The Growth of Charitable Estate Planning among Americans Nearing Retirement

A trend analysis of 41,965 Americans aged 55-64 reveals that charitable estate planning within this age group steadily increased from 1996 to 2006 (both absolutely and as a share of planned estates). Descriptive statistics and probit analyses suggest that this increase was driven in large part by higher levels of education and childlessness and by an increasing propensity for those without children to make charitable estate plans. As future cohorts of Americans nearing retirement age are projected to have even higher levels of education and childlessness, the trend of increased charitable estate planning is likely to continue for some time.

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