These days, if you retire early, you could expect to live another 30 years — or even longer — in retirement.
Take the hypothetical example of Dave, 50-year-old IT professional who wants to retire at 60. His financial advisor, after running several simulations, recommends that Dave have 30 years of savings set aside to cover him until age 90.
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But Dave’s not sure how realistic that is. How many people who retire at 60 actually live to 90? is advisor being practical or overly cautious?
He’s been contributing to a 401(k) and IRA since his mid-20s and he estimates he’ll have enough saved to live comfortably for about 20 years if he retires at 60. But if he boosts his savings rate so he can cover an extra 10 years in retirement, his current budget will be stretched thin.
He doesn’t want to penny-pinch in the present when he might only live another 10 or 15 years after retiring. He’s divorced, has no children and doesn’t feel pressure to leave a large legacy.
Life expectancy vs survival rates
In the U.S., life expectancy is 75.9 years for men and 81.1 years for women, according to the 2023 data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics based. (1)
But instead of focusing on overall life expectancy, it’s helpful to think about remaining life expectancy. If you reach 65, your life expectancy actually increases.
A Stanford report found that people who live to 65 tend to outlive their parents. By that point, you’ve already overcome many early-life risks like violence or disease. (2)
The Social Security Administration (SSA) life expectancy table shows that if you reach age 65, you can expect to live another 19.66 years if you’re a woman and another 16.94 years if you’re a man. Of course, those are averages — If you’re healthy, you could live much longer.
Still, many Americans either underestimate or overestimate how long they’ll live, according to a TIAA Institute report on longevity literacy and retirement readiness. Longevity literacy refers to how well you understand how long people tend to live after retirement. (3)
“As with financial literacy, retirees with strong longevity literacy were more likely to plan and save for retirement while still working compared to those with poor longevity knowledge, and they tend to experience better financial outcomes in retirement,” the report found.
Meanwhile, those with poor longevity knowledge, particularly about the life expectancy of a 60-year-old, were least likely to prepare financially before leaving the workforce.
Read more: Want an extra $1,300,000 when you retire? Dave Ramsey says this 7-step plan ‘works every single time’ to kill debt, get rich in America — and that ‘anyone’ can do it
What’s a reasonable longevity period?
If Dave retires at 60, he won’t be eligible to claim his Social Security benefit for another two years. And if he claims it early, before his full retirement age (FRA) of 67, his monthly benefit will be permanently reduced. He also won’t qualify for Medicare until 65. So he’ll need enough savings to fills those gaps.
Even if Dave waits until 67 to claim Social Security, the average monthly beefit for a retired worker is $2,008.31 as of August 2025, according to the SSA. That’s just over $24,000 a year — not nearly enough to cover more than basic expenses.
Social Security is meant to be supplemented with personal savings and other income sources. The challenge is figuring out how much is enough — because no one knows exactly how long they’ll live. But you also don’t want to outlive your money.
While financial advisors aren’t doctors, it’s still worth discussing your family medical history. That helps you estimate not just your potential lifespan but also possible long-term care needs.
For example, Dave’s mom died in her early 60s from breast cancer, and his dad passed in his early 70s from a heart condition. While Dave is healthy, he assumes he may not reach the average life expectancy for men.
Still, he might eventually need long-term care. Nearly 70% of Americans aged 65 and older require it at some point, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The median annual cost of a home health aide in 2024 was $77,792, while a semi-private room in a nursing home was $111,325, according to the 2024 Cost of Care Survey conducted by Genworth and CareScout. (4)
Longevity plays a big role in determining how much you need to save, and a financial advisor can model different scenarios to help you find a realistic target.
A common rule of thumb is that you’ll spend 80% of your pre-retirement income each year after you stop working — though that depends on your lifestyle. Fidelity suggests saving at least three tues your salary by 40, six times by 50, eight times by 60 and 10 times by 67. (5)
If you’re worried about outliving your savings, you can also consider income sources that last a lifetime, such as Social Security, a traditional pensions or a lifetime annuity sold by an insurance company.
And if you don’t live to 90, your money won’t go to waste — it’ll go to a named beneficiary or your estate, as long as that’s clearly stated in your will.
Dave doesn’t have children to leave money to, but he’s considering donating to a cause close to his heart, such as cancer research in honor of his late mother.
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Article sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.
CDC (1); Stanford (2); TIAA (3); Genworth (4); Fidelity (5.
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.