Do you feel richer, you should, at least according to the Federal Reserve.
This month the Federal Reserve released its Q2 – 2016 numbers for the value of household balance sheets. This is what we are worth, all of our assets less our liabilities. This should be of interest since many people don’t feel as though they have recovered from the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
The Q2 – 2016 numbers are the highest ever in terms of real and per capita terms. It is interesting to note that our “liabilities” or debt has not really increased since their 2008 crisis peak. In addition the real estate portion of our assets is just slightly above where it was in 2008.
So what does this mean?
- The amount of debt we hold has decreased
- The value of real estate is back to “bubble” level, but we aren’t in a bubble
- Our savings rate has increased
- Our investments have SOARED
- Even in a very sluggish economy we are doing well
Jim Hammond's Blog 