Lee, H. & Hanna, S. (1995). Investment portfolios and human wealth. Financial Counseling and Planning, 6, 147-152.
Investment Portfolios and Human Wealth
Hye-Kyung Lee (1) and Sherman Hanna (2)
The optimal proportion of a household's investment portfolio that should be in risky assets such as stocks depends on what proportion of total wealth, including human wealth, the investment portfolio represents. This article estimates the total wealth of households in the U.S. Survey of Consumer Finances, and finds that financial assets represent less than 2% of the total wealth of most households. Only the elderly are likely to have investment portfolios representing a high proportion of total wealth.
Key Words: household portfolios, investment, risk, wealth, stocks, Survey of Consumer Finance
1. Hye-Kyung Lee, at the time of publication, Post-Doctoral Researcher, College of Human Ecology, The Ohio State University, 1787 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH 43210. Email as of 2002: ktlfriend@yahoo.com
2. Sherman Hanna, Professor, Family Resource Management and Textiles and
Clothing Department, The Ohio State University, 1787 Neil Ave., Columbus,
OH 43210-1295. Phone: (614) 292-4584. Fax: (614) 292-7536. E-mail:
hanna.1@osu.edu.
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