We’re Living Longer
I don’t know how the term “aging gracefully” can be a compliment. To me it just sounds like a nicer way of saying you’re slowly looking worse. 😛 When the government pension (CPP) was first introduced in the 1960s, the average life expectancy was about 71 years old. The idea was that most workers would retire at around 65 years old, and receive 5 to 10 years of CPP benefits in retirement. And that was the case for awhile. 🙂 But today, the average life expectancy in Canada is over 80 years old which puts more pressure on the CPP investment board to perform well. It’s not unreasonable to assume that my generation of workers (millennials) could have a life expectancy on average of 90 years or older.
A lot of bad headlines this weekend, so here's one that didn't make your social media feed. pic.twitter.com/aa0N0SqcS4
— Robert Baillieul (@RBaillieul) June 4, 2017
According to a Telegraph article, we could witness in our lifetime a world where most babies will have a life expectancy of 100 years or longer! 😀 It’s nice that people are living longer than previous generations. But it’s also kind of sad to think about getting old. Can you imagine having sex when you’re 90? It’ll probably be like trying to shoot pool with a rope. 😕
Young adults are also starting careers later today than in the 60s. So with relatively less money going into the sovereign wealth fund, and more people withdrawing, many economists are worried about the future sustainability of government benefits on the local, provincial, and national level – not just in this country, but all around the world.
If generation Y folks are likely to live to 90 years old, then planning to retire at 65 may not be financially feasible unless a large amount of wealth is saved up first. For those who are planning to retire early like myself, it is even more difficult. Assuming I reach financial freedom by 35, I will have 55 years of living in retirement if I choose to. That sounds great. But the reality is I will most likely be working on and off, or on a part-time capacity throughout my 40s and 50s because there are only so many non-productive activities I can do before I get bored and start working on something economically productive again. 🙂
So instead of planning to live until 80 years old, most healthy people my age should be aiming for 90 as the starting point. And with that it means accumulating more personal savings for retirement. But also keeping in mind that there is no set retirement age anymore, so plan to be flexible with work schedules to accommodate a balanced lifestyle.
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Random Useless Fact:
I used to think that getting older was a dismal prospect, the same way you seem to. I’m 61 right now married for 39 years to my same age wife. MY guess is we can both outrun you for any distance you pick up to 26.2 miles. We might or might not be able to out ski you but can might out hike, out tennis and probably out 4 wheel race you on any off road track you pick.My lifetime best speeds in marathons and 5K’s were all hit in my fifties. Now at ninety I’m sure I’ll be slower but one of my friends just came in second in the senior olympics tennis and he’s 88. He can still beat most of the high school players here. My point is that along with living older, if you work at staying fit, there is no reason to assume that the last ten years of life will be any more infirm at 100 than they were when people died at 70. Whippersnapper!
Oh wow! It’ll be interesting to see what effects we’ll see from people living longer.
Age is just a number. Life expectancy is a statistic. Your personal life expectancy I believe is built in to your machine, together with ‘want went on in your formative years’, as well as your life-long’taking care of business’ personal well-being. A partner/soul mate with the same ‘good health & outlook on life’, today’s 60 year old could live to be 100. Other than any hereditary health issues, I believe that less stress, all in moderation diet & exercise is key to longevity I keep telling my wife of 49 years to plan on living to be 100 years of age. Take my FIL who turns 98 in August. Lives in on his own in his own bungalow, is a child of the depression that says his longevity is due to those ‘lean mean years’. He served in the second world war, smoked from the age of 13, gave it up in his 50’s, he drank moderately, was actively fit, he never in his life ate junk food or consumed soda pop. He was a manual worker, used his arms & body till he was so dog tired. Doesn’t know about technology either. He was driving till a year ago.… Read more »
I would be skeptical of the conclusion that people will continue to live longer. As our society becomes more sedentary, fat and exposed to toxic environments, I think the curve starts to go down. My bet is that those between 40 and 60 today will live longer than those born today. People are becoming too fragile these days but time will tell.