Longevity Literacy – Learn How Your Life Expectancy Impacts Retirement Income

For many retirees, their greatest fear is outliving their retirement savings. That’s why GO Banking Rates says it helps to understand longevity when planning for your golden years. Fortunately, a recently released study by the TIAA Institute provides important insight into longevity literacy, allowing us to better understand how long people tend to live upon reaching retirement age.

Here’s a look at some of their key findings:

• A 65-year-old woman has a 40 percent chance of reaching the age of 90
• A 65-year-old man has about a 30 percent chance of living to age 90
• The average 65-year-old male retiree will live until age 84 (19 years after retiring)
• The average 65-year-old female retiree will live until age 87 (22 years after retiring)

The article points out that this data is important when determining when to start collecting Social Security retirement benefits. It explains: “You can start collecting benefits as early as 62, though you’ll only receive a partial amount. Or you can wait until you reach the full retirement age, which depends on the year you were born. You can also wait until you’re 70 to receive the highest benefit possible.”

Once you start collecting Social Security you receive it for as long as you live. That’s why we must ensure the long-term solvency of this critically important program. The Seniors Trust believes the best way to do that is through passage of The Social Security Expansion Act. Not only would this shore up Social Security far into the future, but this landmark piece of legislation will also increase benefits by about $200 a month and provide a fairer annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).