The Employee Benefit Research Institute

The Employee Benefit Research Institute just released new study entitled “A Look at the End-of-Life Financial Situation in America”.  It has generated quite a buzz by painting a very bleak picture.  Here’s the summary:

 

 Significant findings include that among all those who died at ages 85 or above, 20.6 percent had no nonhousing

assets and 12.2 percent had no assets left. Among singles who died at or above age 85, 24.6 percent

had no non-housing assets left and 16.7 percent had no assets left.

 Data show those who died at earlier ages were generally worse off financially: 29.8 percent of households

that lost a member between ages 50 and 64 had no assets left. Households with at least one member who

died earlier also had significantly lower income than households with all surviving members.

 The report shows that among singles who died at ages 85 or above, 9.1 percent had outstanding debt (other

than mortgage debt) and the average debt amount for them was $6,368.

 The report also shows that the importance of Social Security to older households cannot be overstated. For

recently deceased singles, it provided at least two-thirds of their household income. Couple households above

75 with deceased members received more than 60 percent of their household income from Social Security.

 

 

Here’s the link:

 

http://www.ebri.org/pdf/notespdf/EBRI_Notes_04_Apr15_EoL-PolFor.pdf