The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article entitled “Plan on living past your life expectancy,” which emphasized the fact that with people living longer, many outlive their money. There are many reasons that this could happen, among them claiming Social Security too early, passing up the opportunity to buy annuities or long-term-care insurance, or simply mis budgeting. Life expectancy refers to the average number of years someone will live from a given age, while longevity refers to how long someone might live if everything goes well. Many people, unfortunately, are ignorant of their so-called longevity risk, which is the probability of living a very long life. Speak with your financial advisor to see if you are prepared for a long retirement.
