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| Unrealistic life expectancies Photo: Shutterstock |
Research by Just Group has found that men of this age expect to live to 78.9 on average, despite government projections suggesting they are likely to live closer to 87.5.
Women in this ‘Generation X’ age bracket expect to live to 80.5 instead of the official forecast of 90.1, with Just Group communications director, Stephen Lowe, warning that underestimating could have “toxic consequences”.
“Nearly a million members of Generation X are set to arrive at age 55 every year for the next decade or so, and will face crucial decisions about whether to take pension money or leave it to keep growing,” he said.
“Without a realistic idea of how long they will need that pension fund to last, it will be difficult to make an informed decision – many people already seem to be making decisions their older selves are going to regret.”
The research shows that life expectancies become more realistic as people get older, with the estimates of those over 70 not far off official projections.
It was found that men aged between 40 and 44 underestimate their life expectancy by approximately 12.1 years on average, but actually overestimate by half a year once they are 75-79 years old.
Similarly, women aged 40-44 predict they will live 10.4 years less than the government projections suggest, with this narrowing to 2.1 years once they are aged 75-79.
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Source: The Actuary
