Retirement Income Planning
Longevity Risk
Living a long life is a blessing — but it's also one of the biggest financial risks in retirement. Planning for longevity is planning for confidence.
What Is Longevity Risk?
The risk of outliving your money. With healthcare improvements, more retirees are living into their 90s and 100s — often decades longer than initial plans assumed.
Why It's Easy to Underestimate
Average life expectancies hide a wide range. A 65-year-old couple has a meaningful chance that at least one spouse lives past 95. Planning to the average is planning to fall short for half of households.
How to Plan for It
Tools include delaying Social Security to maximize lifetime benefit, using lifetime income annuities, QLACs, and maintaining some growth allocation late into retirement.
The Emotional Side
Many retirees underspend out of fear of running out. Lifetime income tools give people permission to enjoy retirement — knowing income will continue regardless of how long they live.
The Bottom Line
Plan for a long life. The cost of being wrong about longevity — and outliving your money — is far higher than the cost of planning for it.