I’m a life actuary, so of course I’m the guy who can find a way to bring life expectancy into any conversation. But this time of year, it’s really easy, because right now a lot of people are starting to break their New Year’s resolutions. Ironically, this includes me. I think I went two days of “eating healthy” before I slid right back to the pizza and potato chips. And that gym membership I was going to get… yeah, that never happened. Hopefully, you’re doing a much better job at keeping your annual resolution.
My colleague Joe recently blogged about making resolutions with your personal finances, and it got me thinking about the importance of resolutions in my line of work (even though I am struggling to keep mine). Yes, your resolutions could save your life.
Take a look at this list of popular New Year’s Resolutions on USA.gov. They’re probably familiar to you already. Getting fit. Reducing stress. Quitting smoking. I don’t have to tell you these lifestyle changes could extend your life expectancy.
But by how much? You may be asking, “What’s this life expectancy nonsense anyway?” Well, actuaries work in probabilities and averages – words that scare most of my non-actuary friends. On an individual basis, it’s nearly impossible to determine how long you’ll live. But when you look at a large enough group of people with similar medical histories and lifestyle choices, you can start to make some good predictions because you can start to see some common trends.
We’ve gathered our stats to create the COUNTRY Financial Age Predictor. Check it out when you have a few minutes. The predictor will give you hints on what you can do to extend your life expectancy. It says I’m going to live another 60 years. If I’m able to finally stick to a resolution, maybe I’ll be able to add a few more to the number!
[TJ Turner was an Actuarial Analyst at COUNTRY]
