[araes]

Project it back a few years, and I'd bet we're poorer on average as a country than we were when I was born. Man, 43% decline for the median? Ouch.

I also like that the mean wealth in America is 6x the median wealth.

Actually, I find the numbers for the 75th+ percentiles a bit surprising, as my mental model had them with significant uptick after about 2011 or so. Kind of a wealth transfer from the lower percentiles. Whereas, this research seems to show that while erosions were smaller for the top (due to their non-real estate growth), no demographic they researched showed overall wealth growth from 2007 on. At best, they've gotten back to zero slope.

[Paul_Dessert]

I saw a chart a few weeks back depicting this. Starting in the early 80's it started heading downward. I can't find it at the moment, but if I do, I'll post a link.

A lot of factors contribute but housing was one of the major factors. "Net worth" was/is tied directly to their home and the 2006/07 crash. With the government screwing with the markets and investors buying homes as rentals, we just might see another sharp decline shortly...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-24/americas-most-impor...