Well, the problem has been solved. Canadian Business has a calculator that tells you how old you will be when you die. They ask things like height, weight, parents with heart disease, etc. For me, the answer was 79.6 years. I didn’t like that result, so I reduced my weight and got the same answer. I reduced my height and got the same answer. I changed a few other variables and got the same answer.
Hmmmmm. Something smells like Danish fish.
So I went to the Sun Life website calculator. They didn’t even bother with silly details like family members who had cardio vascular disease (as if that could matter!). I put in the same numbers as the Canadian Business calculator and got a better result! 85 years!
But I thought I could do better, so I went to a calculator offered by a medical doctor (many detailed questions) and got a much better result: 96 years!
So, I guess the moral of the story is that if you are planning for retirement, you shouldn’t really trust computer programmers. Or better yet, shop around and find a mortality calculator that you like!
Link to Canadian Business calculator …
Of course, average life expectancy means that at the expected age, 50% of people with that life expectancy would be dead, and 50% would still be alive. And of course, the living 50% won’t all drop dead at that point in time. Many, in fact, will continue to live for quite some time. Actuaries tell us that a non-smoking male who reaches age 84 then has an average life expectancy of 92.5. And if he reaches 92.5, he has an average life expectancy of 96. And so on. So, maybe my plan of surfing in Hawaii during my 90’s is a good plan after all!
Here is a link for an interesting calculator that shows the average life expectancy in different decades going back nearly 200 years. Link to calculator …