Survivor reports are provided for spouses/partners. They show how spouses/partners will fare in the event that their companions pass away before their maximum ages of life. The survivor reports of the surviving spouse/partner are generated based on an assumed age of death of the decedent. The first time you run ESPlanner, the survivor reports are computed assuming that each spouse/partner dies at his or her current age. Survivor reports start in the first year a spouse/partner is a widow or widower, which is the year after his or her spouse/partner dies.

Survivor’s Annual Recommendations Report

This report shows recommendations for saving, consumption, and life insurance for surviving spouse/partners. All amounts are in today’s dollars.

Saving in a particular year equals the survivor’s total income less taxes and spending. Spending refers to expenditures on consumption, special expenditures, housing, insurance premiums, funerals and bequests in excess of home equity used to cover those expenses, and contributions to retirement accounts. Saving does not include increases in home equity arising from paying off mortgages or other housing loans.

This report shows recommended annual holdings of term life insurance for surviving spouses/partners for each year in which they may be alive. The life insurance premiums indicated in this report reflect typical term life insurance rates prevailing in the United States. These rates may differ from those being charged by your family’s insurance company. In addition, in the case of whole life insurance policies, the insurance premiums will be higher because in purchasing a whole life policy one is, in effect, purchasing both a term life insurance policy and opening up a savings account; i.e., a whole life policy represents the combination of a term insurance policy and a savings account.

Survivor’s Regular Assets Report

This report traces the evolution through time of the surviving household’s regular assets assuming it the program’s recommendations and the input assumptions end up being correct. All amounts are in today’s dollars. The change in regular assets from one year to the next equals saving. Saving, in turn, equals total income minus the sum of spending and taxes.

Regular assets will be zero in the last year that the surviving spouse/partner is alive assuming that he or she lives until his or her maximum age of life. The survivor’s spending in the year that he or she reaches his or her maximum age of life includes the survivor’s funeral and bequest to the extent that these expenditures are not covered by equity from the sale of the survivor’s homes.

ESPlanner uses equity from the sale of your homes to cover these expenditures in the last year that the survivor may be alive. If the survivor’s housing equity in that last year exceeds bequests and funeral expenses in that year, excess funerals and bequests will be zero and your household will leave an estate with positive housing equity. If the survivor’s housing equity in that last year is less than funeral and bequest expenses in that year, all of the survivor’s home equity will be used to cover these expenditures and no housing equity will be included in the survivor’s estate.

Survivor’s Income Report

This report details the survivor’s total income. All amounts are in today’s dollars. Total income is broken down into the survivor’s non-asset income, special receipts, and the survivor’s regular asset income.

Survivor’s Spending Report

This report decomposes the survivor’s total recommended spending between consumption, special expenditures, housing expenditures, life insurance premiums, contributions to retirement accounts, and funerals and bequests in excess of home equity used to cover those expenses. Special expenditures in a particular year are the total of all special expenditures for that year listed for the survivor in the Special Folder listed under Contingent Planning. Housing expenditures include all housing-related payments on your household’s principal residence and vacation home. These payments include rent, other rental expenses, mortgage payments, property taxes, maintenance and condo fees, homeowner’s insurance, and net home purchases. Life insurance premiums refer to payments needed by the survivor to purchase ESPlanner’s recommended amounts of insurance.

Survivor’s Non-Asset Income Report

This report lists the survivor’s annual non-asset income in each future year in which the survivor may be alive. Non-asset income includes labor income, annuity income, pension income, and Social Security benefits. Total non-asset income in a particular year is the sum of labor income, pension income, and Social Security benefits in that year.