Taking Care of Mom and Dad: Life Expectancy: The Longer Your Parents Live...

It's no news that people are living longer. Advances in medicine and people's general awareness of what a healthy lifestyle means (i.e., diet, exercise, etc.) have dramatically changed life expectancy charts. There are also fewer accidental deaths today. If you are a 55-yearold female you can expect to live to 85; but if you're already 70, you can expect to live to 87. You get two more years because, if you've made it to 70, chances are you're in decent shape. Likewise, while a 75-year-old female can expect to live to 89, an 85-year-old can expect to live to 93. This goes on and on, and makes sense out of the phrase "The longer you live, the longer you live."

You can find a chart with general life expectancies based on mortality rates by going to the National Center for Health Statistics, a division within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at www.cdc.gov/nchs. But these statistics are only averages of how long your parents may live. A lot of lifestyle choices and genetic makeup go into the actual number of years your parents will be around. If they've lived to see 80 years, they'll probably live to see more.

The age-adjusted death rate in the United States reached an all-time low in 2000 of 872 deaths per 100,000 population. And life expectancy reached a record high of 76.9 years at birth. If you're interested in "calculating" your parents' life expectancy, you can do so at www.livingto100.com. You'll be asked a series of questions that lead to an estimate of how long they'll live based on their lifestyle, genetics and family history. Meanwhile, consider these figures:

• the average life expectancy in 1900 was 49 years;
• some researchers say that 50 percent of baby girls born in the early 2000s will reach age 100;
• the average American expects to die at age 91.

A variety of upcoming medical breakthroughs will change how common ailments affect people. Medical researchers predict that, in the first half of the 21st Century:

• drugs will be available to fix the walls of blood vessels;
• heart disease will no longer be the leading cause of death;
• new therapies -- including surgical procedures -- will significantly reduce the risk of stroke;
• the most damaging effects of stroke will be reversible even up to 12 hours after the event.

Cancer may remain an enigma, but by 2010 many of the 300 different cancer treatments being developed during the early 2000s will be commercially available.

All this means that you need to plan for a longer retirement for both you and your parents. Since this book focuses on your parents, we'll help you decide whether or not your parents have assets that will last as long as they do.