How long do you
think you will live? How long does your money need to last? If you’re like most
people, you get this age wrong.
The consequence?
Faulty retirement planning, overspending now, and running out of money before
you actually reach your true longevity. Or spending too little now, depriving
yourself of a comfortable retirement before your death.
Tough Call
Your longevity is
the statistically expected number of years of life you have remaining at a
given age – specifically, your current age. (Your longevity depends on other
factors and you can find calculators with good insights into these by Googling
“life expectancy calculator”).
There are two
well-known tables for life expectancy managed by the Social Security
Administration: the Social Security general population table and the Annuity
Table. The tables constantly change with shifting demographics, lifestyles,
medicines, and other advances. Today’s tables may, therefore, understate
longevity, especially for younger people.
Let’s look at a
couple of examples to get a general sense of longevity, using the “Retirement
& Survivors Benefits: Life Expectancy Calculator” created by the Social
Security Administration. This chart, from the Social Security table, gives you
a point of reference when thinking about how much longer your money needs to
last.
- If you’re a male born on November 14, 1955, you can expect to live 17.9
years to age 84.4 - If you’re a female born on November 14, 1955, you can expect to
live 20.4 years to age 86.9
While this might be
decent guidance, keep this in mind: these figures do not take into account a
wide number of factors such as current health, lifestyle, and family history
that could increase or decrease life expectancy.
Healthy Living = Longer
Living
Let’s use another
example, someone who is currently 85 years old. According to the Social
Security Administration:
- If you’re an 85-year-old male you can expect to live another 6.4
years to age 90.9 and - If you’re an 85-year-old female you can expect to live another 7.5
years to age 92.0
In other words, at
age 85 you may have seven or more years remaining – illustrating the importance
of understanding your life expectancy when you plan retirement spending.
Further, the “healthier” population subset enjoys a
greater number of remaining expected years compared with Social Security’s
general population. In some cases (depending on age), about 60% of the 70-year-old “healthier” population may outlive members of the general population due to
lifestyle choices, lack of accidents, and other similar factors (including just
plain luck).
Plan for 95
That’s why many
financial professionals suggest planning to age 95. Such advice can reduce how much
you spend today just in case you live to 95.
Further, best practices suggest adjusting spending over time. Instead of
guessing an age you think is too old to imagine, anchor your expectations on how
long your money needs to last using statistics for your population group.
Update that expectation each year during your annual financial review.
Rather than fear
outliving your money, embrace uncertainty through a structured process that
incorporates uncertainty into your financial decisions. Life is full of
uncertainty and forks in the road. You can prudently manage your retirement
money surer than that.
