The Aspen Institute's Financial Security Project has proposed a new “basic wealth” indicator to measure not only how much money a family needs to pay their bills, but also how much wealth is required to achieve sufficient resilience, prosperity, and well-being.
Our findings are as follows: only 26% of American families possess a basic level of wealth. At this milestone, families hold a variety of assets that have the potential to appreciate in value—such as homes and retirement accounts—and these assets are sufficient for them to take on risks confidently and plan for the future. Taking a family in their thirties as an example, this means a net worth of about $120,000, in addition to liquid savings equivalent to six weeks' salary.
However, the largest household group – 43% – still remains in the middle ground. At this level, households have net assets sufficient to cover three months of expenses below the federal poverty line, but they are still below the basic threshold required to achieve meaningful resilience and move towards greater prosperity.
In reality, this means that they don't have enough money to save for a down payment, or they are forced to choose between saving for emergency car repairs and contributing to their retirement accounts – both of which are essential activities for accumulating sufficient wealth and achieving true financial security. As people age, this gap does not disappear on its own: among families aged 50 to 64, only 24% have reached a level of basic wealth, indicating that most people approaching retirement still lack this sense of security. (The estimation of a family's position on the path to basic wealth is based on calculations by the Aspen Financial Security Project from the 2022 Consumer Finance Survey regarding savings and wealth data.)
More importantly, when families do not possess the assets necessary to achieve a basic level of wealth, they are not only more vulnerable to financial shocks but also miss out on the compound interest returns that these assets could generate. Over the past few decades, such returns have far exceeded income growth. The missed opportunities accumulate over time: from 2000 to 2024, housing prices rose by about 60% after adjusting for inflation, while the total return of the S&P 500 index was about 200% after inflation adjustment, yet the median real household income only increased by about 15%.
The importance of this reality extends far beyond any single family. When millions of families spend nearly all of their income on covering the rising costs of basic living necessities—fuel, food, housing, healthcare, childcare, and other essential items—the entire economy becomes more vulnerable. Financial shocks such as unemployment or medical bills may force families to cut back on spending, increase debt, and fall further behind. However, if families have savings and assets they can rely on, they can recover more quickly without having to sacrifice choices or disrupt their dreams. For this reason, families with financial resilience are the foundation of a resilient economy.
The "Basic Wealth" framework confirms what many people have long known from experience: wealth is not a luxury good. It enables us to invest in the future, seize opportunities, and cope with various challenges that life throws our way. Therefore, this indicator is more than just a new statistical figure. It provides decision-makers with a method to design projects that help families accumulate wealth and measure the effectiveness of these efforts – because doing this on a large scale is both feasible and necessary.
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