Poll: Personal life expectancy

[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]

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]

Thanks for all your input

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]

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".

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.

 

[youbet]

I plan to live for forever but stay aware that life could end anytime.

I was enjoying a pint with the boys at the Irish Mill this afternoon when the subject of longevity came up. Your outlook was the overwhelming favorite at the end of the discussion.

We also decided that the Guinness commercials claiming that Guinness is beneficial to health and a long life are absolutely correct.

 

[packrat44]

I plan to live to 100 and my DW plans to live 105. So far our plan is on course.

My father (93) and mother (90) are in good health and still live in their own house. DW's father (86) and mother (86) are in good health and still live in their own house. Grandmothers on both sides lived to their upper 90s. All the grandfathers had lived very hard lives and did not last as long.

 

[kcowan]

Longevity calculators indicate 88-92 but the 10% upper quartile is 101. We use 100 as the die broke target.

Since May, it appears that we should be drinking more and exercising less to match our reduced portfolio performance expectations.

Our biggest worries are body parts wearing out and Alzheimers. What is the impact of frequent air travel? My Dad never flew anywhere and lived to 95.

 

[W2R]

What is the impact of frequent air travel? My Dad never flew anywhere and lived to 95.

My parents traveled by air (as well as by ship) numerous times a year for half a century. My father had "the travel bug" to the extreme (having grown up poor in a small rural area), and was a surgeon so he could afford it.

One of my first memories was a trip by air to Jamaica (or was it Cuba? or both) in 1949 when I was just a year old. I remember traveling across the Atlantic in the early 1950's, when airplanes had pullmans. We were quite the vagabonds. We went to every continent except Antarctica and spent as much time away as at home.

My father died at 70 from cancer. My mother is still alive and will be 98 in a month. My conclusions are that air travel had absolutely no impact on life span, and (in my father's case) that money and knowledge cannot protect you from everything.

 

[kat]

Both sides of my family lived long lives, one past 100, with 94 the average for my parents' parents. My parents, now in their late 70's, are not dealing with any serious problems. I'm planning on 95, not sure how to factor in the likelihood of another car accident.

 

[teachme]

What do you think your personal life expectancy is?

Based on both sides of our family we can expect mid-80s without too much effort. The difference is the quality of life. We've been fortunate to have examples on both sides that stay active, work their spare hours outside or exercise regularly and more physically fit than most people in their age range by a significant margin.

Does ER appeal more to those with shorter life expectancies or does the willingness to save indicate a longer life expectancy?

Ours hasn't been an issue of ER but of FI but I never thought about it from that angle. Having the opportunity to know some wealthy people and observing the choices and things that consume their time is what has motived me more than anything.

 

[kat]

I was enjoying a pint with the boys at the Irish Mill this afternoon when the subject of longevity came up. Your outlook was the overwhelming favorite at the end of the discussion.

We also decided that the Guinness commercials claiming that Guinness is beneficial to health and a long life are absolutely correct.

My German grandfather favored Molsons. Two every night. Lived to just shy of 102, with his mind intact, after refusing surgery.