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Show WHI RK AMERICANS PUT THLIK 1'LRSONAL WEALTH Preliminary results of a 1979 survey just recently released indicate where American families place their overall wealth, according to a sample of some 11,300 households polled by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Ser-vices. The last study before this of the nation's na-tion's wealth placement was made by the Federal Reserve Board at the end of 12 and the 1979 statistics reveal that there have been a number of marked changes over that fairly prolonged period. The most dramatic alteration took place in the comparative significance of home equity, which surged upward from 29 8 percent of all personal holdings in 12 to 39 4 percent in 1979. There was also an impressive gain in the number of households owning their homes. Including those owning condominiums, con-dominiums, some 64 percent in this category during the most recent survey versus 57 percent in 19C2. In essence, the latest results showed that home equity was-and doubtless still is -responsible for the largest chunk of all recorded personal wealth in this country. FINANCIAL ASPECTS Over the same period of close to two decades, financial assets moved in the opposite direction, falling off approximately approx-imately the same amount, from 38 percent per-cent to 30 percent. It should be noted that in the earlier study the principal repository for wealth had been in such financial areas. Within that financial structure, there were a number of switches swit-ches in emphasis between the two times of survey. Securities aside from company investments in-vestments took on a somewhat greater degree of importance, including such items as money market funds, certificates cer-tificates of deposit, mortgages, and loans of various types. The novelty of some of these investment opportunities and their attractive returns have been instrumental in this redirection of focus. With continually greater attention given to interest rates, it is not surprising surpris-ing that a number of families have reexamined re-examined their holdings and as a result have tried to get out of low-yield items. This has had an unfavorable impact on the relative volume of funds in checking and savings accounts as well as in savings sav-ings bonds, even though a somewhat greater ratio of households have included includ-ed some such assets in their w ealth. OFFSETTING HOME EQUITY While home equity in 1979 accounted for about two-fifths of all registered personal wealth, the gain was of course offset by some quite substantial downward adjustments in certain other sectors. There was, for example, a noteworthy decline in the comparative holdings of corporate stocks, including those in mutual funds, from 20 percent in 1962 to 1 1 percent in 1979 of total family fami-ly wealth. It should be noted also that this category over the same span of time moved off from a reported 51 percent per-cent to 37 percent of the nation's financial finan-cial portfolios, with the loss attributed by some experts to the fact that stock prices during much of the period under review lagged well behind inflation. In terms of numbers, about 16 percent per-cent of family households held stock in the first earlier survey compared with 20 percent in 1979, though obviously the amounts owned must have been relatively small in many cases. Income, as might be expected, has much to do with the level of the wealth of individuals, since an ample inflow makes it that much easier to salt away some funds for investment. Those who are particularly well off tend to have a much better representation in the investment in-vestment field, while those with more limited incomes are more likely to go for home ownership. In the latest survey, those in the highest 4 percent of the income brackets were shown to have 38 percent of their wealth in financial assets of various sorts, and only 21 percent of the total in home equity. Those least well off leaned toward relatively small and easily liquidated assets such as checking check-ing and savings accounts and savings bonds, while the affluent sought assets with better returns. |