You’ll live longer if you’re rich at this age

If you are in your mid-40s and have at least $50,000 in your bank account, there is a good chance you will live a very long life.

A recent study from Northwestern University found that with every $50,000 accumulated by middle age, the individual’s risk of death drops – and this ability to earn money isn’t related to early childhood experiences, genetics, or hereditary characteristics.

The connection between wealth and death risk

The Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) project is a long-term data collection program looking to study aging in America. While the project was established in 1989, data was collected in spurts from 1995 on, and amalgamated up until 2018.

From 2019-2021, these numbers were analyzed and parsed to learn more about the various elements that impact one’s longevity.  As a result, we now have a clearer picture of how wealth or net worth affects one’s aging and life expectancy due to the efforts of researchers at Northwestern University.

The study included 5,400 participants in total, who were on average 46 years old. Of that sample, 4,900 were white, and the remaining 500 were classified as “non-white.” While the study focused mostly on siblings and both dizygotic (fraternal) and monozygotic (identical) twins, there were some other notable features of the participants. Over 27% of non-related study participants did not complete high school, and only 7% had some form of professional degree like a Master’s or Ph.D. Of the twins, only 19% were not high school graduates, and over 10% had some sort of professional degree.

Ultimately, researchers didn’t have an answer as to why twins seem to be more educated than individuals. However, regardless of their upbringing, the twin or sibling with more money tended to live longer than the sibling who did not have as much. Specifically, siblings that acquired $139,000 more than their brother/sister upped their chances of outliving them.

Nature versus nurture versus earnings over a lifetime

Researchers were shocked by this data, which seemed to imply that a rich family doesn’t necessarily lead to a longer life if the children end up having massive wealth disparities. You could have two people born with the same DNA, the same genetic predisposition to certain conditions, and the same upbringing. But one twin lives longer than the other, simply because they’re wealthier. But the logic dictates that this is a pretty reasonable conclusion.

This money could pay for a healthier lifestyle, more expensive groceries, greater medical care or doctor’s appointments, or any number of life-elongating activities. You could be living in a house without asbestos poisoning, working a job in a non-polluted environment, or getting exercise willingly, not spending hours on your feet during a long commute to a less affluent neighborhood. Of course, someone with more money would live longer – they can afford to.

There are far too many factors in general that contribute to one’s capacity to work a well-paying job, such as their physical or mental condition, education level or access to education, culture or beliefs system, and any number of other caveats. Scientists who conducted this study only really take into account potential heart conditions or cancers impacting one’s ability to work due to either their condition or healthcare costs.

What the experts recommend

So, we now know that it doesn’t matter where you come from, it just matters how much money you have when it’s all over. The researchers in this study recommend that we change policies to address the income inequality in America, as that will grant many people access to more life-saving or health-giving resources.