Let’s start with the good news. We all will life longer than we think.
Bad news is that we’re going to living longer than we think.
A new report from excellent The Stanford Center on Longevity finds that nearly 1/2 of all Americans are underestimating their lifespans by as much as 5 yrs. That’s troubling, since, based on forecasts, adding 3 years to the average lifespan will increase the “cost of aging” by 50%.
The other common misconception is around retirement. The Stanford report points out that while the expected retirement age is 65, the medium actual age is closer to 61. And, similar to the subject of life expectancy, most Americans are overconfident on their ability to have paid employment in these years from 61 to 65.
Not surprisingly, the issue of Ageism is one of the obstacles facing many older workers.
Ageism will be one of the major topics featured at Stanford’s Century Summit in late January https://www.longevity-project.com/century-summit-2025-landing-page).
At the end of day – the end is thankfully farther away than we all think AND older workers need and deserve opportunities to continue the Labor Force.