Poll: Personal life expectancy

[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.

[Bikerdude]

Based upon parents, both passed at 76. Brother age 48, most grandparents lived to 80. So I plan for 85 but think 80 is more realistic. If I live past 85 I'll sell the house to pay for another 10 yrs.

[Dawg52]

Hard to say. Grandparents died in their 60/70's. The men with heart trouble and females with cancer. My dad died at 83 and my mom has a b'day in November(90). Her sister lives with her and she is almost 96. But my brother died at 56 due to cancer.

I'm hoping to make it as far as my dad did but who knows. Cancer is the one that I'm scared of so I will probably have heart problems.

[madsquopper]

My parents/grandparents made it into their low to mid 80's but no way in hell I'm settling for anything less than 100. And I plan to still be out dancing, just like my 80 year old aunt and her 95 year old boyfriend.

Larry

[Fireup2020]

I'm hosed biologically. Birthfather died at 34 (made it past that already) Birthmother died at 45. Paternal grandfather died at 34 (good thing I am not male, I'd be dead by now!) Paternal grandmother doing well at 80 something now - all three paternal aunts living healthy at moment. Maternal grandmother died in late 70's - grandfather -

Hoping to make it to happy, healthy and 80 something

I envy the longevity genes on this board

[megacorp-firee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Want2retire Also, dying at 85-90 would be consistent with some reversion towards the population mean.

I am not sure that reversion to the mean applies in this case. Looking at this historically, medical technology and advancements in nutrition and sanitation have the increase mankinds life span. This is not a chart of the s&p 500.

[Moemg]

My mom is alive and well at 91 .My Dad died at 69 and my brother died at 53.So it's a crap shoot . I financially plan to 90 but who knows .

[ziggy29]

With the current state of medicine, into my 70s or low 80s. My family's longevity history is remarkably unremarkable one way or the other. My dad amd his dad died fairly young (70 and 68 respectively), but that was from cancer and they both smoked (though my dad quit in his later years). On the plus side, we have no family history of heart disease (my HDL count is sky-high which may account for that).

I'm 41 now, and I don't know what medical advances there will be in the next 20-30 years so I can't really answer it well.

[aenlighten]

Overall, I would say there isn't much of a relation between early retirement and life expectancy. This is what I expected as siblings in the same family frequently differ greatly in their spending habits.

[CuppaJoe]

My brother went a week before his 61st birthday. I am currently one and a half weeks short of age 61! But luckly I'm not superstituous and probably will live to age 74 or 94.

My family history runs the gamut from infants to age 91+. I've come to believe that I most resemble the shorter-lived relatives like the seven aunts and uncles who went at age 74 but I intend to take care of my health. Live like 74, plan like 94.

[unclemick]

Hmmm - Father 72, heart attack, Mom 89 Katrina related infection.

Me 84.6 +/- .3 have it on good authority from the IRS tables. Up from 84.3 in 1993.

Loosely speaking handgrenade wise.

heh heh heh -

[Khan]

I see (for me) no point in living past 80.

[Alan]

I tried both the calculators in this thread plus another one some months back and the range seems to be 92 - 102. BUT, I'm believer that while genetics is a big factor, lifestyle also makes a huge difference.

I watched a very good series on BBC Americas a few months back called Turning Back your Body Clock
BBC America - Turn Back Your Body Clock

In each example the subjucts had a pretty poor lifestyle (bad eating, heavy drinking, smoking or all of them). The tests they did included liver scans and / or heart scans depending on the subject. Sometimes a liver scan would show early signs of sirosis, and the most amazing was a an irregular beating heart you could see on the scan, that the specialist said was probably due to obesity. Each subject was given a life expectancy based on the test results and sometimes it brought them to tears to see the results and hear their life expectancy compared to what someone of their age should be. They were then given a personal trainer and dietician and put through an 8 week program designed to get them much fitter. It was amazing to see the test results after only 8 weeks of "boot camp" . Livers were already showing a dramatic change in improvement, the heart with the ventricle beating weakly was back to normal.

The program demonstrated not just that powers of the body to recover but how quickly it can happen, and at subject ages varying from early forties to late 50's if I remember correctly.

[Spanky]

As long as I stay healthy (physically and mentally), I plan to live for forever but stay aware that life could end anytime.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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

One of the side benefits (or curses) of ER is that there's no longer an excuse for not pursuing a healthy lifestyle.

For example, Paul Terhorst's "Body Work".

Quote:

Originally Posted by megacorp-firee I am not sure that reversion to the mean applies in this case. Looking at this historically, medical technology and advancements in nutrition and sanitation have the increase mankinds life span. This is not a chart of the s&p 500.

We went through this discussion two or three years ago, and Cut-Throat was able to drag up a graph that shows most of the advances in the median age of death come from reducing early deaths, not from prolonging life. While there are lots more survivors, they're not living much longer than the longest-lived humans in the last century or so.

I think the logic is that while genetics is what loads the longevity gun, the environment is what pulls the trigger. As technology & public health have removed the environmental triggers, what's left is genetic potential... and that hasn't changed much.

[playaman]

My paternal grandfather died of liver disease at 38; my dad passed away as the result of a heart attack at 51. My goal is to be beat them both and make it to 89 (sum of their years). Genetically, that may be a challenge, but I'm in reasonably good health, have moved into a (mostly) low-stress position, and will FIRE in less than a year. My mother (88) is still healthy but declining due to dementia. Consequently, I'm optimistic that I'll make it into my 80's - maybe even 89! - barring accident or unforeseen medical complication.