The Richer You Are The Longer You Live

If you've been reading my blogs for a while you'll know that I don't measure true wealth by how much money you have or how many investment properties you own.

Your true wealth is what you're left with when they take all your money away.

Money may not buy you happiness, friends or love, but it according to a study reported in The Wall Street Journal it will buy you years.

Economist Barry Bosworth at the Brookings Institution crunched the numbers and found that the richer you are, the longer you’ll live.

And it’s a gap that is widening, particularly among women.

The good news is that men of all incomes are living longer 

Yet the data shows that the life expectancy of the wealthy is growing much faster than the life expectancy of the poor.

The chart below shows if a man who's income is in the top 10% lives to age 55, he can expect to live an additional 34.9 years, or to the age of 89.9.

That’s six years longer than a man who was born in 1920.

For men who were in the poorest 10%, they can expect to live another 24 years, only a year and a half longer than his 1920s counterpart.

The story is rather different for women

At every income level, for both those born in 1920 and 1940, women live longer than men.

But for women, the longevity and income trends are even more striking.

While the wealthiest women from the 1940s are living longer, the poorest 40% are seeing life expectancy decline from the previous generation.

About Michael Yardney Michael is the founder of Metropole Property Strategists who help their clients grow, protect and pass on their wealth through independent, unbiased property advice and advocacy. He's once again been voted Australia's leading property investment adviser and one of Australia's 50 most influential Thought Leaders. His opinions are regularly featured in the media.