Obviously, with their more limited asset ownership, minorities had less opportunity to benefit from the substantial appreciation of assets, such as houses and corporate equities, that occurred over the 1990s. Nonetheless, increases in ownership are an important factor in explaining the gains in net worth that we did see for minorities over the past decade.
Two items stand out as particularly important: transaction accounts and personal residences. Transaction accounts--including checking and savings accounts--are the most basic type of financial asset. Without such holdings, families are unlikely to acquire the sophistication to move further into the financial system. Over the period from 1992 to 2001, the share of minority families with such accounts rose from 64 percent to 78 percent.