New Study Shows Nearly 60 Percent of Middle-Aged Americans Do Not Have a Will
Caring.com's 2019 Will and Living Trust Survey reveals education and race as key factors among those more likely to have an estate plan
SAN MATEO, Calif., May 8, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Caring.com, a leading senior care resource, has published findings from its latest Will and Living Trust Survey. The research study included over a thousand respondents and identified key factors among those with and without an estate plan.
As a chief concern, only one in six millennials have a will, which is a slight decrease from Caring.com's 2017 survey. The 2019 Caring.com survey indicates that the older one gets, the more likely they are to have an estate plan. Two out of three seniors age 65 and older have a will or living trust. For adults ages 55-64 and ages 35-44, that number is 39% and 34%, respectively.
Education and race are also key indicators of those more likely to have a will or living trust. According to the study, those with only a high school education are unlikely to have a will – 28% of those with no college have a will, while 58% of Americans with post-graduate degrees have an estate plan. Among the largest racial groups, Hispanics are least likely to create an estate plan. To that point, 26% of Hispanic Americans have a will, whereas 31% of blacks and 45% of whites reported having a will.
"Nearly 80% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck and almost half of middle-aged Americans have no emergency savings," says Michael Hackard, an estate, trust, and elder financial abuse lawyer. "So, it's no surprise that we're seeing such a high percentage of Americans who delay or avoid end-of-life planning."
The study was led by SSRS, a full-service survey and market research firm. SSRS obtained telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,003 adults living in the United States. Interviews were conducted by landline (502) and cell phone (501, including 312 without a landline phone) in English and Spanish by SSRS Data Source from February 26 – March 3, 2019. Statistical results are weighted to correct known demographic discrepancies. The margin of sampling error for the complete set of weighted data is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
To review key findings from the survey including infographics and estate planning basics, visit https://www.caring.com/caregivers/estate-planning/2019-wills-survey/
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With millions of website visitors, Caring.com is a leading senior care resource for family caregivers seeking information and support as they care for aging parents, spouses, and other loved ones. Applying cutting-edge technology to its social mission, Caring.com provides helpful eldercare content for caregivers and comprehensive senior living and senior care directories for the United States -- with more than 215,000 consumer reviews and a toll-free referral line at (800) 325-8591. Connect with Caring.com on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and/or YouTube.
SOURCE Caring.com
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