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For decades, 65 has been the goalpost most everyone in the labor force worked toward for retirement. But why 65? The answer isn't clear-cut — but it is an interesting story with cameos from colorful politicians ranging from the Iron Chancellor to the Kingfish.
I had heard that the Kaiser selected 65 because it was the median age of death for workers. Half of the people would never collect and that would help fund the other half. I don't know if that's true or what the actual figures were for 19th century Germany. Life expectancy of adults is a lot different from that at birth.
We always hear that retirement ages should be changed because of the great changes in life extent, but the life expectancy at 60 or 65 really hasn't changed that dramatically in recent years. I think we may be living healthier longer.
I had heard that the Kaiser selected 65 because it was the median age of death for workers. Half of the people would never collect and that would help fund the other half. I don't know if that's true or what the actual figures were for 19th century Germany. Life expectancy of adults is a lot different from that at birth.
We always hear that retirement ages should be changed because of the great changes in life extent, but the life expectancy at 60 or 65 really hasn't changed that dramatically in recent years. I think we may be living healthier longer.
Average life expectancy has actually gone done slightly in the U.S.
yes and no . living to older ages has stalled however more of us are living longer . there is a difference between max age and how many at 65 go on to older ages .
a 65 year old couple has a 73% chance one of them will see 85
Life expectancy of adults is a lot different from that at birth.
Yes, it is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Johanna25
We always hear that retirement ages should be changed because of the great changes in life extent, but the life expectancy at 60 or 65 really hasn't changed that dramatically in recent years. I think we may be living healthier longer.
Life-Expectancy at Age 65 was 12 years for men in 1940. It's increased only 6 years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marino760
Average life expectancy has actually gone done slightly in the U.S.
Life-Expectancy at Age 65 hasn't.
Life-Expectancy in the US is heavily skewed by cultural and racial factors. Tiny homogeneous European nation-States don't have Chicagos or Baltimores, where hundreds die every year in gang violence.
I think 65 is a perfectly reasonable age for voluntary retirement and I think pushing it up to 70 and beyond is ridiculous. I am 68 and there is NO WAY I'd be capable of working full-time with all these aches, pains, arthritis, degenerative disk, etc. etc. etc.
life expectancy means different things when applied to different cohorts . for a 60 year old 83 is only the 50% point .
as kitces points out :
As you can see in the survival curve above, only roughly 1-in-10 people born in 2014 is expected to die prior to age 60 (i.e., 90% are still alive), but beyond that point, the rate of death begins to increase substantially. However, over 60% of children born in 2014 are still expected to be alive when the cohort reaches their “life expectancy” (i.e., average age at death) of 79. The median (age 83) is equivalent to the 50th percentile, and the mode (89) is roughly around the 30th percentile. By age 100, only 2% of people born in 2014 are expected to still be alive. While simple statistics like life expectancy certainly serve a purpose, survival curves give us a much better look at the “story” behind the data
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