 285.4 37.4 43.7 5.7 39.4 5.2 28.6 3.7 32.4 0.0 16.6 1.8 14.0 1.7 13.1 1.6 12.6 1.6 8.8 1.1

OTHLOC 31.7 100.0 4.3 13.8 7.4 23.6 1.6 5.0 9.1 28.5 9.3 29.1 8.6 0.0 1.2 5.6 2.8 10.4 1.1 3.9 6.2 14.0 4.9 12.3

CCBAL 208.5 100.0 103.7 49.8 86.8 41.6 6.7 3.2 10.1 4.9 1.1 0.5 8.7 0.0 5.2 2.1 5.1 2.0 1.5 0.7 4.9 2.2 0.3 0.2

ODEBT 144.4 100.0 22.9 15.9 27.0 18.7 15.7 10.9 31.4 21.7 47.4 32.8 16.5 0.0 3.4 2.6 4.8 3.9 5.2 3.4 9.0 5.3 12.2 6.0

Memo items:

 EQUITY 12,099.1 100.0 172.9 1.4 2,623.0 21.7 1,739.1 14.4 3,502.4 28.9 4,061.7 33.6 449.5 0.0 10.5 0.1 120.4 1.2 152.8 1.2 249.5 1.9 388.3 2.4

INCOME 7,882.6 100.0 1,805.8 22.9 2,999.9 38.1 725.0 9.2 1,207.6 15.3 1,144.4 14.5 218.2 0.0 38.0 0.8 80.0 1.2 63.4 0.8 84.6 1.1 194.6 2.1

# observations 4,449 1,719 1,314 253 499 664

# families (mil.) 106.5 53.2 42.6 5.3 4.3 1.1

Min. NW (thou.) Negative Negative 93.2 794.0 1,392.2 6,246.8

See appendix table A1 for variable definitions.
56

Table A5: Percent real change in holdings and percentage point change in share of all holding, by wealth

group, 1989 to 2004.

Wealth percentile group

All families 0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100 

Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share

% chg. pp chg. % chg. pp chg. % chg. pp chg. % chg. pp chg. % chg. pp chg. % chg. pp chg.

