Poll: Personal life expectancy

[aenlighten]

What do you think your personal life expectancy is? Not what you are using for planning, but what you reasonably expect to live to based on family history and behavior. Does ER appeal more to those with shorter life expectancies or does the willingness to save indicate a longer life expectancy?

Most likely, I expect to see 85-90, maximally +/- 5 years.

 

[NotSoonEnough]

but what you reasonably expect to live to based on family history and behavior.

Family history puts me in the 85 to 95 group, but my early (youthful) stupidity has me deducting 10 years from that range. And worse, I have a younger brother (45) who has already had a colon resection due to cancer...my assumptions could be way out of line. So, yes, fear of an early demise is certainly contributing to my desire to RE.

 

[Alan]

We are planning on one of us living into our 90's. We both have at least 1 grandparent or great grandparent who made into their 90's plus 3 out of 4 our parents are in their 80's despite some pretty dire unhealthy living circumstances.

 

[GLM]

I think I will see the 90's , perhaps more based on the histories of the women in my family who have dodged the childbirth years . Cardiac events get the others and with a bypass my oldest Aunt is closing in on 100 dispite a lifetime of inactivity. I have watched my cholesterol & exercised regularly from my late 20's and survived giving birth so baring the unforseen...

 

[SamHouston]

My four grandparents all made it to the 86-96 range and my father is over 85 now. I'm hoping for something like that even though my mother died suddenly at 75. I have near a dozen aunts who are in their mid-to-late 80s now, also...the uncles all died in their early 70s due to their lifestyles.

 

[laurence]

All my relatives who die naturally die at or near 90. DW has a lot of female relatives who push or surpass 100. Considering I'm a male, 2 years older, and have a shorter family history lifespan, part of my FIRE goals reflect a desire to not have DW be a poor widow when I'm gone. In short, I'm hoping/expecting 90.

 

[Nords]

All my relatives who die naturally die at or near 90. DW has a lot of female relatives who push or surpass 100.

Two of my grandparents died due to their own misconduct (I've already passed the death age of one of them) and the other two made it to 90/97. My grandfather's senile dementia put him into full care at age 83 so living to age 97 wasn't such a good deal, but OTOH those were the happiest 14 years of his life.

I'm motivated to make it to triple digits so that I can be listed on my college's "oldest living alumni" list, but I'll probably be on my second set of knees by then.

Spouse has the genes. All four of her (Russian) grandparents lived well into their 90s or 100s-- they emigrated before the Revolution and lied about their ages so frequently that they no longer remembered. Spouse's goal is to collect more Reserve pension than active-duty pay, so she has the motivation to push it past 100 too.

Hey, gotta have goals. Gosh, if we make it past 100 I wonder how much Social Security that'll be?

 

[megacorp-firee]

My plan goes out to 100. I fully expect that there will be 2 tiers of medical care ... haves and have nots.
For haves, there will be replacement parts for everything. ... so I hope my spreadsheets are indicative of what I can expect.

 

[OAG]

ALL the males AND females on BOTH sides of my family barely made it into their 60's except for one Uncle who made 83 (with lots of medical work done - heart and cancer) and one Great Grandmother that made it to 100 or so, so my life expectancy is not too high IMO. However, I have passed all but the Uncle at this point, am in relatively good health, annual medical examinations, DW that tries to feed me healthy so who knows? Being optimistic the EXCEL goes out to age 90!

 

[W2R]

Realistic life expectancy: 85-90
Family history, planning: 102

Family history of longevity would indicate a distinct possibility of living to be 95-105, so 102 is my age for planning purposes. Not all family members lived to be that old, but perhaps 1/3 to 1/2 did. My father was an exception since he died of cancer at 70; my mother will be 98 in a month and is still going strong, and many of my other ancestors lived to be very old.

Realistically, I expect to die at the "young" age of 85-90 due to living my life as a stressed out urban cubicle dweeb instead of living the healthy, outdoor farming life of most of my ancestors. Also, dying at 85-90 would be consistent with some reversion towards the population mean.

 

[donheff]

My parents lasted until their mid 80s, grandparents that or less. I don't see anything in my makeup that would take me beyond mid 80s, but who knows. For planning purposes I use 95. Same for DW who's family is a little less robust than mine.

 

[HFWR]

Mid-eighties?

Paternal g-parents both made it to 82; maternal g-mother made it 87?However, both g-mothers spent last 2-3 years in "assisted living"...

 

[happy2bretired]

My father died in his 50s and my mother at 79. I'm hoping to get to 80 but only if it's a good 80, not a sick 80.

