Longevity
Financial Products for Longevity: Social Security
Social Security, has been providing Americans with guaranteed income throughout retirement for years. Here’s how the program works and when you can claim your Social Security benefits.
Tools to Estimate Your Longevity
Published July 18, 2017
Understanding your current habits can give you insight into your healthy life in retirement. These calculators can help you project what you can do now to ensure a comfortable retirement later.
- A longevity calculator can indicate how your current habits will affect you in the future
- Use our sister company, Abaris’, longevity calculator to project your lifespan
Thanks to data collection and the power of modern tech, there are quite a few calculators that will estimate your lifespan based on your demographic information. Although they’re not perfect, understanding how your current lifestyle could affect your retirement is important when preparing for retirement.
Our sister company, Abaris’, longevity calculator is actually the most used on the internet! Developed via statistical analysis done by Professor Dean Foster of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, this calculator takes into account diet, exercise, demographics, smoking and drinking habits. This analysis was built based on survey results of over 500,000 people polled by NIH and AARP. Survey respondents were tracked for 10-13 years after being polled at age 50-70.
Another life expectancy calculator that takes lots of demographics into account is available on Livingto100.com, developed by the founder of the New England Centenarian Study. It even asks for hours spent at work, sleep habits and stress level.
A less complicated life expectancy calculator can also be found on the Social Security website which only considers your birthdate and gender. However, the estimates are very rough, as health habits and genetics play a major role in longevity.
A different calculator (called Vitality Compass) developed by Blue Zones and the University of Minnesota School of Public Health not only gives you a projected life expectancy, but projects for how long you’ll remain healthy. It will even give a summary of how your current life habits are directly affecting your estimated lifespan.
Although all these tools only provide estimates, they may reveal how your current habits are affecting your chances for a healthy life during work and retirement. If any of the results are alarming to you, you may consider taking steps within your control to be healthier in your daily life. Steps to be healthy now lead to an enjoyable retirement later!
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