Salient to Investors:
Professor James Poterba at M.I.T. said that while 46% of retirees have just $10,000 in savings when they die, they may have a relatively generous pension plan, and most of them will have Social Security.
Retirees whose spouse had died saw their income drop almost 75% between 1993 and the last year of being surveyed.
In the last year before death, 57% of single-person households and 50% of surviving spouses had no housing wealth when they died.
Those who remain married tend to have higher income levels, while single individuals on average have lower retirement income and financial assets.
The rich are much more likely to live longer.
Read the full article at http://www.marketwatch.com/story/half-of-americans-die-with-almost-no-money-2012-08-29