Life expectancy can now be predicted by net worth

• For every $50,000 accumulated by middle age, the risk of death drops by 5%, according to a new study.
• People with a net worth of $139,000 or more increase their chance of outliving their siblings by 13%.
• The evolving distribution of wealth may have something to do with the recent drop in Americans’ life expectancy.

We’ve described how money can buy happiness — and apparently it can make you live longer, too.

Depending on your wealth status, it can impact longevity by adding years to your life, according to a new study, which claims that Americans with a higher net worth at midlife tend to live longer.

The connection between longevity and money

Researchers from Northwestern University found that for every $50,000 accumulated by middle age, the risk of death drops by 5%. Additionally, people who had saved $139,000 or more also increased their chances of outliving siblings by 13%.

It’s no surprise that affluence tends to offer more life choices. More income affords people better food choices; previous research indicated that those who made more than $100,000 reported being in poor health less often (5%) compared to those that made between $50,000-$75,000, where poor health registered in 9.4% of cases.

In this study, published in JAMA Health Forum, researchers used data from the Midlife in the United States project, which focuses on aging. The data, originally collected in between 1994 and 1996, featured a follow-up in 2018, and found that almost a fifth of participants had died.

Using survival models to understand the relationships between net worth and longevity, researchers were able to determine that having more money decreased mortality risk. The trend was also seen in families where siblings that earned more than others tended to live longer.

“These findings should be interpreted through a broader societal lens,” said Eric Finegood, a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern, in a press release. “The U.S. ranks first in economic inequality among high-income nations. Over the past 30 years, the gap has widened through policies and practices that have diverted a substantial and increasing share of wealth from lower and middle-income groups to the affluent.

The implication of net worth after 50 years old

“Such redistribution may have implications for longevity patterns in the coming decades. Policies to reduce the wealth gap, if implemented, could be expected to generate substantial returns to public health.”

In 2020, a similar study comparing longevity and wealth found that having more money after 50 can give you a longer life — by about eight to nine more healthy years compared to the poorest individuals.

In this study, wealth wasn’t just determined by a monetary value; it also accounted for home, jewels, artworks, and other financial assets.

One researcher said that having more money provides you with more opportunities to get better healthcare — while allowing you to see specialists sooner than people who make less and who have inferior insurance.

Life expectancy recently dropped in the US in its largest decline since World War II — down to 77.3. Health experts pointto COVID-related deaths and an uptick in drug abuse.