Abstract
The rapid growth of household wealth in the United States has been accompanied by
drastic growing inequality. This paper discusses both wealth and inequality growth, examines
demographic factors behind the growth, and analyzes housing’s role in it, using the Survey of
Consumer Finances data collected by the Federal Reserve Bank. While aggregate household net
wealth grew from $25.9 trillion in 1995 to $50.1 trillion in 2004 (both in 2004 dollars), nearly 90
percent of the net gains occurred only among the top quartile of households in the wealth
distribution. Although housing wealth (both home equity and housing value) was still more
evenly distributed than other types of wealth, it largely served to widen the wealth gap rather
than to narrow it during the last decade.
http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/publications/markets/w07-1.pdfIt really doesn't matter how long you live. If you are 58 and unemployed today, chances are you will be unemployed for the next 4 years, the first opportunity you will have to collect a portion of the SSI you could claim. A full one-third of people at that age have no income, and will have none until SSI begins.
From the study cited in the OP
"In 2008, 39 million people age 65 and over lived in the United States, accounting for 13 percent of the total population. The older population grew from 3 million in 1900 to 39 million in 2008. The oldest-old population (those age 85 and over) grew from just over 100,000 in 1900 to 5.7 million in 2008.
The baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) will start turning 65 in 2011, and the number of older people will increase dramatically during the 2010–2030 period. The older population in 2030 is projected to be twice as large as their counterparts in 2000, growing from 35 million to 72 million and representing nearly 20 percent of the total U.S. population."
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Thank you for the post.
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