How Long May You Expect to Stay Alive?

Have you ever wondered how long you will live? Maybe you're curious about what factors affect your life span, or how you can improve your chances of living longer. Or maybe you just want to plan ahead for your retirement, your bucket list, or your legacy. Whatever the reason, knowing your life expectancy can be both interesting and useful.

Life expectancy is the average number of years that a person can expect to live, based on the current mortality rates and other statistics. It is not a fixed number, but rather a statistical estimate that can change over time and vary depending on many factors, such as age, gender, lifestyle, genetics, and environment.

Some people may want to know their life expectancy because they are interested in their health and well-being. They may want to know how their habits, such as smoking, drinking, diet, and exercise, affect their longevity. They may also want to know how they can prevent or manage chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, that can shorten their life span.

Other people may want to know their life expectancy because they are planning for their future. They may want to know how much money they need to save for retirement, or how long they can expect to work before they retire. They may also want to know how much time they have left to fulfill their dreams and goals, such as traveling the world, writing a book, or starting a business.

Knowing your life expectancy can also help you make important decisions about your life insurance, your estate planning, and your end-of-life care. You may want to ensure that your loved ones are financially secure after you pass away, or that your wishes are respected in case of a medical emergency.

Of course, knowing your life expectancy is not a guarantee of how long you will actually live. There are many uncertainties in life that can affect your mortality. You may live longer or shorter than the average estimate, depending on your luck, your choices, and your circumstances.

But knowing your life expectancy can give you a general idea of what to expect and how to prepare. It can also motivate you to live each day to the fullest and make the most of the time you have.

Below I list a few tools that you may play with to learn about your predicted life expectancy. The results you receive may vary from a tool to tool.

I like Healthy Life Expectancy Calculator developed by the Goldenson Center for Actuarial Research at the University of Connecticut. This calculator estimates healthy, unhealthy, and total life expectancy based on lifestyle, health, and habits. It also provides information on how to improve health and increase life expectancy.

HLE Calculator

Social Security Administration offers a very simple tool which shows you the average number of additional years a person can expect to live, based only on the sex and date of birth you enter. It does not take not into account a wide number of factors such as current health, lifestyle, and family history that could increase or decrease life expectancy.

Retirement & Survivors Benefits: Life Expectancy Calculator

I hope that you will like the result you receive, or at the very least, will get some idea about what to do to increase your healthy lifespan!

P.S. Here is a short video of me using the Healthy Life Expectancy Calculator. I wanted to explore how having or not having diabetes impacts the healthy life expectancy of two nearly identical individuals, with the only difference being that one has diabetes and the other does not.

In this instance, a woman with diabetes had a life expectancy nearly 4 years shorter than another woman with similar traits who did not have diabetes. However, did you know that type 2 diabetes can be prevented, sometimes be reversed or put in remission? We will discuss this in future posts or you can book your consultation with us today.