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MacroMonitor Survey Validation

A Comparison of the MacroMonitor with the Survey of Consumer Finances

Consumer Financial Decisions fields the MacroMonitor every two years. The Federal Reserve Board of Governors fields its Survey of Consumer Finances every three years. Following are comparisons of household incidences for major financial assets and debts from fieldings of both surveys in the same years. Incidence alignment provides external validation for both surveys and increases users' confidence in the accuracy of other MacroMonitor variables—such as attitudinal measures—for which external validation is not available.

Survey validation results are posted for years in which both surveys take place.

2016

Financial Service 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances (Percent) 2016–17 MacroMonitor (Percent)
Checking or Savings Account 98.0 92.8
Car or Truck 85.2 72.6
Primary Residence 63.7 63.8
Retirement Accounts 52.1 59.3
Mortgage, Equity Loan, Line 41.9 40.0
Credit-Card Balances 43.9 47.5
Installment Loans 50.2 43.4
Cash Value of Life Insurance 19.4 19.4
Stocks 13.9 17.1
Mutual Funds 10.0 12.6
Certificates of Deposit 6.5 10.3
Other Residential Property 13.8 11.1
Business 13.0 9.6
Non-Residential Property 6.2 4.8
Loans on Investments 1.8 2.0
Bonds 1.2 1.3

2010

Financial Service 2010 Survey of Consumer Finances (Percent) 2010–11 MacroMonitor (Percent)
Checking or Savings Account 92.1 93.7
Car or Truck 86.7 76.5
Primary Residence 67.3 67.9
Retirement Accounts 53.0 60.8
Mortgage, Equity Loan, Line 48.7 46.3
Credit-Card Balances 46.1 49.4
Installment Loans 46.9 46.3
Permanent Life Insurance 23.0 24.1
Stocks 17.6 20.8
Mutual Funds (Pooled Investment) 11.4 15.6
Certificates of Deposit 16.1 19.9
Other Residential Property 14.4 13.0
Business 13.3 10.7
Non-Residential Property 7.7 5.4
Loans on Investments 6.8 5.8
Bonds 1.6 3.5

2004

Financial Service 2004 Survey of Consumer Finances (Percent) 2004–05 MacroMonitor1 (Percent)

1 Results derived from the General Population sample.

Checking or Savings Account 91.3 90.9
Car or Truck 86.3 80.1
Primary Residence 69.1 69.4
Retirement Accounts 49.7 52.4
Mortgage, Equity Loan, Line 47.9 43.4
Credit-Card Balances 46.2 45.7
Installment Loans 46.0 47.5
Permanent Life Insurance 24.2 26.4
Stocks 20.7 21.6
Mutual Funds (Pooled Investment) 15.0 21.8
Certificates of Deposit 12.7 15.1
Other Residential Property 12.5 10.5
Business 11.5 12.9
Non-Residential Property 8.3 7.4
Loans on Investments 7.6 8.4
Bonds 1.8 3.0

1998

Financial Service 1998 Survey of Consumer Finances (Percent) 1998–99 MacroMonitor (Percent)
Checking or Savings Account 90.5 90.7
Car or Truck 82.6 78.5
Primary Residence 66.2 66.0
Retirement Accounts 48.8 50.8
Mortgage, Equity Loan, Line 43.1 42.9
Credit-Card Balances 44.1 44.2
Installment Loans 43.7 43.5
Permanent Life Insurance 29.6 27.0
Stocks 19.2 20.8
Mutual Funds 16.5 19.4
Certificates of Deposit 15.3 15.4
Business 11.5 12.6
Loans on Investments 8.8 6.4
Bonds 3.0 4.6

1992

Financial Service 1992 Survey of Consumer Finances (Percent) 1992–93 MacroMonitor (Percent)
Checking or Savings Account 87.5 85.4
Car or Truck 86.4 84.4
Primary Residence 63.8 64.4
Retirement Accounts 39.3 40.4
Mortgage, Equity Loan, Line 38.7 34.1
Credit-Card Balances 43.4 44.7
Installment Loans 45.8 44.1
Permanent Life Insurance 35.3 38.4
Stocks 17.8 18.6
Mutual Funds 11.2 13.9
Certificates of Deposit 16.6 18.5
Business 14.9 13.3
Loans on Investments 8.3 5.8
Bonds 4.7 5.8

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