Survey of Consumer Finances, 1948

This data collection is one in a series of financial
surveys of consumers conducted annually since 1946. In a nationally
representative sample, the head of each spending unit (usually the
husband, the main earner, or the owner of the home) was
interviewed. The basic unit of reference in the study was the spending
unit, but some family data are also available. The questions in the
1948 survey covered the respondent's attitudes toward national
economic conditions and price activity, as well as the respondent's own
financial situation. Other questions examined the spending unit head's
occupation, and the nature and amount of the spending unit's income,
debts, liquid assets, changes in liquid assets, savings, and actual
and expected purchases of cars and other major durables. In addition,
questions were asked about housing and home ownership. The
subject of emphasis in this survey was the respondent's means of
saving, with questions on investment preference, amount of
present holdings in postal savings, credit unions, and savings
accounts, whether respondent had a regular plan for savings, and
attitudes regarding saving versus spending or investing. The 1948
survey included a separate questionnaire for farmers that contained
differing questions on sources of income. Personal data include number
of people in the spending unit, age, sex, and education of the head,
and the race and sex of the respondent.