What Americans Own

Almost all American households own something of value. Fully 99.6 percent of households owned one or more of the assets measured by the Federal Reserve Board's 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances. But only four kinds of assets are owned by most households: transaction accounts (checking and savings accounts), vehicles, a home, and a retirement account. 

Here is the percentage of households owning each type of asset, ranked from most to least common, and the median value of the assets for households that own them:

	percent of households owning	median value         for owners
Any asset	99.6%	$227,600
Checking/savings accounts	98.2%	$5,300
Vehicles	85.4%	$17,200
Primary residence	64.9%	$225,000
Retirement account	50.5%	$65,000
Cash value life insurance	19.0%	$9,000
Stocks (directly owned)	15.2%	$25,000
Business equity	13.4%	$89,100
Other residential property	13.1%	$160,000
Pooled investment (mutual) funds	9.0%	$110,000
Certificates of deposit	7.7%	$25,000
Savings bonds	7.5%	$800
Equity in nonresidential property	6.7%	$72,000
Other managed assets	5.9%	$115,000
Bonds (directly owned)	1.1%	$121,000

Source: Federal Reserve Board, 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances

Family Home Still the Most Valuable Asset

The family home is still the single most valuable asset owned by the average American household. The primary residence accounted for 26 percent of the value of all household assets, according to the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances. In second place is business equity, accounting for 19 percent. Retirement accounts are in third place (15 percent). 

Distribution of the value of household assets, 2019

Primary residence: 26.1%

Business equity: 19.5%

Retirement accounts: 15.1%

Pooled investment funds: 9.0%

Other residential property: 6.2%

Stocks: 6.1%

Transaction accounts: 4.8%

Nonresidential property: 3.0%

Vehicles: 2.7%

Other: 7.5%

Between 1989 and 2019, retirement accounts more than doubled as a share of total household assets—rising from 7 to 15 percent. Similarly, pooled investment funds (mutual funds) also grew in importance, climbing from just 2 percent of the total in 1989 to the 9 percent of 2019. The value of the family home, in contrast, fell during those years. The primary residence accounted for 31 percent of total household assets in 1989 and 26 percent in 2019. 

Source: Demo Memo analysis of the Federal Reserve Board's Survey of Consumer Finances 

Many Retirees Don't Spend Down Their Savings

Here's how it's supposed work: save for retirement during your decades in the labor force, then spend down those savings in retirement. But that's not how it works for many Americans.

Retirees are loath to spend down their savings, according to a study by Sudipto Banerjee of the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, Banerjee examines changes in the non-housing assets of retirees during nearly two decades of retirement. He divides retirees into three groups based on the size of their pre-retirement non-housing assets, minus debt: Group A had non-housing assets below $200,000 (median of $29,975); Group B had non-housing assets between $200,000 and $500,000 (median of $333,940); Group C had non-housing assets of $500,000 or more (median of $857,450). Regardless of asset group, Banerjee finds the same phenomenon—the non-housing assets of retirees shrink far less than what is assumed by retirement models. After 17 to 20 years of retirement, Group A's non-housing assets had fallen by only 24 percent, Group B's by 27 percent, and Group C's by 12 percent.

Not only are retirees resistant to spending down their savings, a large percentage actually grow their assets in retirement. More than one-third of retirees, regardless of asset group, had larger non-housing assets after nearly two decades of retirement than they did at the time they retired.

Retirees are hesitant to spend down their savings for four reason: 1) uncertainty about future financial needs; 2) the desire to leave an inheritance; 3) not knowing the safe rate for spending down assets; and 4) behavioral habits—"After building a saving habit throughout their working lives, people find it challenging to shift into spending mode," Banerjee suggests.

Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute, Asset Decumulation or Asset Preservation? What Guides Retirement Spending?