At the other end of the distribution, owned principal residences, the values of which are not as sensitive to business cycle conditions, are a typical household’s most important asset.
Another interesting finding is that if we expand the definition of wealth to include estimates of Social Security and pension wealth, the distribution among U.S. households becomes much more even.2 This finding suggests that, in addition to factors influencing private wealth accumulation, the evolution of institutional arrangements for saving that has taken place over the last two decades may have played an important role in affecting changes in the distribution of wealth over time.