Survivor Poll Results - 80% (approximately)

[Independent]

I started a poll for couples on the issue of planned spending by the survivor after the first death.
With 2 weeks gone and 61 responses, I thought that I should say something about the results, which are:

Mean: 80.7%
Median: 80%
Mode: 75%

(Note that there are 22 responses above 80% and 28 below. So some people would say that the median skews slightly below 80%.)

I started the poll partially because I seemed to be seeing posts on other threads where people hadn't really thought about this. Then, I forgot to include the "I haven't thought about this" option in the poll.

I was also noticing that people who had thought about it seemed to be picking a higher number than I did. The poll certainly verifies that -- I picked 65% and 92% of the responses were higher than that.

This caused me to go back and reconsider my number. But, when I did that, I came back with the same result (explanation in other thread).

At any rate, thanks to the people who have responded so far. It seems that this is an assumption that's worth thinking about.
(And, the poll is still open for those who haven't responded -
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/poll-survivor-spending-71223.html)

 

[braumeister]

Thanks. I didn't vote before, but I'm in the same ball park with you -- around 65%

I've figured this out a long time ago, and updated it not too long ago, with no change. The biggest reasons for the lower percentage is that I love to travel, but DW not so much, and my hobbies tend to be more expensive than hers.