NETWORTH 94.4* 0.0 67.5* -0.5 82.1* -2.0 78.6* -1.0 94.8* 0 115.7* 3.3

ASSET 100.9* 0.0 114.3* 0.4 92.2* -1.5 81.4* -1.2 100.0* -0.1 118.6* 2.4

FIN 132.4* 0.0 69.9* -0.9* 115.6* -2.0 132.4* 0.0 128.9* -0.4 159.9* 3.3

LIQ 64.7* 0.0 49.3* -0.6 70.8* 1.1 40.4 -2.0 104.9* 5.3 40.4 -3.8

CDS -12.9 0.0 -51.0* -1.8* -15.7 -1.5 12.8 4.9 -23.6 -3 -0.8 1.3

SAVBND -15.1 0.0 24.4 3.1 -9.2 3.4 -30.8 -3.8 -13.7 0.6 -53.6 -3.3

BOND 24.2 0.0 -79.3 -0.2 -54.0* -4.9* -65.1 -7.9* 1.1 -5.4 68.8 18.4

STOCKS 167.9* 0.0 25.3 -0.6 74.5* -5.5* 163.7* 0.0 140.6* -3.2 229.5* 9.6

NMMF 537.4* 0.0 411.4* -0.2 661.5* 2.9 321.9* -5.5 510.2* -1.4 615.8* 4.1

RETQLIQ 250.7* 0.0 249.9* 0.0 232.4* -2.2 356.5* 4.5 233.8* -1.1 223.2* -1.2

CASHLI 15.9 0.0 -13.9 -2.3 -2.0 -6.6 -22.2 -5.3 75.6 8.5 56.6 5.7

OTHMA 151.4* 0.0 325.9* 0.3 235.2* 4.5 171.8 1.3 85.0 -8.4 161.5* 2.3

OTHFIN -4.7 0.0 2.0 0.3 -10.9 -1.4 -45.5 -6.5 -56.5 -17.9 79.8 25.5*

NFIN 86.9* 0.0 125.0* 1.3* 83.7* -0.6 56.1* -2.0 83.1* -0.4 99.1* 1.7

VEHIC 72.9* 0.0 81.2* 1.2 76.8* 1.1 44.3* -1.6 59.9* -0.8 73.1 0

HOUSES 106.6* 0.0 149.0* 2.0* 86.0* -5.6* 91.5* -0.9 123.4* 1.2 209.4* 3.3*

ORESRE 127.3* 0.0 32.6 -1.1 65.0* -8.4* 65.4 -5.4 164.6* 4.6 249.4* 10.2*

NNRESRE 23.1 0.0 69.8 0.2 122.8* 7.3 42.9 1.7 16.6 -1.5 5.9 -7.8

BUS 78.6* 0.0 59.3 -0.1 85.4* 0.3 -2.3 -4.5 48.2 -4.7 108.7* 8.8

OTHNFIN 6.6 0.0 -7.5 -0.5 21.4 2.9 -44.9 -6.6 75.8 11.3 -11 -7.2

DEBT 148.6* 0.0 157.0* 0.8 134.6* -2.9 108.7* -1.6 194.0* 1.7 235.8* 1.9

MRTHEL 172.4* 0.0 199.1* 2.0 152.0* -4.3 144.4* -1.0 214.6* 1.4 358.5* 2

RESDBT 172.0* 0.0 24.0 -3.5 112.8* -7.1 62.4 -8.4 290.8* 10.9 328.3* 8.1

INSTALL 63.4* 0.0 83.1* 4.9 47.6* -4.2 -16.8 -2.7 20.2 -1.6 219.6 3.5

OTHLOC -2.7 0.0 42.9 3.2 128.2 14.2 -84.8 -9.7 78.2 6.7 -25.9 -14.4

CCBAL 165.7* 0.0 183.2* 2.9 154.0* -2.1 90.2 -1.4 192.9* 0.3 533.3 0.4

ODEBT 77.2* 0.0 62.5 -1.7 76.8* -0.1 79.5 0.3 8.9 -10.7 161.7 12

Memo items:

EQUITY 284.6* 0.0 184.3* -0.4 268.1* -0.9 326.2* 1.4 274.6* -0.8 292.9* 0.8

INCOME 41.9* 0.0 39.0* -0.5 39.4* -0.8 34.6 -0.4 62.4* 1.8 40.9 -0.1

See appendix table A1 for variable definitions.
57

Table A6: Percent real change in holdings and percentage point change in share of all holding, by wealth

group, 2001 to 2004.

Wealth percentile group

All families 0-50 50-90 90-95 95-99 99-100 

Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share Amount Share

% chg. pp chg. % chg. pp chg. % chg. pp chg. % chg. pp chg. % chg. pp chg. % chg. pp chg.

