What age do you use for retirement end date?

[OAG]

Now 79.5. I use 100 (makes the math easy 100/20 or 5% withdrawal rate). 5% withdrawal rate is about twice what I currently do. I assume that is the critical question.

[Miriam2]

. . . Personally, I put "100 years" into those calculators.

Vanguard Personal Advisors now also use 100 years old as the default time frame for retirement portfolios.

Taylor Larimore is 96 years old and still going strong

[willthrill81]

The longevity calculators I've used estimate my life expectancy at anywhere from age 92 and 101, depending on the calculator.

[DonIce]

My great grand-mother is still alive at 107 and she's still mentally there.

By the time I'm that age it will be the 2090s and I'm sure medical science will have answers to most present day conditions that cause premature death including cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's, etc. Dying before 120 will probably be considered an untimely and unlucky death. And that's even if we don't figure out any radical life extension methods, which people are actively researching already.

[Normchad]

I use 80, but I hope I don't last that long......

[friar1610]

At 50, 75 sounds old. I am 70. My good friend is 77. We both are still working full time and going strong. We are both boaters and spend a lot of time at the lake. At 75 you will still care about income and buying things, trust me.

+1

I just had my 75th birthday last week and I am far from over the hill. I'm not big on buying a lot of material stuff but (assuming this COVID-19 stuff ends at some point) I'm anxious to get back to international travel, theatre, concerts and cheering on my college hoop and hockey teams. My wife and I walk/hike and I also spend money on my gym dues where I stay pretty active.

All that said, I use 95 as my planning date. At my 80th birthday I'll probably readjust that to 100 unless there's a compelling reason not to.

Like you, I gave a govt (military) pension which makes it less critical to be absolutely correct on picking a "drop dead" date with precision.

[mrc]

My spouse is 8.5 years older than me. I used her reaching age 100. When projections showed we'll never run out of money, given any reasonable lifespan, so I stopped checking.

[mptfan]

By the time I'm that age it will be the 2090s and I'm sure medical science will have answers to most present day conditions that cause premature death including cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's, etc. Dying before 120 will probably be considered an untimely and unlucky death. And that's even if we don't figure out any radical life extension methods, which people are actively researching already.

I generally agree, but your extended life may not have the same quality of life. After a certain age most people experience reduced mobility, vision, hearing, mental capacity, arthritis and other conditions. I don't think I want to live to be 120 if my quality of life is dramatically reduced.

[Tim_in_GA]

It's tough to put a hard end date because income streams like SS and pension don't stop. But I think at some point my ability to travel will become limited and I probably will reduce spending. Men in my family don't live past their 70's but I am much, much healthier than they were. I plan on my savings running out at 90, and I wind down spending in my 80's rather than an abrupt halt. I'll be retiring overseas where health care and LTC are much more affordable.

[balbrec2]

I use 90 based on several life expectancy calculators plus 10% as insurance.

[MaxRN]

I use 99. My best guess, based on heredity and health, is I will live to 75 and DW will live into her 90's. But what if I'm wrong? I also use a modified liability matching portfolio plan and estimate 2.5% annual inflation. Conclusion: You better have a big pile of investments when you retire.

[Nestegg_User]

from this paper (and similar ones I've seen before)
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/ ... y-matters/
there's a correlation between socioeconomic/education and life expectancy-age of death.

previous papers had an average of 78 for upper two deciles, and looking at the numbers it had about a 7 yr sd; so two sd above would put the max at about age 92. The cited paper gives a range from the figure for the 80% income level of men at about 84 and women at about 87 to those in the top 1% income of men at 87.3 and women at 88.8, as compared to the bottom 1% having men at 72.3 and women at 78.5.

That, in general, BH are in the upper socioeconomic tranches of the population it would be expected that one should plan for at least some age beyond the mid-80's. (No standard deviations were presented in the paper, so upper bounds would be difficult to determine. If consistent with earlier papers of about 7 years, that would indicate a planning age to at least 92+). Note that small increases in LE are occurring for those in the higher socioeconomic levels but not those in the lower to middle levels.

{I personally have used age 92, as virtually all of my side in either lineage have passed before 85 (save one that was a couple of months shy of 100) and immediate parents didn't survive to even the earliest SS age.}

[MathWizard]

I am married, so I need to include my wife.

I am planning using 85 for me, 100 for her.
My parents & grandparents never made it past 80, but they were all poor,
and wealthier people tend to live longer.

My wife's aunts both lived till 98, her mother lived until 88,
and one grandparent lived to 101.

75 is extremely young. A 50 year old has a 50/50 chance of living to 80.

[Bogle7]

I use 87 for me (current age is 71) and 96 for my wife (age=62).
Why?
Because it is a "bad" scenario from an income point of view.
When I die her income will drop by $22K/yr. Loss of Social Security.

[TheTimeLord]

I use 90.

[celia]

I would rather have money left over when I die (run out of time) rather than have time left over when my money dies (runs out).

I still have a parent chugging along to almost 100 and I want to do better than that for myself.

[DDubya]

I am age 71, DW is 70; use 99 for planning. My mother lived to 94 so that might be going for me. The new RMD tables from IRS will go to 120, so there is that.

[Mr.BB]

You said by age 75 you won't care about buying things and income. I work with plenty of people in their mid-seventies and I think you're completely wrong on that assumption. What if your mental faculties are absolutely fine and your brain is sharp.
As I said I know a lot of people in their 70's, and you do forget things but doesn't mean you're sitting in the corner of a room staring at a wall.

[Tyler9000]

However what age do you use as your retirement end date.

Personally, I plan to live forever.

Of course, I don't really expect to live forever. I just structure my finances more like an endowment with the goal to maintain the inflation-adjusted principal in perpetuity rather than spend it down to zero at a certain age. It's the difference between the safe withdrawal rate and perpetual withdrawal rate, and IMHO it's an especially useful concept for early retirees.