We’re living longer. No secret there. But are we still living with the 65-year-old retirement expectation? How much money does a 65-year-old need if he/she lives to be 95 or 100 years old?

Keys to Longevity

Experts define three components to longevity: healthspan, brainspan and lifespan.

Our health system doesn’t function very well for the aging. As we age, we are destined to develop degenerative diseases like diabetes, Parkinson’s, arthritis, macular degeneration, autoimmune conditions and more. And cancer. But by far the major concern as we age is dementia, our cognitive health. It is the number one cause for long-term care insurance claims and costs long-term care insurers more than half of every claims dollar.

We age differently today. The challenge is to get healthspan and lifespan synced together. Today, lifespan encompasses chronological age, biological age and emotional age. Studies show that environment and lifestyle contribute significantly to emotional age. And that a cheerful outlook can add 7.5 years to lifespan and reduce cardiovascular disease by 40%.

Planning for Modern Aging

We need to start thinking of aging as a new phase full of new experiences, ambitions and purpose.

Part of emotional age is financial security. The federal government for decades has projected that by the time we reach age 65 that 70% of us will experience a long-term care event. Yet many recent studies report that only 3 percent of all U.S. adults or 15 percent of those ages 65+ have long-term care insurance. And a major finding was that people had little idea of the likelihood of needing long-term care or of the potential costs of that care.

Check out the 2025 CareScout Cost of Care website. It’s pretty intuitive and you can easily figure out the cost of care where you live and/or where you plan to reside in retirement. Be sure to project the cost in the year that you will be between ages 80 and 85 as that is when most claims are filed.

Make a Plan

The question is do you have a plan for long-term care expense if you needed care? Designing a plan costs you nothing. See the three questions that help you put your plan in place. It’s how you would fund care that is the most challenging and underscores financial security.

For most Americans there are three ways to fund long-term care expense:

• Self-fund using income, savings and/or liquidating investments
• Private insurance
• Qualify for government assistance through Medicaid

Along with your bucket list, long-term care expense planning is part of the mix in the longevity assembly. Contact us to get started today.