Plan for the future: Why?

Human longevity is like the seasons. We’re born in the spring (our childhood), which soon becomes summer (adulthood). For most of human history, this was the point at which most people died. Just 100 years ago, the average life expectancy at birth in America was 47.

Thanks to better medical care and higher standards of living, the average life expectancy today is almost 80 – and climbing. In fact, the fastest growing segment of the American population is people 85 years and older, a trend that’s expected to continue for as long as every person reading this is alive.

More of us will live well beyond our ancestors, with additional decades of life that include autumn (our middle years), then winter (when we’re most frail and vulnerable). What’s changed is not only our lifespan but its unpredictable course. While children and adults mature relatively similarly (most two-year olds are alike, as are most forty-year olds), this changes in our later years – we each age differently.

Someone in her 80s can be like a sixty year old, and vise versa. Genetics has a say in how well we age, but research shows the most important ingredient is lifestyle – exercise, not smoking, good nutrition, social connections, and others -- plus plain blind luck.

Then we die. Death isn’t a defeat but the normal course for all living things, and it’s natural, like the seasons.

Demographers who study population trends talk about “the age triangle.” Throughout history, if you slice and dice most populations by age and sex, you have a picture like this:

This was the age triangle in America in 1945, just before the Baby Boomers were born. Lots of babies were being born -- and then, as people grew older, many died, creating a triangle. This is the way most populations have aged for centuries.

But look what’s happening to the age triangle! Because so many of us are living well beyond previous generations, it’s become a rectangle:

A lot of babies are still being born – but we’re not dying! Between 2000 – 2050, the number of Americans 85 and older is expected to grow from 4 million to 18 million people. So why should we plan for our aging – and longer lives? Because more of us are likely to live far longer than our ancestors, longer than most of us can even imagine. Although we each hope for good health up to the moment we die (quietly, in our sleep), the reality is much different for most people.

You don’t want to be 90 and sick to think about these issues for the first time.