Few do not need additional money as household prosperity drops

The recent proclamation of the recession being over seems dubious at best, as many sectors are still depressed. The economic recession may be technically over as the downward slide has stopped, however employment, real estate and household prosperity are all nevertheless depressed. The wealth of a household, or net worth, is determined as assets minus debts. For example, say a person owns a home, vehicles, and things of that nature. The whole values of those things, including investments, are the assets. Then you subtract liabilities. That includes debt, like charge cards and unsecured loans. It could be complicated to get the value of all the things a person owns. That said, once that is added up, net worth is easy to determine. Net worth is almost at an all time low.

Household prosperity decreases

Household wealth has been on a roller coaster ride throughout the last couple of years. This summer was dismal, as household wealth over all fell via the floor. Household wealth, according to CNN, dropped 2.8 percent. The data is compiled by the Federal Reserve. That amounted to $1.5 trillion of instant money down the drain. The bulk of the shrinking dollar value was lost in the stock market. Mutual funds and retirement savings accounts were also negatively affected. The bulk of losses occurred in stock markets. Individual stocks overall lost $912 billion over the summer.

Real estate shows a little enhancement

Employment is down, however property was where the hugest losses occurred. Real estate, despite the bottom having practically fallen out, is slowly working its way back up. Real estate values have increased by $46 billion. However, this is an improvement of .3 percent. Nevertheless, it pales in comparison to the $17 trillion property as an industry lost between 2007 and 2009. It seems housing and employment are the areas that really need extra cash, but those statistics have not seemed to benefit at all from the cash advanced from stimulus programs.

Recovery at a snails’ speed

Some good news has come out of all this, though. The stock markets are already rallying, as outlined by USA Today. A double dip recession is not that likely, as the economy is making its way slowly but surely.

Additional reading

CNN

money.cnn.com/2010/09/17/news/economy/household_net_worth/index.htm

USA Today

usatoday.com/money/economy/2010-09-17-net-worth_N.htm