NETWORTH 11.3* 0.0 2.1 -0.3* 13.6* 0.5 10.0 -0.1 7.2 -0.9 13.6 0.7

ASSET 15.1* 0.0 19.8* 0.2 19.7* 1.1 12.5 -0.3 9.4 -1.2 15.2* 0.0

FIN -2.7 0.0 -3.1 0.0 -0.4 0.6 -5.5 -0.5 -3.7 -0.3 -2.4 0.1

LIQ 9.6 0.0 -0.5 -0.6 11.6 0.6 -7.3 -2.1 35.2* 5.1 -3.3 -3.1

CDS 17.3 0.0 -36.4* -2.0* -7.1 -11.2* 45.4 4.2 40.5 3.7 114.1 5.2

SAVBND -23.6 0.0 83.6 5.7* -14.3 5.5 16.7 5.2 -30.5 -2.0 -83.7 -14.5

BOND 13.3 0.0 -76.0 -0.2 -17.9 -1.1 -59.7 -5.7 18.7 1.0 23.6 5.9

STOCKS -20.5* 0.0 -9.4 0.1 -28.4* -1.1 -19.0 0.2 -11.3 3.0 -23.6 -2.0

NMMF 17.5 0.0 -8.5 -0.2 4.4 -2.3 -29.8 -7.2* 18.1 0.1 57.5 9.5

RETQLIQ 10.8 0.0 13.4 0.1 16.7 1.9 23.3 2.0 -4.2 -3.9 10.6 0.0

CASHLI -45.5* 0.0 -50.8* -0.7 -57.7* -10.3* -62.5* -4.9 -24.5 7.0 -7.1 8.9*

OTHMA -28.4* 0.0 47.4 0.4 -2.1 4.8 -24.8 0.6 -46.5 -7.3 -26.3 1.6

OTHFIN -2.1 0.0 36.0 1.7 -2.3 0.0 57.3 3.2 -54.4 -17.4 28.2 12.6

NFIN 28.1* 0.0 25.2* -0.2 30.9* 0.8 31.1* 0.2 21.4* -1.1 29.6* 0.3

VEHIC 10.2* 0.0 5.9 -1.1 13.7* 1.5 -7.7 -1.6 14.9 0.4 26.6 0.7

HOUSES 37.3* 0.0 31.3* -0.6 35.9* -0.5 34.2* -0.3 41.1* 0.4 51.2* 0.9

ORESRE 56.3* 0.0 26.9 -0.4 28.4* -4.8 94.1* 2.8 66.5* 2.0 58.2* 0.3

NNRESRE 14.0 0.0 39.7 0.1 28.6 1.8 42.2 2.3 -20.8 -10.7* 32.1 6.5

BUS 13.4 0.0 9.6 -0.1 6.1 -0.7 -1.9 -0.9 2.3 -2.5 21.1 4.0

OTHNFIN 21.9 0.0 -2.8 -0.9 66.3* 6.5 25.6 0.2 35.2 2.8 -1.5 -8.6

DEBT 43.2* 0.0 33.6* -1.7 44.9* 0.6 37.9* -0.3 43.3* 0.0 78.2* 1.4

MRTHEL 43.1* 0.0 39.2* -0.7 48.1* 1.8 38.7* -0.3 28.8* -1.1 49.8 0.2

RESDBT 95.0* 0.0 34.5 -1.3 21.4 -15.5* 132.4* 2 153.2* 8.3 174.4 6.4

INSTALL 27.4* 0.0 22.9* -1.7 33.6* 1.9 -37.8 -2.9 10.4 -0.7 144.8 3.5

OTHLOC 102.2* 0.0 62.8 -2.9 118.9 1.5 -25 -3.1 7.7 -13.2 222.6 17.8

CCBAL 27.6* 0.0 17.2* -4.1 43.7* 5.3 44.8 0.4 -18.8 -1.8 72.7 0.2

ODEBT 1.0 0.0 7.9 1.0 10.0 1.6 -16.6 -2 -22.3 -4.9 13.7 4.2

Memo items:

EQUITY -17.8* 0.0 -33.1* -0.2 -25.0* -1.9 -24.8* -1.3 -18.1* 0.0 -9.3 3.4

INCOME 0.6 0.0 4.5 0.9 5.8 1.9 -7.3 -0.7 -7.5 -1.2 -5.7 -0.9

See appendix table A1 for variable definitions.
58

Table A7: Assets and Liabilities as a share of assets, African American families, Hispanic families, and all families, percent, 200

African American families Hispanic families All familiesAll 0-50 50-90 90-100 All 0-50 50-90 90-100 All 0-50 

NETWORTH 72.0 0.0 60.6 87.5 74.2 17.2 56.7 87.4 85.0 37.3 

ASSET 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 

FIN 24.2 13.7 18.6 29.1 20.0 10.0 10.4 25.9 35.7 15.5 

LIQ_CDS_SAVBND 5.0 4.8 4.8 5.1 4.3 5.1 3.2 4.9 6.2 5.3 RETQLIQ 12.4 5.4 8.7 15.7 6.4 3.9 5.3 7.2 11.4 6.6 BOND_STOCKS_OTHMA_NMMF 3.6 0.6 1.1 5.7 5.4 0.5 0.8 8.3 16.3 1.6 CASHLI_OTHFIN 3.2 3.0 3.9 2.7 3.8 0.5 1.0 5.5 1.8 1.9 

NFIN 75.8 86.3 81.4 70.9 80.0 90.0 89.6 74.1 64.3 84.5 

VEHIC 6.0 25.7 7.4 2.8 5.9 33.6 9.1 2.3 3.3 15.2 HOUSES_ORESRE 55.5 60.0 70.5 45.1 53.5 55.3 76.9 40.5 38.7 67.1 

NNRESRE_BUS 14.1 0.4 3.2 22.9 19.6 0.4 3.5 29.7 21.3 1.6 OTHNFIN 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.1 1.1 0.9 0.1 1.6 1.0 0.6 

DEBT 28.0 100.0 39.4 12.5 25.8 82.8 43.3 12.6 15.0 62.6 

MRTHEL_RESDBT 21.6 46.1 33.3 11.1 21.8 50.5 36.9 11.7 12.5 45.1 CCBAL 1.0 5.2 1.3 0.4 0.9 6.4 1.4 0.2 0.5 3.5 INSTALL_OTHLOC_ODEBT 5.4 48.7 4.9 1.0 3.2 26.0 5.0 0.7 2.0 14.0 

Memo item:EQUITY 5.7 1.3 3.1 7.9 6.6 1.2 2.6 9.2 16.8 3.4 INCOME 25.3 126.6 28.8 11.8 20.1 144.0 25.7 9.0 13.4 55.1 

See appendix table A1 for variable definitions.
59

Figure A1a: QD plot for net worth, 2004 minus 1998.

Figure A1b: RQD plot for net worth, 2004 minus 1998 as a percent of 1998.
60

Figure A2a: QD plot for net worth, 2004 minus 1995.

Figure A2b: RQD plot for net worth, 2004 minus 1995 as a percent of 1995.
61

Figure A3a: QD plot for net worth, 2004 minus 1992.

Figure A3b: RQD plot for net worth, 2004 minus 1992 as a percent of 1992.
62

Figure A4a: QD plot for family income, 2004 minus 2001.

Figure 4b: RQD plot for family income, 2004 minus 2001 as a percent of 2001.
63

Figure A5a: QD plot for family income, 2004 minus 1998.

Figure A5b: RQD plot for family income, 2004 minus 1998 as a percent of 1998.
64

Figure A6a: QD plot for family income, 2004 minus 1995.

Figure A6b: RQD plot for family income, 2004 minus 1995 as a percent of 1995.
65

Figure A7a: QD plot for family income, 2004 minus 1992.

Figure A7b: RQD plot for family income, 2004 minus 1992 as a percent of 1992.
66

Figure A8a: QD plot for family income, 2004 minus 1989.

Figure A8b: RQD plot for family income, 2004 minus 1989 as a percent of 1989.