How Long will you live?

[dex]

I think the average male in the USA has a live expectancy of about 77 yearsor there abouts.

The calculator below says I will live to 97!!!
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/calcs/n_expect/main.asp

I was thinking that about 85 is a good number - and I would like to die in my sleep - if I could put in that request.

I know that at my current age of 49 both 97 and 85 seem quite a long time away. But I think life is about quality and not so much about quanitity.

One of my grandmothers died at 101. It wasn't a nice time - she was blind, bed ridden and other problems.

I may be fighting for every second of life when I get to 85 or 97. I also believe there will be more options with us to choose when we die. Most ideas are considered radical when first proposed. But they get accepted by the majority after the initial shock. (I'm thinking of Dr. Kovorkian here.) Just look at sexuality on TV if you disagree.

So when you are doing your financial planning - what age are you planning to die? I was using 85 for my check out date. I may have to reconsider that.

It will be interesting. Think about all the medical advances that are being made. In a few years there may be pills that give an 80 year old the vitality of a 35 year old - think Viagra here. Some how the the world to come may go beyond whatever could have been concevieved in such books as "A Brave New World".

One point this all brings to mind is that you really can't stop learning, growing and exercising - or it will be a boring life.

I'm trying an experiment now - my TV just died. I'm going to see how long I can go without it. I hope I excerise more. The kicker is that I worked in the TV industry all my life

I'm still planning to early retire next year. My plan is to get my finances in order and sell my house in the next year and then give my notice.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Well I might have thought the answer would be "until my money ran out", but on reflection I think when the cash runs out I'll go out and find myself a wealthy 25 year old to marry. Preferably female.

Heck my wife already said if I became a multi billionaire, when I turned 80 she'd let me marry Anna Nicole Smith's granddaughter. I doubt she'd have a problem with the wealthy 25 year old if we run out of money.

Hmmm...the possibilities boggle the mind....

 

[Nords]

Re:  As long as I'm aware that it's worth it!

How long will I live? As long as I'm curious about what tomorrow brings. My spouse and "News of the Weird" haven't disappointed me yet.

If I'm deep in senile dementia or Alzheimers, how will I know what I want when I don't know that I'm not me anymore? My grandfather lived his final 14 years in that dementia, and as far as we could tell he was the most outrageously happy 98-year-old we've ever known. But is that living?

Financially it's a whole different question. You don't care how long you're going to live-- you care deeply about how long you have to make the money last. Ideally you'll accumulate enough of a self-sustaining critical mass (of money!) that you can withdraw ~4% every year for as long as you're around to make withdrawals. (Please, no SWR debates, if you don't like 4% then put in your own ^%#@ number and don't bother me with the details.)

If you can't accumulate a self-sustaining pile, so to speak, then the next-best bet would be to draw down the balance to zero on the way to the Soylent Crematorium. The Financial Engines website limits that number to 115, and most biologists use 120.

But I don't think any of them have accounted for male longevity in the presence of a nagging spouse. I tell her that I didn't turn her in for a couple of 20-year-olds at her 40th birthday because I'm waiting until I can turn her in for three of them... and she's agreed that's fair as long as she can keep the 9mm LTC policy that she's taken out on me.

Try "Centenarians: The Story of the 20th Century by the Americans Who Lived It" by Bernard Edelman.

I could cheerfully live my life without TV, but I'll never give up my cable modem. Unless DSL gets cheaper...

 

[Michael]

I was thinking that about 85 is a good number - and I would like to die in my sleep - if I could put in that request.

If we are putting in requests, I want to live forever in perfect health. Where do we sign up?

 

[John Galt]

Oh man, great topic! I would trade a very long life
span for certainty (just like I trade possible large
long term gains for certainty when investing).
In other words, if I could be guaranteed, oh say
80 years (I'm 60 now) and good health. I would take that (maybe even 75), and then cram as much as
possible into each day. Also, this would make
financial planning much easier. My wife and I try to
live like we might not last out the week, but frequently
get caught up in the minutia of life. Anyway, although
my parents are in fairly good shape at 87 and 85, and
my paternal grandfather and great-grandfather made
it past 100, I don't expect to come close. Don't really care to either unless I could be guaranteed fairly good health. I had lots of friends and acquantances who have gone to their reward, many much younger than I am now. There are only 3 sure things. Death, taxes
and politicians screwing things up. All else is guessing
and conjecture.

John Galt

 

[unclemick]

Precisely 84.3. Back in 93, when researching 72t, the IRS gave me 84.3 (pub ). Tickled me tooo death - heh, heh.

 

[John Galt]

And another thing............the other day I
accidentally met the wife of a former high school
friend. I said, "So, how is Lester?" Answer
"Dead 2 years." He was sitting in his kitchen
and fell out of his chair, dead when he hit the floor.
Nice way to go.

John Galt

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Precisely 84.3. Back in 93, when researching 72t, the IRS gave me 84.3 (pub ). Tickled me tooo death - heh, heh.

Mick-

at 84.3, look out for black cars with black suited guys wearing sunglasses talking into walkie-talkies. They're there to take you out to keep the data normalized.

 

[Zipper]

Move to Canada and you'll live 3 or 4 years longer!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

But you wont want to.

 

[Zipper]

Cities Ranked and Rated in North America. Sacremento CA 85. Toronto ON 40. Vancouver BC 20. Victoria BC 35. Ottawa ON 35. Montreal 30. Edmonton 70. Calgary 60.

 

[riverrat]

I used a cpa to determine if its safe for wife & I to retire. He asked about our longetivity and other financial questions and came up with following assumptions

inflation 3%; joint income filing status; cost of living increase factor for ss 1.85%; I lived till 90; wife lives till 93;

then the report states "Regardless of your actual distribution plan the report should give you confidence that you will have enough resources to last both life expectancies with an ending financial asset balance of about $957,000 as shown on page B"

I wonder what $957,000 will buy when I keel over in the year 2036.

 

[John Galt]

I am not sure about the $957,000, but you wasted
your money with the CPA.

John Galt

 

[Cut-Throat]

rrat,

I wonder what $957,000 will buy when I keel over in the year 2036.

Most of these plans will (or should) state these figures in todays dollars. If that is the case the $957K should buy what it buys today.

BTW - I agree with John Galt, you did waste your money with the CPA. We can give you much better advice here and it won't cost you a penny. We are just as good at predicting the future as any CPA