Written by Steven Hansen

The Federal Reserve data release (Z.1 Flow of Funds) – which provides insight into the finances of the average household – showed improvement in average household net worth. Our modeled “Joe Sixpack” – who owns a house and has a job, and essentially no other asset – appears slightly worse off than he was last quarter. But Middle Man (an upper-middle-class person) should feel better off.

[editor’s note: This post reflects the situation in 4Q2019. As of today, with 70 % of the household’s equity in financial assets – it is obvious that households, especially upper quartile households, are generally much worse off then they were one year ago.]

You may ask why this analysis is important? It looks at the financial health of the consumer – and in a consumption-based economy, it measures the dynamics affecting the consumer.

35% of Americans who own no home or have any other assets are no better off (living from paycheck to paycheck) – and consumption is based simply on income. The median household’s income is just a little better then it was 18 years ago.

The Joe Sixpack Index

The Joe Sixpack Index is a composite index of home prices and wage income (Joe owns a house with a mortgage, has a job, and no other assets). This index was designed to measure how rich Joe should feel. The theory is that the richer Joe feels, the more Joe will spend.

• The data in this index is only updated every three months with the release of the Federal Reserves Z.1 Flow of Funds.
• It is inflation and population-adjusted.
• Currently; Joe has a house that is increasing in value [but new homebuyers are spending more to buy] – and his income in inflation-adjusted terms is slowly growing.

Joe Sixpack Index

The Middle Man Index

The middle-class household with financial assets and real estate assets is Middle Man. A Federal Reserve Publication shows the percentage of households owning various financial assets. Other than real estate, Middle Man holds transaction accounts (checking – 1% of all financial assets) and retirement accounts (roughly estimated by Econintersect at 25% of household financial assets).

Unfortunately, retirement accounts are not separately detailed in the Z.1 reporting – but the graph below uses 25% of the change in Total Household Assets as a proxy for change in retirement accounts.

Total Household Assets (blue bars) vs Savings (red bars)

Adding the financial assets of Middle Man to the housing and compensation data used in the Joe Sixpack index, we see that Middle Man is better off than last quarter with his situation. It is the growth in value of the real estate and other assets that is the governing factor for Middle Man (not wages).

Middle Man Index

Takeaway

My takeaway is:

• On whole, American households with no assets and only income from wages or safety nets are just treading water – and may be worse off in this quarter due to inflation.
• This is a lagging view of the average American’s situation. Having said this, Joe and Middle Man’s consumption is somewhat affected by how rich they feel – and it takes some time for the wealth effect to sink in.
• The richer you were in 4Q2019 – the higher the rate of growth for your assets.
• The majority of Americans are more like Joe Sixpack than Middle Man.
• The more assets you have – the richer you feel.

Caveats on this Post:

Most of the data in this post come from “Flow of Funds Accounts of the United States” (Z.1) data release from the Federal Reserve which is released quarterly. Although Econintersect can validate the data, in general, using other sources, micro-movements are difficult to validate. Importantly, the Z.1 data is a treasure chest of aggregated data across all sectors of the economy – and an invaluable tool in evaluating historical relationships.

The Joe’s Index was introduced by Econintersect in a 07 July 2012 post. This index is documented at the bottom of the July 2012 economic forecast.

To begin, one needs to define Joe Sixpack. Urban dictionary defines Joe:

Average American moron, IQ 60, drinking beer, watching baseball and CNN, and believes everything his President says.

Too many of us think we are smarter than Joe – and are above Joe in the social order. But many of us are Joe. Per Wikipedia:

John Q. Public (and several similar names; see the Variations section below) is a generic name in the United States to denote a hypothetical member of society deemed a “common man.” He is presumed to represent the randomly selected “man on the street.” Similar terms include John Q. Citizen and John Q. Taxpayer, or Jane Q. Public, Jane Q. Citizen, and Jane Q. Taxpayer for a woman. The name John Doe is used in a similar manner. For multiple people, Tom, Dick and Harry is often used. Roughly equivalent are the names Joe Six-pack, Joe Blow, the nowadays less popular Joe Doakes and Joe Shmoe ….

Almost all Americans who MUST work to survive are Joes. Americans who are relying on some level of earned income during retirement are Joes. I believe many who see themselves as middle class (educated or not – professional or blue-collar) is a Joe. Joe is somewhere around average American:

• Joe’s median family unit spends or makes about $57K per year
• Joe’s median net worth was $120K in 2007

We specify by definition that over 50% of Americans are Joes.

Note: The Z.1 data is based on averages not medians. In other words, the rich are getting richer – and this influences the averages.

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