Headlines and articles today are quoting the NY Fed Q1 2018 Report showing household debt has risen for 15 straight quarters and is now higher than previous peak in Q3 2008.
What these headline fail to acknowledge is that “Household net worth as of the end of last year was almost $99 trillion, having risen $7.1 trillion over the past year (+7.8%). As in recent years, gains have come mostly from financial assets (up $27.6 trillion since late 2007) plus real estate (up $2.8 trillion since the pre-Recession peak of 2006), offset by only a $1 trillion increase in debt (total liabilities rose from a Recession peak of $14.6 trillion in 2008 to $15.6 trillion at the end of 2017).”
In fact, “households have been extremely prudent in managing their financial affairs since the Great Recession. Household leverage (total debt as a % of total assets) has declined by one-third since its Q1 '09 high. Leverage is now back to the levels which prevailed during the boom times of the mid-'80s and '90s.” (Household Net Worth Hits $100 Trillion by Scott Grannis dated 03/09/2018 via SeekingAlpha.com)
Full aricle can be found here: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4154969-household-net-worth-hits-100-trillion