In 2023’s The New Wealth Agenda , we called on leaders across the nation to join us in pursuing an ambitious goal: increase tenfold the wealth of households of color and those in the bottom half of the wealth distribution by 2050. At the time, we identified 8 objectives that, if collectively achieved, could fulfill this vision, and we also established indicators related to households’ spending, saving, assets, and debts to track progress along the way. Now, one year later, we have dug into the most recent data—notably, the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances—to chart changes and more precisely understand how households are doing financially.
Authors
- PROGRAM
- Financial Security Program
- Pages
- 26
- Published in
- United States of America
Table of Contents
- Who Benefited Most from Pandemic-Era Wealth Gains? 1
- Top takeaways 2
- This chartbook highlights changes to Aspen FSP’s household financial indicators based on the latest data 3
- New data reveals the complex reality of U.S. households’ post-pandemic financial security 4
- In-depth analysis of changes in the household financial indicators reveals important nuance 5
- Gains in household net worth were broad-based, but substantial gaps remain 6
- Slide Number 7 7
- Households in the bottom half of the wealth distribution increased their median wealth by 88% to a median of $27,000 8
- Fewer households had routinely positive cash flow than in 2019 9
- More households had sufficient liquid savings to withstand financial shocks than in 2019 10
- Households had less debt relative to their income and their assets than in 2019 11
- Student loan borrowers were still highly likely to carry burdensome amounts of debt, but slightly less than in 2019 12
- Young adult households are unlikely to own enough financial assets to be resilient and invest in their futures 13
- The pandemic caused upheaval in higher education, but bachelor’s degree students’ graduation rates did not change much 14
- Workers who recently completed certified or registered workforce development programs were more likely to be employed 15
- Homeowners reaped windfalls between 2019-2022. Renters’ wealth hit a historic high of $10,400. 16
- Some dimensions of homeownership became more equitable, but racial disparities persisted 17
- Slide Number 18 18
- Retirement security improved for millions of people 19
- Households of color and lower-wealth households did not benefit as much as others from gains in retirement savings 20
- Innovative strategies to expand asset ownership and protect people’s wealth continued to emerge 21
- We call on leaders across sectors to: 22
- Learn more about households’ financial stability, security, and wealth 23
- Methodology 24
- Citations 25
- Citations (continued) 26
