Debt-to-asset ratios tend to look similar for younger U.S.households whether or not the households have any retirement plan assets.

For older households, lack of retirement plan assets correlateswith terrible debt-to-asset ratios.

Craig Copeland, an analyst at the Washington-based EmployeeBenefit Retirement Institute, has published data on U.S.households' debt-to-asset ratios in a new report on the correlationbetween households retirement savings and their debt loads.

Copeland used 2013 Census Bureau data. His tables can showwhether people with retirement savings have debt, but not whetherdebt problems drained savings, savings problems led to high debtlevels, or low income or other factors caused both high debt levelsand low retirement savings rates.

One of his charts does that suggest that a dramatic fork inthe financial road appears when workers are somewherebetween the ages of 45 and 54.

Copeland prepared that chart by comparing debt-to-asset ratiosfor families with working household heads ages 25 to 64.

He compared the debt-to-asset ratios for families in differentage groups, and he compared those with some retirement plan assetsand those with no retirement plan assets.

Families with working heads ages 25 to 44 had debt-to-assetratios somewhere around 40% to 50% whether they had retirement planassets or not.

The financial road began to fork for families with heads ages 45to 54.

The average debt-to-asset ratio was just 27% for families withretirement plan assets, and 35% for families with no retirementplan assets.

For families with heads ages 55 to 64, the fork turned into acanyon.

The average debt-to-ratio was less than 14% for families withheads in that age group and some retirement plan assets, and 34%for families with no retirement plan assets.

Copeland also found that typical Americans will be depending onjust four classes of assets to get themselves throughretirement.

“Home equity tends to account for the largest share of financialassets,” Copeland writes.

Individual retirement plan assets and home equity account forjust about all of what typical families have for retirement, asidefrom Social Security benefits and defined benefit pension planbenefits, he writes.