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Investments

Rethinking retirement assumptions

Friday 2nd of February 2018

1 – Life expectancy at retirement is underestimated

The good news for retirees is that they are likely to live a few years longer than what news headlines tell us.  This matters for advisers and how they help clients approaching retirement.

Average life expectancy in New Zealand for males is 80 years and females 83.5 years. That is life expectancy from birth. By the time a client has made it to retirement age, they will have outlasted many in their cohort - many will have already passed away from accident or illness.  The life expectancy of those who make it to 65 is therefore much higher than life expectancy at birth.

For a client aged 65 their life expectancy is now 84 years (for males) and 86.5 years (for females).  By making it to 65 life expectancy from that point is actually a few years longer than from birth.  Great news!

2 – Prepare for a long retirement?

An issue for advisers is to then figure out how long to plan for savings to last. Just targeting the average lifespan from retirement (86.5 years for women, 84 years for men) could be high risk. 

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