Modern Farmer

[lexington]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

Do you happen to know whether that includes only financial assets such as savings and investments? I find it hard to believe that household assets such as cars, furniture, whitegoods, and clothes are included in that total.

The breakdown is in Figure 3. Home equity, interest earning accounts, and retirement accounts are about 60% of it. The rest is simply described as "other assets".

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Anthony

They define their terms. "Net worth (wealth) is the sum of the market value of assets owned by every member of the household minus liabilities owed by household members. The major assets not covered in this measure are equities in pension plans, the cash value of life insurance policies, and the value of home furnishings and jewelry." So it does include the car, but not the furniture (and probably not clothing, or at least heavily devalued, since it's based on what you could sell it for, not replacement cost).

And not the value of one's pension plan or life insurance. It's median net worth excluding home equity, home furnishings retirement plans, life insurance, and jewelry.