News & Information

Plan now for a long life

We all desire to live a long, healthy life. Assuming you do just that, how will you pay for it? Longevity risk - the risk of outliving your money - is becoming more prevalent as life expectancies continue to grow. It is not unusual these days for people to live until they are 80 or 90. In fact, for more than 60% of couples retiring at age 65, one spouse will live to age 90. A spouse will live past age 95 more than 30% of the time (Source: Annuity 2000 Table, Society of Actuaries).

Obviously, you can’t predict with 100% certainty how long you will live. But, with some additional planning, you can help make sure you don’t run out of money. Consider the following questions related to longevity risk when you review your retirement accounts and overall financial plans.¹

• Does your family have a history of long life expectancy? Even if they don’t, you could be the exception. You’ve heard the phrase "plan for the worst, hope for the best." In this case - plan for the longest life possible and enjoy every minute of it!
• When you are working on your overall retirement plan, do you assume you will live to a certain age? Take some time to consider what would happen if you do live longer than you expect.
• Will you have access to any sources of income for life such as pension plans or annuities? If so, will these sources increase over time to offset inflation?
• When you retire, will you stop working altogether or continue to work part-time? Delaying retirement or continuing to work in some capacity can be an excellent way to stretch the money you’ve saved for several additional years.

Factoring the answers to these questions into your planning process can go a long way to help ensure your money will last.

¹ LIMRA Retirement Risk Matcher