Wealth: Crawling Out of the Hole

We are still crawling out of the sink hole of the Great Recession, which claimed a quarter of our net worth, according to an analysis by the St. Louis Fed. From the 2007 peak to the 2009 trough, the nation's aggregate net worth fell by $16 trillion—from $67.4 trillion in the third quarter of 2007 to a low of $51.4 trillion in the first quarter of 2009—a 24 percent loss. But since then, says the Fed report, aggregate net worth has recovered, climbing to $66.1 trillion by the end of 2012. Does that mean we're out of the hole?

Unfortunately, no. According to the Fed analysis, aggregate net worth is 91 percent of what it was in 2007—but that's only if you do not adjust for inflation. After adjusting for inflation, the nation's aggregate net worth is only 56 percent of what it was in 2007. After adjusting for inflation and population growth, net worth per household is only 45 percent of what it was at the peak. We're still crawling out of the hole.