Canada – Excluding pension assets, family units with RPP assets had a median net worth of $210,600 in 2012 StatCan finds

This study compares the wealth holdings of family units covered by workplace pension plans with those of other family units. It focuses on families and unattached individuals who had no significant business equity and whose major income recipient was aged 30 to 54 and employed as a paid worker. The paper also examines whether wealth differences observed between families with registered pension plan (RPP) assets and other families persist when key sociodemographic differences between the two populations are taken into account.

• Excluding pension assets, family units with RPP assets had a median net worth of $210,600 in 2012. This compared with a median net worth of $64,000 among family units without RPP assets.
• Family units with RPP assets were more likely than others to have characteristics that are conducive to wealth accumulation, such as higher incomes, higher levels of educational attainment and longer job tenure, among others.
• In 2012, families with RPP assets were more likely to hold other types of assets than families with no RPP assets, including real estate equity (82% versus 56%), investments or RRSPs/LIRAs (79% versus 55%), or vehicles (91% versus 76%).
• After accounting for differences in factors such as income and other characteristics, families with RPP assets were still more likely to hold investments or RRSPs/LIRAs than families with no RPP assets (by a margin of 8 percentage points instead of 24).
• In 2012, differences in income and other observable characteristics between the two types of families accounted for approximately four-tenths of their difference in median net worth, and approximately one half of their difference in average net worth.

via Employer pensions and the wealth of Canadian families.