Life expectancy

The biggest unknown in a retirement plan is how many years it has to cover. This estimate starts from Social Security life tables and adjusts for smoking, health history, weight and exercise, then gives you a careful planning age.

Current ageLife tableSmokingExercise

Health history (check any that apply)DiabetesHeart disease, heart attack or strokeCOPD or other chronic lung diseaseCancer in the past (now in remission)High blood pressureMore than 14 drinks a week (7 for women)A parent lived past 90

Height and weight (optional, for body-mass index)

Enter an age (30 or older) and choose a life table to see your estimate.

A rough, population-based estimate, not a medical prediction. It starts from the Social Security Administration 2022 period life table (2025 Trustees Report) and adjusts for each factor using published research on smoking and quitting (Jha et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 2013), diabetes (Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration, NEJM, 2011), body weight (Global BMI Mortality Collaboration, Lancet, 2016) and exercise (Arem et al., JAMA Internal Medicine, 2015). Effects shrink at older ages. Your doctor knows your health best. Nothing you enter here is saved.

Your numbers, working together

Each calculator answers one question. A Retirement Checkup puts them together for your household: savings, Social Security, your home, taxes, health costs and family, including what happens if one of you lives much longer than the other. Keep the numbers you found here; they make the questionnaire quicker and the results more accurate.

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