It seems like no matter what financial publication you picked up last month, there was advice on how to make sure you don’t outlast your money. In fact, The New York Times carried an article about the fact that this very topic had been on the covers of the three most prominent personal finance magazines — Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Money and Smart Money.

Media writing about what the media is writing is a sure sign of a hot topic.

From Kiplinger’s writer Mary Beth Franklin comes this advice about making your money last a lifetime:

• Assume you are going to live a long time. Life expectancy is increasing; 30 year retirement is not unusual.
• Rising healthcare costs and inflation are important factors to consider in calculating your financial needs in retirement.
• Investing for growth needs to continue: Even after your retirement begins, perhaps as much as half of your assets should be invested for growth
• Make annual withdrawals during retirement of no more than 4%

The Wall Street Journal writer Jonathan Clements had these words of advice about aging:

• The longer you live, the longer you can expect to live. Life expectancy today is age 82 for a man and age 85 for a woman.
• Life expectancies are averages and few of us are average. While 31% of today’s 65-year-old women will die by age 80, 29% will live into their 90s.
• If you are married, one of you will probably live longer than the average.
• Your chance of beating the averages is pretty good if you are healthier and wealthier than average.

Why all the media attention on aging and money? Some of it has to do with the baby boomers turning 60 this year and how financially ready that group of 78 million Americans will be to retire. But it is also evidence of a shift in thinking about retirement and aging. There is greater optimism and fear than ever before about how one will live out his or her “senior” years. The spiraling costs of health care and long-term care costs are alarming.

At Longevity Alliance we applaud the media attention to the important issues of how to live a longer life with greater financial security. We work on that issue every day with people who come to Longevity Alliance for information on annuity, long-term care and Medicare-related health insurance products. Making the right decisions today can make a big difference for the rest of your life.

Steve Zaleznick
CEO, LongevityAlliance

© Longevity Alliance, Inc. 2006