Hyperborea
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
That's bullsh*t Hyper, and you still being a young buck, need a reality check.
I'll be 62 in October, and I help out Seniors here in London.
30 years after age 70 SWR! Give me a break!
You're right that a lot of people don't make it but the problem is what if you lose your bet on dying before your 20 year - 10 year - 5 year SWR runs out? My gran will turn 96 this year and we helped her move into an assisted living facility at the end of last year. She's still lucid and capable of many things but she's become a bit too forgetful. For the last two years she's been eating pre-prepared meals (store bought or homemade) but before that she had been living on her own in her own apartment cooking and baking for herself. The facility provides fresh made meals, on site nurses, group activities, etc.
If she had been in the US she wouldn't have had the funds to pay for such a facility. Her fate then would have been an (from everything I've read and heard) incredibly horrible US Medicaid facility.
As you get older your ability to generate significant new income declines and over 70 virtually disappears. If you run out of funds then you are in deep trouble. Of course since the majority of us here are men it would more likely be our wives in trouble after we've spent the money and passed on.
If we're talking about even younger folks at say 40 they should be considering 60 year withdrawals. The odds that one of the couple reaches 100 is increasing every year. The differences in the withdrawal rates between a 40 year SWR and a 50 or 60 year SWR are pretty small but it's enough to keep the portfolio from possibly dying before you do.
I know some on this forum think they will live to 100. Good luck!
I deal with 80+ year olds and the picture is not pretty.
As I said, my gran is 95. My other grandparents lived to their late 70's or 80's and only went so "young" because of smoking related causes. My parents and their siblings are all still alive and in good health. So with those genes and advancing medical technology I don't think it would be adviseable for me to bet on either dying at 80 or being so far gone that I won't know the difference.
Most males are dead at this age.
I'm not sure about the rest of you but I sure don't want to spend it all and leave my wife with nothing after I'm gone.