According to the Office for National Statistics centenarians are the fastest growing age group in England and Wales. They explain it thus:
“The major contributor to the rising number of centenarians is increased survival between the age of 80 and 100 due to improved medical treatment, housing and living standards, and nutrition.” ONS, 2009.
It now seems possible or even likely that living to 100 might become commonplace within our lifetimes. And I expect that could be more true of those who have sufficient resources to live a healthy lifestyle.
People have often suggested in the past that there must be some sort of natural limit to lifespan – a ceiling if you will – but so far there is no sign of it. So where will it end?
Dr Aubrey de Grey of the University of Cambridge has made a very bold claim. “I think the first person to live to 1,000 might be 60 already.” That’s not a typo. he really said 1,000. I sense disbelief amongst some readers. Well, he might not be correct but he’s certainly not a quack. He explains it in broad terms like this:
“Ageing is a physical phenomenon happening to our bodies, so at some point in the future, as medicine becomes more and more powerful, we will inevitably be able to address ageing just as effectively as we address many diseases today.” He’s talking about ongoing scientific trials too, not just vague ideas.
Even leaving aside the idea of living to 1,000 we are still facing the wonderful prospect of living to 100 and beyond. As long as you remain healthy and solvent, what a privelege to experience so much.
When you review your long-term financial plans with your adviser, make sure you are realistic about how long you might live. It could well be much longer than you think. This has an important ramification.
There is a risk that you could run out of money in retirement. These days with our sophisticated lifetime cash flow modelling this can be simulated quite effectively for multiple scenarios, allowing you to see under what circumstances you might run out of money. It could mean the wealth creation part of your life has to last longer, spending less or just adjusting your portfolio.
According to the Office for National Statistics centenarians are the fastest growing age group in England and Wales. They explain it thus:
“The major contributor to the rising number of centenarians is increased survival between the age of 80 and 100 due to improved medical treatment, housing and living standards, and nutrition.”
ONS, 2009.
It now seems possible or even likely that living to 100 might become commonplace within our lifetimes. And I expect that could be more true of those who have sufficient resources to live a healthy lifestyle.
People have often suggested in the past that there must be some sort of natural limit to lifespan – a ceiling if you will – but so far there is no sign of it. So where will it end?
Dr Aubrey de Grey of the University of Cambridge has made a very bold claim. “I think the first person to live to 1,000 might be 60 already.” That’s not a typo. He really said 1,000. I sense disbelief amongst some readers. Well, he might not be correct but he’s certainly not a quack. He explains it in broad terms like this:
“Ageing is a physical phenomenon happening to our bodies, so at some point in the future, as medicine becomes more and more powerful, we will inevitably be able to address ageing just as effectively as we address many diseases today.”
He’s talking about ongoing scientific trials too, not just vague ideas.
Even leaving aside the idea of living to 1,000 we are still facing the wonderful prospect of living to 100 and beyond. As long as you remain healthy and solvent, what a privelege to experience so much.
When you review your long-term financial plans make sure you are realistic about how long you might live. It could well be much longer than you think. This has an important ramification.
There is a risk that you could run out of money in retirement. These days with sophisticated lifetime cash flow modelling this can be simulated quite effectively for multiple scenarios, allowing you to see under what circumstances you might run out of money. It could mean the wealth creation part of your life has to last longer, spending less or just adjusting your portfolio.
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Thursday, 29 October 2009 at 10:12 pm
Mel Kenny
You’re right Christian, it’s important to think about how long we might live.
A starting point is to look at our parents and grandparents – how old they are or how old they lived to.
When I first entered the industry, the focus was on finding solutions to the problem of dying too soon. Simple and affordable regular premium life insurance was the answer.
Now it’s all about finding solutions for living too long, a far bigger problem. There’s no small insurance policy available – much bigger regular premiums are required to build a comfortable nest egg. The problem of living too long is an expensive game – we could run out of money.