Читать книгу Social Security For Dummies - Peterson Jonathan, Jonathan Peterson - Страница 60

When figuring out how much to reduce people’s benefits if they take the benefits early, the SSA considered average longevity. But you could live a lot longer than average — and that makes your decision on when to claim benefits that much more important.

No one can predict exactly how long you’ll live. You should also consider how old your parents lived to be and your personal health, including chronic conditions that may shorten your life span.

You can use an online calculator to assess your life expectancy. Go to www.livingto100.com and click on “Take the Calculator” or take the Longevity Test at www.bluezones.com, and you’ll be given an estimate. The Longevity Illustrator, developed by the American Academy of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries, highlights how long you might live at different ages of retirement; visit www.longevityillustrator.org.

In the following sections, I cover two topics related to longevity and Social Security: completing a break-even analysis and handling the possibility of exceeding your projected life expectancy. Neither is as complicated as it sounds.