The study's findings will be posted on the group's Web site within two weeks. One percent made it to the top 25 percent of all households. 24 percent of those in the middle 50 percent moved into higher incomes while 48 percent stood still. The survey collects updates every five years. Assets are defined as ownership of real estate, equity in cars, farms, stocks, mutual funds, bank accounts, insurance policies and all other major forms of tangible and intangible wealth.
Debt is mortgages, outstanding credit card bills and other major loans.
It's the latest report suggesting troubled finances among many African-American households. Critics later attacked that study as flawed and simplistic. The Federal Reserve's ongoing survey of consumer finances recently showed net worth stagnated among minorities from 1995 to 1998 even as it rose for the average U.S. household. The Fed survey doesn't single out African-American households. So far, welfare reform is being seen as the main cause of the lower net worth for African Americans.