below the peak reached earlier this decade. families with low to moderate incomes, however, face special financial challenges. these families generally have less of a cushion to absorb unanticipated expenses or to deal with adverse circumstances, such as the loss of employment or a serious health problem. results from the survey of consumer finances show that the median net worth for households in the lowest income quintile - those whose income placed them in the bottom fifth of the population - - was only $ 7, 500 in 2004, well below the median for all survey respondents of $ 93, 000. 2 the survey data also indicate that households in the lowest quintile were significantly less likely than the average respondent to maintain a checking or savings account ; almost 25 percent of those families were " unbanked, " compared to less than 10 percent of families in the other income quintiles. the reasons given for not having an account varied : some respondents said they would not write enough checks to make having an kenneth temkin and noah sawyer ( 2004 ), " analysis of alternative financial service providers ( 781 kb pdf ), " report prepared for the fannie mae foundation by the urban institute metropolitan housing and communities policy center. brian k. bucks, 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 ( 448 kb pdf ), " federal reserve bulletin. account worthwhile, but others were dissuaded by minimum balance requirements or said that they did not have enough money to justify opening an account. in some cases, a lack of knowledge about the services that banks offer or even a distrust of banks is likely a factor. the survey also found that lower - income households are less able than others to manage their debts. a greater fraction of these households had debt - to - income ratios of 40 percent or more or had a payment past due at least sixty days. the data also reveal that only 40 percent of families in the lowest quintile own a home, compared with a homeownership rate of 69 percent among all families surveyed. finally, the data on retirement account ownership show an even larger gap, with only 10 percent of lowest - quintile families holding a retirement account, whereas 50 percent of all families responding to the survey reported participation in some type of retirement savings plan. how can these disparities be addressed? some general approaches

environment, and incorporate the results of these stress tests into the bank ’ s assessment of its risks and capital needs. conclusion stress testing and all the other aspects of capital regulation that i have discussed today will be considered as part of our holistic review. we ’ re starting from a good place because capital today is strong. i hope to have more to say about that review early in the new year. as i have argued today, capital plays a central role in how a bank manages its risks, and capital regulation is fundamental to bank oversight. history shows the deep costs to society when bank capital is inadequate, and thus how urgent it is for the federal reserve to get capital regulation right. in doing so, we need to be humble about our ability, or that of bank managers or the market, to fully anticipate the risks that our financial system might face in the future. - 15 references acharya, v. v., schnabl, p., & suarez, g. ( 2013 ). “ securitization without risk transfer. ” journal of financial economics 107 ( 3 ) : 515 – 536. https : / / doi. org / 10. 1016 / j. jfineco. 2012. 09. 004. adrian, t., & shin, h. s. ( 2010 ). “ financial intermediaries and monetary economics. ” handbook of monetary economics 3 : 601 – 650. http : / / dx. doi. org / 10. 2139 / ssrn. 1491603. aiyar, s., calomiris, c. w., & wieladek t. ( 2014 ). “ does macro - prudential regulation leak? evidence from a uk policy experiment. ” journal of money, credit and banking 46 : 181 – 214. http : / / www. jstor. org / stable / 42920115. ampudia, m., & van den heuvel, s. j. ( 2019 ). “ monetary policy and bank equity values in a time of low and negative interest rates. ” journal of monetary economics 130 : 49 – 67. board of governors of the federal reserve system ( u. s. ). kane, e. j. ( 1989 ). “ the s & l insurance mess : how did it happen? ” the journal of finance 44 ( 5 ) : 1444. https : / / doi. org /