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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Aug 16.
Published in final edited form as: Econ Inq. 2017 Oct 12;56(1):50–80. doi: 10.1111/ecin.12489

TABLE 2-a.

U.S. Surveys: Balance Sheets - Assets, various dates

PSID CES SCF HRS SIPP
Assets 422,616 226,314 632,246 556,295 351,702
 Median 151,000 170,600 240,000 67,113
Financial assets 163,376 65,537 262,168 205,461 160,651
 (% of assets) (39) (29) (41) (37) (46)
  CURRENT ASSETS. 95,883 65,115 140,176 125,898 102,642
   Cash 29,850 30,849 30,354 34,733 12,434
    Currency 12
     Government-backed currency 12
     Private virtual currency
    Bank accounts 29,850 30,849 30,342 34,733 536
     Checking accounts 17,239 12,660 536
     Savings accounts 13,610 17,682
    Other deposit accounts 0 11,898
   Other current assets 66,033 34,266 109,822 91,165 90,208
    Certificates of deposit 4,994 9,354
    Bonds 408 8,227 14,860 3,376
    Mutual funds/hedge funds 40,964 18,830
    Publicly traded equity 56,335 33,858 48,874 66,951
    Life insurance 9,698 6,763 68,002
  LONG-TERM INVESTMENTS. 67,493 422 121,992 79,563 58,009
   Retirement accounts 67,493 97,007 79,563 54,759
   Annuities 5,490
   Trusts/managed investment accounts 13,773
   Loans to people outside the HH 422 5,722 361
   Other important assets 2,889
Tangible (physical) assets 259,240 160,777 362,445 336,951 191,051
 (% of assets) (61) (71) (57) (61) (54)
  Business 51,404 108,760 55,006 25,921
  Housing assets 188,992 160,777 234,187 264,500 154,795
   Primary residence 149,211 149,760 170,159 190,818 147,855
   Other real estate 39,781 11,017 64,028 73,682 6,940
  Vehicles 18,844 19,498 17,445 10,335
Unknown assets 7,633 13,883
 (% of assets) (1) (2)

SOURCES: Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) 2013, Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) 2012, Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) 2013, Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) 2012, and Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) 2011. See Section 2 for more details.

NOTES: Table entries are average dollar values for the survey’s unit of observation, approximately a household. Assets and liabilites are stocks dated as of the time of the survey, generally the end of the year. Sampling weights provided by each survey were used in calculating the average values in accordance with the survey’s data documentation. A more detailed data appendix and the Stata programs used to construct the tables are available at https://www.bostonfed.org/about-the-boston-fed/business-areas/consumer-payments-research-center.aspx.