The following descriptions of Assets, Debts & Expenditures data are divided into the following subsections:

• General information about assets questions
• Topcoding
• Respondents living abroad
• Wills
• Philanthropy
• Financial literacy and practices
• Debt and personal finance
• Foreclosure
• Revisions to resolve asset and debt issues
• Details about computed net wealth variables
• Household expenditures
• Educational expenditures

General information about assets questions

From the first survey year, NLSY79 respondents have been asked about their savings, home, and vehicle ownership. Over the course of the survey, these questions provide information on when saving begins, how savings habits are formed, and how persistent savings habits are.

Each of the first four surveys (1979-1982) contain identical sets of questions asking if the respondent or their spouse had any money set aside for savings, owned a vehicle, or owned their own home. In those early years however, the respondent was not asked how much savings were held, the value or number of vehicles, or the value of, and mortgage on, their home. Additionally, respondents were only asked questions on assets if they met one of following five criteria:

• 18 years old or greater
• Had a child
• Enrolled in college
• Married
• Living outside their parents' home

This selection process eliminated many respondents from these questions. Early NLSY79 data show that few individuals answered the questions until they turned 18 years old. For example, in 1979 only five percent of those interviewed under age 18 answered the asset questions. Except for the question on home ownership, asset questions were dropped during 1983 and 1984. Beginning in 1985, when all respondents had turned 18, NLSY79 respondents were administered a much larger wealth section. As Table 1 shows, respondents were given the opportunity to answer approximately 20 questions about a variety of asset and debt holdings. In most years respondents estimated how much their home, cash savings, stock and bond portfolio, estate, business, and automobile were worth. Additionally, respondents estimated how much mortgage debt, property debt, and other debt they had accumulated. Together these variables provide a rough overview of the net wealth of each respondent. As the cohort has aged, the assets module has grown in length and detail.

Topcoding

Because the NLSY79 is a public use data set that is distributed widely throughout the research and public policy communities, the survey takes extensive measures to protect the confidentiality of respondents. One method of ensuring confidentiality is to "top code" unusually high values.

Over time, the NLSY79 has used three topcoding algorithms for assets. From 1979 to 1988, every NLSY79 asset question that elicited a response above a specified cutoff value, such as $150,000 for some asset variables, was recoded to the truncation value plus one dollar, such as $150,001. Unfortunately this algorithm results in a sharp downward bias in the mean value of NLSY79 asset holdings since the entire right hand tail is truncated. To address this problem, beginning in 1989, a new algorithm was implemented, which replaced all values above the cutoff with the average of all outlying values.

Beginning in 1996, the top two percent of respondents with valid values were identified. Values within that top range were averaged and that averaged value replaced all values in the top range.

The extent of topcoding for NLSY79 asset questions varies greatly. For example, in 1993 there were only two individuals whose money assets exceeded the cut-off value of $500,000, while 581 individuals gave a market value for their residence above the cut-off value of $150,000. While topcoding presents problems in analysis of individual observations and alters some statistical properties, the new algorithm does not affect the estimates of mean and median holdings. Table 2 shows the number of people shielded by top codes in both 1985 and 1993.

Respondents living abroad

A second out-of-range issue with NLSY79 data concerns individuals living outside the United States. Residing outside the United States does not preclude a respondent from being interviewed. For example, in 1992, 125 interviewed respondents lived abroad. Between 1989 and 1992, for people who hold assets denominated in foreign currency, little effort was made to transform these assets into dollar figures. Instead, such values are classified as "invalid skips" in the data. Beginning in 1993, an effort was made to convert these currencies whenever the unit of the response could be determined. While researchers are warned that this occurs, relatively few respondents live outside the United States and only a small number of individuals in this group cannot report their wealth in U.S. dollars.

Wills

As NLSY79 respondents are all into their 50s and beginning to enter their 60s, it is important to augment information on health, asset accumulation and retirement plans with information on NLSY79 respondents' estate planning. Beginning in 2012 a set of questions on wills was administered and continued to be asked through 2018. These questions were drawn from the 2006 wave of the Health and Retirement Study and also have overlap with questions asked in the final rounds of the NLS Women survey. 

The new questions identify whether respondents have a will, a trust, or both, when it was established, when and why it was last modified, whether it provides for children and for grandchildren and, if so, whether it provides for them equally, and whether it provides for charities or nonprofit organizations. Respondents who report no will or trust are asked whether they intend to establish one.

