The client, who is 64, receives his Customized Longevity Planning Report and learns that he has a 50% chance of surviving to age 82*, 29% shorter than the survival probability of a standard person of his age and gender. Here are some financial implications of his life expectancy.

Spending vs. saving. The client is retiring in nine months, and he’s not looking forward to it. He has always enjoyed his work, even though the stress of his management job has led to a couple of mini-strokes and high blood pressure. He has never had time to exercise, and until about 10 years ago, he smoked. His wife died of breast cancer five years ago, and since then, he’s been more devoted to his work than ever. He’s invited over to his daughter’s house for dinner every other Sunday, but otherwise, his friends are his co-workers.

The client’s earnings have been good for many years. He leases a nice German car, and lives in a seven-year-old house in the suburbs. It feels a bit too big for him without his wife, and he’s talking to a real estate agent about finding a condominium. But he will probably end up with about the same mortgage payment, though for less space. His shorter-than-average life expectancy suggest that curtailing spending may not be a necessary strategy for him.

Investments. He and his advisor agree that his life expectancy means his portfolio, now primarily in growth stocks, can be rebalanced to give him more retirement income. However, he wants to make sure that, if a serious stroke or heart disease are in his future, that he can afford good care, without burdening his daughter. He’s looking into long-term care insurance, but, because of his medical condition, he may not be able to qualify. So he wants to make sure his investment portfolio – possibly with the sale of his home – would be able to cover health care expenses if need be.

Wealth transfer. The client wants to benefit his daughter and her two sons. He hadn’t thought it was necessary to create an estate plan yet, but his CLPR results changed his mind. He wants to move some of his assets into trusts so that they are clearly earmarked for her and the children. And he and his advisor are discussing a gifting plan so that he can help his daughter with educational expenses for the boys.

The client, who is 58, receives her Customized Longevity Planning Report and learns that she has a 50% chance of surviving to age 93*, much like the survival probability of a standard person of her age and gender. Here are some financial implications of her life expectancy.

Spending vs. saving. The client, a primary care physician, has devoted herself to her work and her patients. She’s single. She’s reasonably healthy, though she’s never had enough time to exercise or eat very well – too much convenience food. She lives in a condo she bought 25 years ago; she paid off the mortgage 10 years ago. She drives a 12-year-old compact car. Except for medical conventions, she doesn’t travel much. Her earnings have been relatively high through the years, but she’s been too busy to carefully manage her money.

Investments. She recently decided she needed a financial advisor. Her new advisor recommended they start their planning with a Customized Longevity Planning Report. The results indicate an average life expectancy. The client is likely to be living mainly on the proceeds of her portfolio for 30+ years. They agree on a moderate-growth approach and begin to move the client’s money out of the convenient but low-yielding savings and money-market accounts in which most of it sits.

Wealth transfer. The client has a niece and nephew. She helped put them through college, and she plans to leave most of her assets to them and their mother, her sister. She would also like to benefit the hospital she has been associated with all these years. She and her advisor are beginning to work on a gifting plan and an estate plan. She has a term life insurance policy. To protect her heirs, she intends to convert it to a permanent policy so that it will be able to pay the taxes on her estate.

The client, who is 61, receives his Customized Longevity Planning Report and learns that he has a 50% chance of surviving to age 93*, 12% longer than the survival probability of a standard person of his age and gender. Here are some financial implications of his life expectancy. 

Spending vs. saving. The client and his second wife are counting the days until retirement. They plan to leave the city behind and buy a place in the college town where he got his English degree 40 years ago. His spending, except on books, movies and the theater, has never been lavish. He has always spent most of his free time reading, running and biking.

His CLPR results make it clear that he will want to continue to be careful about spending. He may have to stretch the income from his investments to last through a 30-40-year-long retirement. So moving to a smaller community with a lower cost of living has all the more appeal for him. He plans to defer taking social security benefits as long as possible. His wife, an editor, expects to work part-time after retirement. She already does most of her work at home, on the computer. (Her CLPR results were much like his – she has a 50% probability of survival to age 94.)

Investments. The client’s income and his wife’s combined have never been more than about $170,000 a year – and often less. And their portfolio isn’t large. So maintaining it and growing it will be their main objective, particularly with their long life expectancies. They agree with their advisor that their portfolio, already primarily in growth-oriented investments, needs to stay in growth for now.

Wealth transfer. The client has a grown daughter from his first marriage. She has done very well in a large marketing firm, so he isn’t concerned about her financial future. He’d like to leave money to his college and some arts organizations, if he and his wife are able to conserve some of their assets. But they realize that there may be little left.