 

[Lusitan]

Longevity does not appear to be in my genes. We are years away from FIRE and I had been basing my FIRE plans on living to 100. Lately I have been rethinking the widsom of this and will probably scale back my FIRE planning closer to the average lifespan, which will enable me to FIRE earlier. My own personal situation leads me to doubt I will even reach that age.

Yeah, I know there's always the risk that I might outlive my money, but I know I can get by with very little, and I'm willing to take that "risk". Still being alive at 95 would be a very nice silver lining on the cloud ...

 

[MikeD]

I'm expecting to live to about 65. I have all kinds of stuff wrong with me.

Mike D.

 

[save4aFIREyday]

Both of my grandmothers died at about 82-83, and my grandfathers were younger than that. I expect that with medical advances, continued exercise, and a relatively good diet, I will make it to about 85 or perhaps a few years longer, barring any surprises. I do plan out to at least 100 when I am looking at my retirement calculators, but I am not sure I will make it that long.

 

[VaCollector]

If I look at family members to come up with a number....I think that I need to get off of the computer to go and make some plans

My Mom only made it to 75 ~ but couldn't give those da*n cigarettes up....even while on oxygen!! My birth father is 89 and still going strong....both of my grandmothers made it to their 90's....granddads....not so good....65/66.

My older brother left us at 44 but had suffered from mental illness BUT I have always thought that his early demise was a blessing....for him....

So it looks like I may have a few good years left (52 now)....and after you have thoughtfully asked me to review things....I'd have to say that I'm lookin' to make 75/80....and that's assuming that I get my a** to a doctor to keep tabs on myself

 

[Sandy]

I realistically expect to make it well into the 90's and use 100 for planning. Good health habits and no excess weight.

While grandparents died in 60's and 70's, their conditions were undiagnosed and untreated. My parents are in their mid 80's. Father has well-managed chronic conditions, my mother is in a slow decline, but nothing specific. It amazes me that my mother is here - smoked from 20-80 (quit then), history of breast and bladder cancer, and benign brain tumor and - never exercised, is overweight, and and doesn't eat a lot of veggies/fruits.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Women in my family not long-lived. Strokes mostly. One grandfather just turned 90, but he is not the norm. DH family not especially long-lived either, but lifestyle will hopefully help. Heart attacks there.
I'm thinking 85 for both of us, and there is enough cushion not to outlast the money if we should happen to live longer. DH is 8 yrs older, so this pushes us harder towards FIRE, since we might have fewer years together.

 

[TexasGal]

I was 60 in June.

Mother's parents 78/76. Dad's parents 83/74.

My father died age 90; was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at age 86.

My mother is still alive and will be 91 in October. Has not been well for 10 yrs and is really in bad shape now.

I expect to live to at least 90, and if my health is like my mother's I would just as soon croak by 80.

I took one of those lenghty online longevity tests yesterday and it said age 90 (if I would improve several factors, it said I could live to 98 plus).

 

[kaudrey]

I think 85-90.

Two grandparents were 86/87. One was 94 but in a nursing home with Alzheimer's for 10 years (I definitely don't want that!).

Other grandfather died, as someone else here but it, due to his own misconduct...so I don't count him.

 

[Eyerishgold]

I'd like to see 85 or 90. I've never had any health problems, but my family history is strongly against me. I had only 1 grandparent live past 70 and I've had 4 uncles, 1 aunt and my dad pass before 60.

Fingers crossed that I'll break that trend.

 

[Calgary_Girl]

Well, I'm HOPING to make it to my '80's but given my family history it's a coin toss.

Diabetes runs on my mom's side of the family and my grandma died from it when she was about 75. Mom's dad died at 80 due to complications from a blood clot in his leg. Currently, two of mom's five surviving siblings have diabetes and an uncle died last Christmas (was 75) due to diabetes complications (was blind and had had numerous amputations on his feet the past few years).

Dad's mom died in her late 70's due to complications from Alzheimer's and dad's dad in his '60's due to an asthma attack. An uncle on dad's side died due to lung cancer (heavy smoker) and an aunt died due to liver disease (heavy drinker).

All interesting ways to go if you ask me.

 

[SecondCor521]

Vanguard's over/under number for me seems to be 82.

Living To 100 Life Expectancy Calculator says 85.

For planning purposes I think I use FIREcalc with a 40 year horizon.

2Cor521

 

[Independent]

Interesting that everyone starts with family history. I do too, but it probably isn't the biggest part of the story.

NW Mutual has a "calculator" that looks at a number of lifestyle issues. It's at www.nmfn.com/tn/learnctr--lifeevents--longevity

They don't have any discussion of how they come up with their numbers, so I can't say anything about how accurate it might be. Still, they've got a few actuaries, so hopefully somebody put some thought into it.