Wealth: Determinants of savings net worth and housing net worth of pre-retired households

The objectives of this study are to determine effects of household members' characteristics, financial resources, and attitude toward intergenerational support on change in savings net worth and change in housing net worth. Subsamples of White respondents, Black respondents, and Hispanic respondents were analyzed to identify the effects of race or ethnicity on the dependent variables. Attitude toward intergenerational support was the intervening variable. Change in labor income had a positive impact on change in savings net worth for all three racial or ethnic groups. An additional child in a household and an older age of the household head were likely to decrease the change in savings net worth. Effects of the remaining variables differed by subsample. The effects of labor and nonlabor income were different for the change in savings net worth but not for the change in housing net worth. Some different effects for variables across the three racial or ethnic groups were noted.