How long will you live till? Take a look at this website: PROJECT BIG LIFE and try out the Life Expectancy Calculator. It’s interesting to see how old you may live till based on your current lifestyle habits.
That was interesting… and so what? Let’s look at what this means from a financial standpoint:
Retirement:
You are on a journey to improve your finances. Some of you plan to retire way before 65 years old (aka achieving financial independence). If the calculator indicates that you will live till a ripe old age, then you need to make or alter your financial plans to live to that age. Do you have a plan to save enough money for retirement?
It honestly seems quite daunting and complicated to determine that financial plan. So the least you can do is sit down and work on your budget. See if you can increase the amount of money you can save monthly for retirement. Learn how to invest it and make it grow!
Medical costs:
If have you a shorter life expectancy than the average Canadian (84 years for females and 79 years for males – in 2017), then you may need to factor in the fact that you may need higher medical expenses in the future. Do you have good benefits or medical plan? You may need to consider having a larger emergency fund and/or a separate medical fund in your budget to account for sick days and for medical and prescription costs.
Life Insurance:
Perhaps you have life insurance coverage set up already. Would this information about your life expectancy sync with your life insurance coverage or plan? Would you consider switching to term life or to universal life insurance based on this information?
If you are planning to apply for life insurance, being in good health may get you better rates. So it is another incentive to be and stay healthy!
Enjoy life as long as possible
You are working hard in your family life, careers and trying to improve your finances. Once you do retire and/or become debt-free, what kind of health do you want to be in? Most likely you want to feel great and not sick. You want to enjoy your time focusing on the things that matter to you and not spending more time with your doctor. After working so hard for years, you want to enjoy those “golden years” as a healthy person. Start taking care of yourself (starting today!), so you can enjoy life as long as possible.
One subject that Project Big Life did not focus on is getting enough sleep. Sleep is so important for us to function optimally and stay healthy. Take a look at The Power of Sleep for reasons why and how we should sleep more.
Let’s be healthy and stay healthy so we can enjoy life both financially and physically. As we may live for a long time, we need to have a plan to ensure we have enough money for retirement, medical costs, and insurance in order to enjoy life to its fullest.
We need to plan for the fact that we may live for a long time and how would our financials plans support this?
Love your blog! 🤗
I got a life expectancy of 89, which seems like a decent run 🙂 As to enjoying life as long as possible that means we need to plan on income during retirement years! I certainly don’t want to work until I’m 80! I want to enjoy life, but doesn’t everybody? Time to review my savings goals!
Really important information! Thanks for sharing. Happy Summer, Kippi
Thanks! Have a great summer
Hi Minda
I often wonder about insurances – which types are best for the different stages of life.
Keep up the nice work on the blog 🙂
Thanks Fanny 🙂
We have term insurance right now to cover our debts (mortgage) while our kids are young.
I think universal/permanent insurance can be for those who are more financially secure and can afford the larger premium rates.