The client, who is 69, receives his Customized Longevity Planning Report and learns that he has a 50% chance of surviving to age 88*, 9% shorter than the survival probability of a standard person of his age and gender. Here are some financial implications of his life expectancy.  

Spending vs. saving. The client has been enjoying his retirement. He’d had a boat and a house on the bay for years before he retired, but he rarely got a chance to enjoy them while he was running his business. Since he sold it at 65, he spends more than half the year at his “vacation” home.

His life expectancy results confirmed the wisdom of some of the decisions he made in his early 60s. After he survived a heart attack at 62, he decided he was going to start cutting back on his 60-hour weeks, and started the search for a buyer for his business.

Since the heart attack, and again after getting his CLPR results, he’s determined to enjoy not just his time on the boat, but the company of his friends and children. He’s been divorced for almost 20 years, but he’s very close to his sons and their wives and children. The house on the bay is full of people on the weekends – he spends far more on groceries now than when he was working, but it’s well worth it.

He knows his health is not getting any better, and he knows he faces the possibility of significant health care costs in the future.

Investments. The proceeds of the sale of his business left the client with a healthy portfolio. He and his advisor have focused on income-producing stocks – a decision his CLPR results reinforced. They want to be sure to preserve his capital in case medical and long-term care costs become significant in the years ahead.

Wealth transfer. The CLPR results prompted the client to revisit his estate plan. He and his advisor are revising it to add trust funds for his grandchildren’s education. Otherwise, he plans to leave most of his assets – the portfolio, the houses, the boat – to his sons. He has a large life insurance policy with his sons named as beneficiaries; the proceeds are meant to pay estate taxes.

The client, who is 70, receives her Customized Longevity Planning Report and learns that she has a 50% chance of surviving to age 93*, about the same as the survival probability of a standard person of her age and gender. Here are some financial implications of her life expectancy. 

Spending vs. saving. The client and her husband have lived in the same house since their second year of marriage. They raised four children here, and now it’s the gathering place for three generations – they have nine grandchildren. The house has long-since been paid for, and their family-centered lifestyle has been relatively frugal.

The results of the client’s Customized Longevity Planning Report were reassuring because, while some of her ancestors lived into their 80s and 90s, several died in their early 60s. She has high blood pressure, and she’s never gotten regular exercise, but she hasn’t been overweight either.

When she got her results, she persuaded her husband, who is two years older, to get a CLPR as well. He has a 50% probability of survival to age 76. That means she may be a widow for several years.

Investments.Most of their savings went into mutual funds over the years. She didn’t work outside the home, but he retired with a pension. Otherwise, their main asset is their home.

The client and her husband have a balanced investment portfolio, which they are gradually shifting toward income-producing vehicles. They are also looking into the purchase of an immediate annuity. With the relative life expectancies, their advisor has suggested a joint-and-survivor annuitization pattern, with the payment reducing to 75% at the first death, which is likely to be the husband’s.

Wealth transfer. She and her husband have a will and an estate plan, benefiting their children and grandchildren. Her biggest financial concern has always been protecting her estate in case she needs long-term care – as her mother did. She and her brothers had to sell their mother’s house to pay nursing home costs. Because of this, she bought long-term care coverage before she was 60.

The client, who is 67, receives her Customized Longevity Planning Report and learns that she has a 50% chance of surviving to age 96*, 11% longer than the survival probability of a standard person of her age and gender. Here are some financial implications of her life expectancy.

Spending vs. saving. Since she retired last year as CFO of a medium-sized company, the client has been consulting part time and spending more time at the gym. In general, she and her husband are spending less than when they were working full-time, but they’re planning to take trips to Morocco, Spain and Greece in the next few years.

The client’s life expectancy results were generally good news to her, but they have forced her to give hard thought to how she’ll stretch her income for 30+ years past her peak earning years. She retired with a pension and a 401K, but she wants to be cautious. She hasn’t started taking social security benefits yet, and she wants to continue her consulting work as long as possible. And she and her husband have discussed how to satisfy their yen to travel at a lower cost – looking for airline bargains and staying at quaint inns rather than four-star hotels.

Investments. The client, her husband and their advisor agree that her longer-than-average life expectancy (her husband’s is “average,” to age 87; she may outlive him by more than 10 years) means their portfolio needs to be growth-oriented. She and her husband have a big house where they did a lot of business entertaining in the past. Now their positions don’t require that, and they’re thinking of selling the house and moving into something snugger and less expensive.

Wealth transfer. The client and her husband purchased a second-to-die policy a few years before they retired. They have an estate plan, but they know they’ll need to revisit it periodically. They don’t have children, but she has nieces and nephews and many charities she would like to leave money to. She’s buying a long-term care policy so that she can preserve her assets if she needs in-home care or nursing home care in the future. Because her husband’s life expectancy is significantly shorter than hers, it’s unlikely that he will be there to provide care.

