This article discusses the type of assets that very wealthy Americans often have in their possession when they pass away. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has recently released estate tax data showing what sort of property the wealthiest Americans possess. Only a very small portion of the population has to pay a Federal estate tax. The tables provided in this article show a difference in the types of assets owned by those classified as merely rich and those that are very rich. The people that are very wealthy tend to have more invested in bonds and real estate and also invest more in art and often own stock in closely held businesses that they can pass onto future generations. Those that are merely rich tend to have more invested in their homes and in retirement accounts.
See Richard Rubin, When the Superrich Die, Here’s What’s in Their Wallets, The Wall Street Journal, October 30, 2015.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse for bringing this article to my attention.
