Americans Underestimate Life Expectancy And Cannot Plan Adequately

There are numerous factors that go into how longone might live, and published mortality tables cannot account for all of thesefactors.  As such, the tables sjould just bea starting point for determining how long that you will live.  Cindy Levering is a retired consultingactuary who is helping the Society of Actuaries to improve Americans’understanding of how life expectancies can vary and how to use thatunderstanding in their retirement planning. 

The Society performed a study that found more thanhalf of Americans underestimate their life expectancy and as a result, theirfinancial planning time horizons are too short. One third of retirees look lessthan ten years into the future when they are planning for retirement, andanother one third only look ten to nineteen years in the future. 

Not even half of retirees knew that half of 65-yearold men and women are expected to live until median life expectancy.  First, retirees need to be aware ofthis so they can extend their time horizon to plan adequately for retirement.

See Ashlea Ebeling, AmericansClueless About Life Expectancy, Bungling Retirement Planning, Forbes,Aug. 10, 2012.  

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (ProfessionalLegal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.