Life expectancy has increased significantly in the past 100 years: The life expectancy of a person born in 1900 was age 47, compared to 79 for a person born in 2012, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But when it comes to retirement planning, it doesn’t matter how long you’ll live; it matters how long you’ll live in retirement.
Actually, that’s increased as well. In 1980, a 65-year old man on average would live another 14.1 years; by 2010, he could expect to live to 82.7-some three additional years. Those few years can significantly affect your retirement planning, especially when the rising costs of retirement are factored in.
Say your annual expenses in retirement are $50,000. If you live to age 79, you’d have to have $700,000; but if you live to age 82, you’d need a total of $850,000. That’s an increase of $150,000, or 21%.
And that doesn’t even take inflation into account. According to the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI), if inflation averages 3%, a 65-year-old living an additional 14 years would need $854,000 to meet his or her expenses; a 65-year-old living 17 more years would need $1,088,000-27% more.
Moreover, those numbers also don’t factor in the rising costs of many goods and services needed in retirement, such as health and long-term care, which tend to outpace inflation.
For example, the Milliman Medical Index (MMI), which tracks the total annual cost of health care for a typical family of four with employer-provided PPO insurance coverage, shows that health care will cost them $24,671 in 2015-a $1,456 (6.3%) increase over last year’s MMI. And the cost of both semiprivate and private accommodations in a nursing home is rising approximately 4% per year.
Are you ready? If you’re not sure, a financial advisor can certainly help you plan.