Net worth of U.S. households skyrockets

[Herman Munster]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070308/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/fed_household_finances_1

WASHINGTON - The net worth of U.S. households climbed to a record high in the final quarter of last year, boosted mostly by gains on stocks, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday. Net worth — the difference between households' total assets, such as houses and bank accounts, and their total liabilities, such as mortgages and credit card debt, totaled $55.6 trillion in the October-to-December quarter.

That marked a 2.5 percent growth rate from the third quarter, the previous quarterly record high. Stocks gains helped fuel the increase in net worth, although real-estate gains played a role, too. For all of last year, households' net worth rose by 7.4 percent, a slower pace than the 7.9 percent increase registered in 2005.

Household debt, meanwhile, grew by 8.6 percent in 2006, down from a 11.7 percent increase in the prior year. The Fed said this deceleration "was accounted for by much slower growth of home mortgage debt." Home mortgage debt growth slowed to a 8.9 percent last year, compared with a 13.8 percent increase in 2005. This year's growth in home mortgage debt was the smallest increase in six years.

After a five-year boom, the housing market fell into a deep slump last year. Sales cooled. So did home prices, which had been galloping ahead, making consumers feel more wealthy and more inclined to spend. Economists said Thursday's report suggest households' finances are holding up fairly well to any strains caused by the troubled housing market and well as some sluggishness in overall economic growth. Analysts said that's because the jobs climate remains in good shape and income growth has picked up.

[Lithos]

1. So...

When Bill Gates value goes up 30 billion, does that mean by this formulation that we (300 million US pop) go up 10,000 in value?

[tom_paine]

7. If any Bushevik Organization is doing the calculating, you can bet your ass it is

They lies like Soviets, and their numbers are as fraudulent as Soviet Toilet Paper Production Reports and Agricultural Five-Year Plans.

[Canuckistanian]

11. Ah, yes, the Bill Gates analogy. Excellent point.

Bill Gates walks into a bar in Abilene, TX.

All of a sudden, the "average income" in that bar is $200 Million/year.

[Monkeyman]

2. With the higher price in fuel and food I broke even

[rox63]

3. Must be someone else's household

I haven't seen a raise in the last 3 years.

[Cerridwen]

4. Are we being graded on a curve?

This strikes me as weird.

[BattyDem]

6. That's the only explanation

Every household I know is just getting by! :wtf:

[Cerridwen]

8. Same here.

It's got to be an aggregate they're using. It makes no sense to me otherwise.

[BattyDem]

5. Which households did they count?

It certainly wasn't mine! :mad:

[Art_from_Ark]

9. Not mine, either

The '90s were a far better time financially than this crappy decade has been.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

10. HUH?!?!?!

How can poverty go up 12% and living-wage jobs go down 16% and service sector jobs go up 18.5% and household net worth 'skyrocket'?

:shrug:

Are these 'analysts' hand-picked by economic profiteers? :shrug:

I mean, this assertion is just so UNreal that,...I HAVE to believe there is an effort to "fix" the numbers, here.

Well,...I'm sorry,...that just HAS TO BE BULLSHIT!!! I don't care what the so-called "experts" or "analysts" say,...I see what I see and it is inconsistent with "their" representations.

[aquart]

12. What a crock.

[AX10]

13. And when you remove the billionaires and multi-millionaires...

that average plumets!

[madrchsod]

14. gee i think my wife and i lost 20-25 thousand

in the last year and half. "our future is so bright.." if we could only afford shades...

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

16. Jesus. How?

[B Calm]

15. Gee, maybe I need to fire my financial advisor...

[The Gunslinger]

17. Fuzzy math

All the reports I have heard of say median household income is down, and savings is at a negative.

Must be using that Fox news calculator or something.