Life Expectancy and Retirement Planning
December 9, 2008 by Mr. GoTo
Filed under Investing for Retirement, Long Term Care, Social Security
Baby boomers seem to become more reflective and aware of age, aging and the concept of ”how much longer do I have.” We’ve done a lot but we want to do a lot more. We’re just worried about how much time we will have to get it all done.
Predicting our own demise is neither fun (in the conventional sense) nor a matter of exact science (thankfully!). However, there are several of tools out there that I have used that can accept individualized lifestyle data and feedback life expectancy information.
The Longevity Game from Northwestern Mutual Insurance
The Longevity Game online tool walks you through a sequence of twelve basis lifestyle questions. After you answer each question, your predicted age of demise is adjusted up or down on screen. According to the longevity game, I will make to age 87. Unfortunately, it does not assure me that you will even know how old I am when I get there!
Real Age Health Age Calculator
Another longevity-related tool I’ve used is Real Age. Real Age doesn’t actually predict your end point. Instead, it calculates your health-related age by asking a large number of health and lifestyle questions. It may tell you that you are “really” younger than your chronological age, suggesting that you should live longer. Or it could tell you just the opposite. You can continue to add new information that might cause your “real” age to go up (not good) or down. So far, my “real age” is a few years younger than my chronological age. I intend to keep it that way if I can.
Eons Longevity Calculator
A third life expectancy tool that I have used is the Eons Longevity Calculator. In about five minutes you can answer a series of questions about your stress, health, activities, and family, resulting in a prediction of how long you will live. The Eons calculator says I will live to age 89, giving me an extra two years beyond what the “Longevity Game” predicted. I like Eons a lot better!
Other Online Life Expectancy Tools
Update 1: More recently I have come across some other online life expectancy calculator tools. These are the Living to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator, the Peter Russell Virtual Age Calculator, and the Northwestern Mutual Lifespan Calculator. I have not used these yet myself but they may be worth a look.
Mr. GoTo is not suggesting that any baby boomer make important financial decisions by directly relying on either the Longevity Game or Real Age. I am suggesting that you try them out. Staring at some real data related to your present and future aging may cause you to think more carefully about some of your most important retirement planning decisions. That’s a good thing for all of us to do.
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