- US consumers have $174 trillion in assets and just $20 trillion in liabilities, according to JPMorgan.
- The bulk of the assets held is made up of stocks and bonds, followed by equity built up in homes.
- The staggering amount of wealth held by consumers makes $1 trillion in credit card debt look like a drop in the bucket.
Our Chart of the Day is from JPMorgan, which shows that consumers overall are sitting on a record-high amount of total assets.
At the end of the second quarter, US consumers owned a collective $174 trillion in assets versus just $20 trillion in assets, giving them a net worth of just over $150 trillion. That's an incredibly healthy balance sheet that should help fuel continued resilience in the US economy.
The bulk of the assets held by consumers is made up of stocks and bonds, followed by equity built up in their homes. On the liability side, mortgages make up 66% of consumer debts, followed by student loans at 9%.
The good health of consumers' balance sheet can also be found in their household debt service ratio, which measures what percentage of consumers' disposable personal income pays down debts.
In fact, just 9.9% of disposable income went towards debts, in line with pre-pandemic levels and below the 13.2% peak seen right before the Great Financial Crisis.
This suggests that consumers still have ample borrowing capacity, even as credit card debt tops $1 trillion.
The data offers another big-picture perspective to the current financial health of US consumers, which could be helpful given that the recent rise in credit card and auto delinquencies has garnered a lot of attention from investors.
Bank of America also recently touched on the solid financial standing of consumers, saying in a recent note that their "unprecedented" $18 trillion in cash deposits should bode well for the economy going forward.
The bank said consumers' staggering cash position means that they "won't have to break their piggy banks" in the event that the economy goes through a mild recession.
"Increased savings and household wealth adds further reinforcement to consumer resilience," Bank of America said.