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[ RETIREMENT PLANNING ]
Cherry Reynard finds out how to fund
a 60-year retirement
120 not out
T
oday, average life
expectancy is a little over
80. As it stands the oldest
person that has ever lived
was 122 when he died – and he was
French, so probably had good state
pension provision. The oldest Brit is
currently 112. However, many social
scientists and medical experts are
suggesting that living to 120 may soon
be a reality for children born today.
For example, population expert
James Vaupel recently claimed a
baby born today has a 40 per cent
chance of living until 150. He based
his assumption on improvements in
regenerative medicine, which could
allow organ and tissue regeneration
and stall the ageing process.
a man who is 65 today can expect to
live until he is almost 84, for today’s
45 year olds that age will be 89 and for
today’s 25 year olds, it will be 95.
This longevity is not always welcome
from a financial point of view as it
means pensions must last for longer
and there is a greater likelihood
of expensive long-term care. The
sophistication of medical treatment for
conditions such as Alzheimer’s notably
lags that of cancer and heart disease.
While modern medicine can keep
people alive, it cannot necessarily give
them a better quality of life.
Falling behind
This is seen in “healthy life expectancy”
statistics, which have not kept up
with normal life expectancy. While
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life expectancy is 79.5 years for men
As it is, the number of centenarians
and 83.1 years for women, healthy
has increased by 85 per cent over the
life expectancy is just 63.4 and 64.1
last 15 years. In 2017, there were 579,776 respectively, with the gap widening.
people aged 90 or older and 14,430
For the very young and very old this
centenarians. Life expectancy has
is not necessarily a problem. As Ian
increased by 5.9 years for men over the
past 20 years. This means that while
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