Assets Held by Aged Beneficiaries of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance at End of 1951

T HE national survey of the resources of aged beneficiaries made by the Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance in 1951 included a study of their assets1 At the end of that year, it was found, threefourths of the aged beneficiaries included in the survey owned assets. Three-fifths held liquid assets, and half had nonliquid assets. Almost two-fifths reported both liquid and nonliquid assets. The present article analyzes the type of asset held by beneficiaries of different net worth. It is based on the reports of approximately 18,000 retired-worker and aged-widow beneficiaries, who were interviewed in their homes at the end of 1951 by employees of the Bureau. Ninety percent of these beneficiaries received beneflts throughout the survey year2; the remaining 10 percent had their insurante benellts suspended 1 or more months of the year. Some of the findings on the net worth and liquid assets of the 90 percent whose beneflts were in current-payment status throughout the year were presented in the BULLETIN for August 1953. The net worth of beneilciaries who had some beneflt suspensions during the survey year and the value of their liquid assets were slightly larger than the net worth and liquid asset holdings of beneficiaries in current-payment status throughout the year. The net-worth pattern of the entire sample, however, is practically the same as that of the 90 percent who were in current-payment status throughout the year.