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Is a New Market Driven Wealth Record Really Healthy?

By

“U.S. household net worth climbed to a record $92.8 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2016, as the end-of-year surge in stocks and a steady climb in home prices added more than $2 trillion of wealth to household balance sheets. The biggest contributor to the increase was the stock market, which added $728 billion to household balance sheets in the fourth quarter, according to the Federal Reserve’s quarterly financial accounts report,” reports the WSJ. Haven’t we seen this movie before? Josh Zumbrun writes:

The report provides no information on the distribution of wealth among households. Much stock ownership is highly concentrated in wealthy households, and the most valuable real estate in the U.S. is largely concentrated in coastal states. But the national rise in home prices benefits the majority of Americans who own homes, and rising equities benefit many middle-class households with savings in 401(k) and IRA accounts.

The ratio of household net worth to disposable personal income also reached a new peak. Household net worth is now 6.5 times higher than personal income, a milestone that has now surpassed the previous peak set during the headiest days of the housing bubble. That ratio shows the surge in wealth over the past five years has rapidly outstripped the much more modest gains in most households’ income.”

Read more here.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West (RIP JB) and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.

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