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You can't use just one free calculator and you need to be able to manipulate the variables. Pensions are until death and beyond for spouse if that was an option and SS is until death with the after death options available. Investments are until they run dry. Many calculators give you the option to pick an age to plan until. I have used a recommended age of 94 and wondered what happened to some people if they lived beyond that. Rate of return is one of the great mysteries of life and some are more comfortable than others feeling how much they understand that mystery.
My father is 92 and still going strong. His father died at age 96 - his mother at 102. Our other 3 parents died at ages 79 - 84 and 84. I think you have to look at your family history - and your own personal health situation - which may be a moving target. Robyn
my mom died at 54 ,my dad 63 and my first cousin 57...
im 57.... im blowing it all now!
I won't pry into your personal family history. But if they died from medical things that have a hereditary component (and not from something like smoking if they smoked and you don't) - I'd blow it all now on an executive physical at a place like the Mayo clinic where you can explore whether you're at risk from the things they died from - and take appropriate steps. Everyone in my mother's family used to die from cardiac disease at an early age until bypass surgery was invented. That single operation extended the average life of people in my mother's family by 20 years (she had 2 before she died at age 84). Robyn
I won't pry into your personal family history. But if they died from medical things that have a hereditary component (and not from something like smoking if they smoked and you don't) - I'd blow it all now on an executive physical at a place like the Mayo clinic where you can explore whether you're at risk from the things they died from - and take appropriate steps. Everyone in my mother's family used to die from cardiac disease at an early age until bypass surgery was invented. That single operation extended the average life of people in my mother's family by 20 years (she had 2 before she died at age 84). Robyn
Things that killed our parents may well be preventable now. My father died of a coronary when he was just 43. I later discovered that it was prevalent in his mother's family ... at least amongst the men. My doctor knows this and looks after me very well!! It helped knowing what to look for. So, if you don't know your family history, a little bit of genealogy may pay dividends too.
My father is 92 and still going strong. His father died at age 96 - his mother at 102. Our other 3 parents died at ages 79 - 84 and 84. I think you have to look at your family history - and your own personal health situation - which may be a moving target. Robyn
We are blessed. Our pensions are forever unless doomsday strikes as are SS as long as it remains in place for our age group. Individually we would get each others pension upon death of the other and that translates to a minimum floor of what we are getting today plus COLA. We still have my SS which I am waiting to collect so my wife will in even better shape and vice versa. I picked 94 just because it was default age in many calculators.
I'm starting to think that this 'default age' is just another marketing ploy by the big houses. Invest more! Invest more!
Why do financial calculators and financial advisers keep insisting that we use 94?
I know there's all sorts of ways (100's and 100's) to figure life expectancy, but ...
2006 revision of the United Nations World Population Prospects report (life expectancy at birth)
United States
Overall 78.2 years
Men 75.6
Women 80.8
CIA World Factbook (2009 estimates, life expectancy at birth)
United States
Overall 78.11
Men 75.65
Women 80.69
::: shrug :::
I'll stick to my family history!
Safety net. Those numbers are completely useless at this point of your life. The numbers that are more meaningful are future life expectancy at your current age. Those numbers you have include all the people who have previously died.
Looking at the link chart you can see why 94 is reasonable. Find your age and let us know what the likely age span for you currently is. Life-span Calculation
http://www.choosetosave.org/calculat...fa=retireeCalc
Average life expectancy for a 65-year-old male is 17 years (82 years of age) and for a female it is 20 years (85 years of age). Life expectancy may be a good starting point for financial planning for individuals, but simply using average life expectancy of 82 and 85 without considering other factors could lead to significant shortfalls for many individuals. Not only is longevity a major threat to retirement income security, but individuals also tend to underestimate longevity. The table below shows that 25 percent of 65-year-old males (the 75th percentile) are expected to live to age 89, and 10 percent (the 90th percentile) are expected to live to age 94. Healthy individuals at age 65 are expected to live even longer.
you have to think of it this way... the biggest risk group believe it or not is the 50's... if you live past 50 then they say you are usually good to at least 65 statistacally.. if you make it to that age then statistacally the next stop is 70 , and so on it goes.
the older you get the better your chances of hitting the next plateau until you peak out.
actuaries have a whole profession playing with this stuff but non the less odds are if your married at least one of you will go on well into your late 80's at least.
as you weed out each age group the odds are you will live longer and longer and so they figure 94 as a ending age for most of us.
its also a safety net so you have extra money thru retirement.
if anyone feels these calculators over planned for them ill gladely take any extra dough off your hands you feel you may have saved in error.
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