This section ends by asking whether respondents have long-term care (LTC) insurance. While relatively few respondents are expected to have LTC insurance at this stage in the life-cycle, planning for costly health care expenses is intrinsically linked to bequest planning. 

Financial literacy and practices

In 2012 eight new questions on financial literacy and practices were asked of all respondents. These questions ask respondents about their preparedness for financial emergencies, their ability to monitor financial matters, and their knowledge of core financial concepts. These questions were originally asked in the Health and Retirement Study in 2004 and the Financial Capability Study. This short module complements the questions on wills and estates, and is consistent with ongoing plans to learn more about respondents' financial literacy, practices, and preparedness as they begin planning in earnest for retirement in their 50s and 60s. This series of questions was repeated in 2014, 2016, and 2018 for those who did not have the chance to answer them in 2012. They can be found in the ATTITUDES & INFLUENCE area of interest.

Debt and personal finance

Beginning in 2004, respondents have answered more detailed questions about their debt and personal finance histories. Respondents report total amounts owed on all credit card accounts, in student loans for which they or their spouse or partner are responsible, to other businesses or to other people/institutions/companies over $1000. Respondents are also asked if they have missed bill payments or been at least two months late in the last five years and the number of credit cards on which they owe the maximum amount (if any). Respondents reporting any bankruptcies within a specified reference period are asked how many bankruptcies they have declared. Information is then collected for the most recent bankruptcy, including whether the bankruptcy was related to the failure of a business and the date and type of bankruptcy declaration. Finally, respondents are asked if in the last five years they or their spouse or partner have applied for credit or a loan and been turned down or have chosen not to apply assuming they would be turned down. These variables can be found in the DEBT Area of Interest in survey years 2004-2016.

Revisions to resolve asset and debt issues

A revised set of asset and debt variables is included in the public data release for survey years 1985-2000. These revised variables address a number of anomalies in the NLSY79 data by eliminating some implausible outliers and generating uniform topcodes for all rounds. The following provides details on the revision process.

The original version of each revised variable is still present in the data. For example, in 1987 each respondent who owned a home or apartment was asked the market value of their residential property ("About how much do you think this property would sell for on today's market?"). The data include both the original version of this variable and a revised version:

• R23627.00   Q13-118 MARKET VALUE OF RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY R/SPOUSE OWN (TRUNC)
• R23627.01   Q13-118_REVISED MARKET VALUE OF RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY R/SPOUSE OWN (TRUNC) (REVISED)

The variable with the reference number ending in (.00) R23627.00 is the original variable in the dataset and is left so that researchers can reproduce previous results. The reference number ending in (.01) R23627.01 is the variable that uses a revised topcoding algorithm. By revising the variable, researchers are now provided with some extra information that was not available before. Revised assets and debt variables can be found by searching ASSETS area of interest with question names ending in "REVISED" for survey years 1985-2000.

A more detailed explanation is available in NLSY79 Appendix 23: Revised Asset and Debt Variables and Computed TOTAL Net Wealth Variables. 

Details about computed net wealth variables

In calculating total net family wealth (TNFW_TRUNC), an intermediate set of variables is created representing specific categories of assets and debt. These intermediate variables are useful for researchers who want to probe a particular aspect of a respondent’s financial life, such as their debts or ownership of vehicles. Appendix 23 includes additional information about these categorical components of total net family wealth.

Household expenditures

In 2006, respondents answered a series of questions about regular (monthly or weekly) household expenses, including grocery/non-grocery purchases, telephone, internet, electricity, and other utility bills. These variables can be found by searching for the CONSUMPTION area of interest in NLS Investigator.

Educational expenditures

Respondents who were parents answered a series of questions in 2014 regarding the costs of their children’s education for high school (for children attending private school grades 9-12) and post-secondary institutions (two-year or four-year colleges). They were first asked the total expense incurred (amount borrowed or paid) by respondent, student, family, and friends. Respondents then reported the percentage of the total they and their spouse/partner, another parent, grandparents, the child him/herself, and/or other relatives/friends had each paid. In addition, respondents answered the following speculative questions about their children and college where applicable:

• Do you believe [name of child] would have attended a more expensive college or attended college for a longer time if you and other family members had been able to contribute more...?
• Do you believe [name of child]'s decision not to attend college was influenced by concerns about the cost of college?
• If [name of child] had attended college, do you believe you and other family members would have contributed [to the expenses]?
• Given that [name of child] did not attend college, did you give him/her money that might otherwise have been used for college-related expenses?