Family net worth drops to level of early '90s, Fed says (New York Times)

Twenty years of accumulated prosperity was wiped out in the economic crisis, according to the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances. A family with a net worth of $126,400 in 2007 was worth $77,300 in 2010. Three-quarters of the loss was due to the housing crash. Decline in family income had already started, but accelerated during crisis, falling from $49,600 in 2007 to $45,800 in 2010. The percentage of families saving anything over the previous year fell to 52% in 2010 from 56.4% in 2007. The survey did find that families had shifted their reason to save money from retirement or education to taking precautionary measures to meet short-term needs.

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