Problem—We’re Really Bad at Guessing When We’ll Die

401k, longevity, actuaries, savings

Never a fun topic, but necessary.

As any life insurance salesman can attest, death is rarely (never) a pleasant subject, but a new survey from the Society of Actuaries reveals just how bad we are at predicting our own demise—weird, but true.

Attempting to determine the age at which it will happen certainly makes sense, given high-profile concerns over longevity, a supposed retirement crisis, as well as paltry savings and assets that many of us will easily outlive.

The SOA reported that half of consumers misestimate their life expectancy by five or more years, with 23 percent overestimating and 28 percent underestimating.

“This can have major implications on retirement preparedness, with those who underestimate their life expectancy facing a greater risk of outliving their financial assets and experiencing financial stress in retirement, while those who overestimate may not prepare properly for the care of financial dependents in the future,” according to the research.

Who’s better with their predictions about passing on?

The survey found:

“The most important finding of this study is that 51% of the U.S. population misestimated their life expectancy by at least five years—either too high or too low,” the SOA noted.

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