As long as you have enough money to make it to the end, that's good!

It's very sobering to be thinking about this. I don't think I'll make it to see my grandkids graduate from high school, and that makes me sad. Or if I'm alive, I probably won't be physically or mentally able to enjoy it. Gee, I'm cheerful today, huh?

Good for you Chisue, 20 years is a good length of time!

chisue, what you discovered was just the arithmetic

3 % growth minus 4 % inflation (too high by the way) equals minus 1 percent each year.

-1 x 20 years = -20% plus compounding will get you to -25 percent.

If you want to see it decrease by 50%, change inflation in the calculation to 5%. Then 3-5= -2, x 20 + compounding = -50.

The calculation that makes more sense is total savings divided by 20 equals how much to draw down your savings each year. You can actually take out more, because of growth and the fact that you'll be less active (and spending less) in later years.

Good luck, hit 100!

A lot of the determining factors for how long we will live are genetic. One should not look just at your parents, but include any of your siblings and your parents siblings and maybe even their parents.

Based on that information, I have less than 10 years. With that thought in mind I intend on hustling a lot of younger women to help me through those final years (don't tell the missus about this).

And, to add to your wealth situation, you could become a convenience store robber. If you get caught, then your money woes are minor, you'll get 3 hots and a cot for many years.

Jim

fil is 92 and did have enough till he had to move to nursing home and onto Medicaid...he needs 24 hour care now...and now we have to reduce savings for him...do you know his place is about 5 grand a month? it's scary!

Oh, I've always tried to look ahead. I recently came across a list of milestones I'd made when DS was a baby, going out to when he would graduate HS and when DH and I would be 65. (I couldn't anticipate that my mother would develop leukemia and die seven years after I made the list or that DH would take early retirement.)

We had, and dropped, long term care insurance after I ran the numbers about how few people needed it for more than a year. It's one reason I want to help ensure my life will reach a natural end, not be prolonged after *I* am not "in there" anymore.

The questionnaire asked about height and weight; marital status; health and longevity of immediate family; access to medical care; educational level; age and accident record of the person doing most of the driving (my DH). Just having gotten this far seemed to carry a lot of weight.

I just put "How long will I live?" into Google and several tests popped up.

Jim --If we ever do need to turn to robbing convenience stores, *I* will have to be the driver. DH is a very careful driver. I think we'd do banks; more money in it. I'd do jewelry stores, but would have to develop a new circle of friends first. (Jewelry thieves never seem to get caught.)

OJ -- We're Americans. We're spending fortunes on medical care as we age. I already budget more for that than for groceries.

I just completed 4 of those on-line tests. The results were varied; lowest number of years left was 12 and the highest number of years left was 23.

I would be pleased to make it another 20 years!

Both the missus and I used to work in elder care. Both of us worked with elders in a nursing home. About 4 years ago, we decided that long-term care insurance would be practical due to our estate situation. If I did not own what I own, it would not be an issue. We want to pass on to my sons (if they out-live both of us) all that we have accumulated.

Jim

If I took one of those surveys, it would say I should have been dead 10 years ago.

The reason your expected average age went up after passing 70 is a quirk of the mathematics. You have already gotten to 70 so a new projection is made on the average age when 50% of your 70-age group will have passed on. Each year older you get, the median goes up, but at lesser amounts as you get older. When you attain age 80, statistically you will live a bit longer, well at least half of your group will.

Jem -- Ah, thanks for explaining that. (Have you attended your HS reunion yet?)

I'm 85 and I wish I would live long enough to see if my youngest granddaughter succeeds as an opera singer. She is still in college and has a couple years left, esp. if she goes for a Masters. She is what they call a dramatic soprano: A dramatic soprano is a type of operatic soprano with a powerful, rich, emotive voice that can sing over, or cut through, a full orchestra.

I have a cousin a little older than I who calls that kind of singing "screeching," so I don't mention it to her too often!!

Marygailv -- I hope you do see her succeed! I love to hear a formally trained voice -- an *instrument*. "Screeching" is what we hear every day, with most 'pop stars' whose voices are so shallow they must be amplified and 'mixed'. Most can't hit a note without 'sliding in' to it. Is yours a musical family? Inherited talent?