Family wealth in the UK on the eve of the financial crisis: who had what and what does it imply for the future?

<p>Increasing life expectancies over recent decades and the global economic turmoil of recent years have led to a great deal of attention being paid to whether households' wealth holdings are "adequate". Added to this, the decline of defined benefit pensions in the private sector, has led to concern about how well prepared individuals in Britain are for retirement. Declining asset values after 2007, which led to falls in levels of household wealth, will also have had important implications not only for households retirement saving but also for the ability of households to maintain an adequate level of consumption in the short term in response to changes in their income. </p><p>Two reports written by IFS researchers, one funded by the IFS retirement savings consortium and one funded by the Department of Work and Pensions draw on recent data from household surveys (including the new Wealth and Assets Survey) to address the following questions:</p><ul><li>How is wealth distributed among households in the UK? Which types of households hold the least wealth? Have there been substantial changes in the distribution over the past decade? <br>- How do households hold their wealth and what does this imply for their exposure to asset price shocks? <br>- What are the implications of the current distribution of wealth for future retirement resources?<li>To what extent did UK households save in the years leading up to the financial crisis?<li>How did the distribution of household wealth change in the early period of the financial crisis?</ul><p>These reports will be launched on Thursday 15 July at the IFS offices in Ridgmount Street, London at 10.30am. Registration will take place from 10am and the event is free of charge. We anticipate the event will finish by 12pm.</p>