The client who is 85, receives her Customized Longevity Planning Report and learns that she has a 50% chance of surviving to age 94*, 22% shorter than the survival probability of a standard person of her age and gender. Here are some financial implications of her life expectancy. 

Spending vs. saving. The client has a simple lifestyle, and her current expenses are few. But she’s worried about future long-term care expenses. She has fallen twice, and now has a difficult time getting around the house on her own without a walker. Her daughter retired at 59 to have time to care for her, but the client is concerned that she may need professional care if she becomes more disabled. She has heart trouble, but Medicare covers her doctor bills and prescription medications. However, Medicare doesn’t cover long-term care expenses.

Investments. When he died at 62, the client’s husband left her a blue chip investment portfolio. Overseen by her long-time financial advisor, it has performed well. Stock dividends and social security have seen her through for 23 years. Her house, 130 years old, on one of the nicest streets in the city, has gained significantly in value. Her daughter has helped her keep it in mint condition, so, even in a down real estate market, she feels she has a significant asset there.

Wealth transfer. The client wants to pass most of her assets to her daughter, and her greatest concern is that long-term care expenses may deplete her portfolio and force her to sell the house. If she needs additional income, she and her advisor have discussed selling one of her life insurance policies in a life settlement. She got her life expectancy evaluation on his advice as a pre-screen to see whether she was likely to qualify for a life settlement. No matter what, she will keep at least one policy to pay the taxes on her estate, shielding her daughter from them.

The client, who is 76, receives her Customized Longevity Planning Report and learns that she has a 50% chance of surviving to age 94*, about the same as the survival probability of a standard person of her age and gender. Here are some financial implications of her life expectancy. 

Spending vs. saving.The client was well provided for when her husband died three years ago. She has been able to maintain their home and second home, and travel to Europe every other year. She’s watching her diet and monitoring her blood pressure and cholesterol, but she still wants to cut back on spending to make sure she has enough to cover possible health-related expenses in the years to come.

Investments.She has worked with her financial advisor to build a rather conservative but balanced portfolio. With her 30% probability of survival to age 98, and a concern about medical and care costs in the future, she wants to make sure she has some growth-oriented investments. They may help her hedge against the possibility of some down years in the market in the next decade.

Wealth transfer. The client has a son who took over the family business, and she has three grandchildren. She created an estate plan after her husband died, which will benefit her family and the local art museum. She set up a charitable remainder trust with the museum as beneficiary. When she and her husband were in their 60s, they bought a second-to-die policy. When she dies, the proceeds should cover the estate tax liability.

Other considerations. The client has found that she’s only going to her home on the shore twice a year. When her husband was alive, they spent at least a weekend a month there. Now her son and his family are following in that once-a-month beach weekend tradition. The client and her son have discussed a transfer of the property. She’s concerned about whether she will need the proceeds of a sale of the house to supplement her income in the years ahead. If she doesn’t, she will want to transfer it to her son in a way that will mitigate his cost and tax liability. She and her financial advisor and attorney are discussing the options now.

The client, who is 77, receives his Customized Longevity Planning Report and learns that he has a 50% chance of surviving to age 93*, 5% longer than the survival probability of a standard person of his age and gender. Here are some financial implications of his life expectancy.

Spending vs. saving. The client has been frugal ever since he retired 12 years ago, and that’s good. His savings are likely to have to stretch farther than if he had an average or short life expectancy, relative to standard. He hasn’t had to face the heavy medical and long-term care expenditures some people face by this stage, but he knows that they may come eventually. He decided to purchase long term care insurance because he has already lost his wife, and, with his long life expectancy, no other relatives or friends are likely to be able to take care of him if he needs care in 10-15 years.

Investments. He and his advisor agree that his longer-than-average life expectancy means his portfolio, now primarily in income-producing stocks, needs to be rebalanced to include more growth-oriented investments.

Wealth transfer. The client has nieces and nephews, and he and his advisor and attorney are working on an estate plan to benefit them. But he realizes that his own income needs could easily stretch well beyond age 93, which is just his average life expectancy, and could seriously deplete his assets over the next decade or two. That means his estate is likely to be modest.

Other considerations. It isn’t part of the strategy yet, but the client has asked his advisor to help him explore ways to turn some of his less liquid assets into income, if need be. A ‘Plan B’ that he finds interesting is a reverse mortgage, which would provide him with monthly payments on his home. If he decides to set up such a plan in a few years, he will get an updated life expectancy report, because it will help him decide how to structure the payment stream.