The oldest man in the world currently lives in a care home in Liverpool. John Tinniswood, a great-grandfather from Merseyside, is 111 years old and took the title of world’s oldest man when the previous record holder passed away aged 114.
According to the BBC, he puts his longevity down to a regular meal of fish and chips on a Friday, and lots of hiking in his younger days.
Currently, “centenarians” – people who live to or past 100 – like John are still relatively rare, but they’re becoming more common as time goes on.
1 in 4 babies born today could live to 100
As medical care improves and we learn more about healthy living, life expectancies are rising. Indeed, according to Aegon, 1 in 4 babies born today will live to almost 100.
While your chances of reaching 100 might not be quite as high, it’s more likely than you may think. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) life expectancy calculator reveals that a 50-year-old woman has a 7.8% chance of living to 100, while a man of the same age has a 4.6% chance of reaching the milestone.
Women and men aged 30 have a 12% and 7.8% chance of becoming a centenarian. So, in the future, many of us could live for 100 years or more and it’s important to plan for this eventuality.
Indeed, it may help to start considering how your retirement and later-life plans would need to adapt if you lived to 100 years old.
Read on to learn three ways to emotionally and financially plan for a 100-year life.
1. Create a detailed retirement budget
One of the key challenges of living a longer life is that you may be more likely to run out of money in retirement. This is especially true if you underestimate your life expectancy, which many people do.
According to Professional Paraplanner, over-50s estimate that they will live until 80. However, average life expectancy for a 50-year-old is 84 for men and 87 for women.
So even if you don’t live all the way to 100, if you underestimate your life expectancy, you might miscalculate how long your retirement savings are likely to last and how much you can realistically afford to spend each year. This could mean you run out of money and have to make sacrifices later on.
Fortunately, if you create a detailed retirement budget with the help of a professional, you can ensure that you spend sustainably in retirement.
Your budget may include:
- Essential household bills
- Groceries
- Travel
- Eating out and socialising
- Hobbies
By adding up these costs, you can determine how much your ideal lifestyle is likely to cost each year. A financial planner can then use cashflow forecasts to predict how many years your savings will last if you maintain your chosen lifestyle.
Further to this, we can explore the most tax-efficient ways to draw from your retirement savings, so your wealth goes further.
2. Plan for later-life care costs
Longer life expectancies mean that you may be more likely to require care in later life.
This is because, while life expectancy is increasing, healthy life expectancy – the number of years people live in good health – isn’t rising at the same rate.
Data from the King’s Fund reveals that from 2020 to 2022, average life expectancy for men was 78.8 years, but healthy life expectancy was only 62.4 years. Women had an average life expectancy of 82.8 years but only lived for 62.7 years in good health.
Additionally, the figures showed that healthy life expectancy had fallen since it was last measured in the period between 2011 and 2013. This means that people are spending more of their later years in poor health than ever before – especially since the Covid-19 pandemic weakened the health of many older people.
As a result, you might be more likely to require expensive long-term care, especially if you live to 100.
The average cost of residential care in 2024, as reported by carehome.co.uk, is £1,160 a week. This rises to £1,410 if you require nursing care.
It’s important that you plan for this potential cost, so you can comfortably afford care should you need it. This is because you must fund all of your own care unless your total assets – including your home – fall below £23,250. This is known as the “upper capital limit” (UCL). The UCL is set to rise to £100,000 from October 2025.
If you don’t have enough savings to fund your care, you or your family may be forced to sell your home and use the proceeds to pay your fees. The local authority will only pay for care once you spend this wealth and your savings fall below the UCL.
As a result, you may not be able to leave the majority of your estate to your loved ones when you’re gone.
Fortunately, you may be able to avoid this situation if you plan ahead. We can work with you to calculate how much long-term care might cost you, should you need it. Then, we can explore ways to save and invest more wealth so you can cover those costs.
Consequently, if you require care, you may be able to pay for it without needing to sell your home. And if you don’t need care, you would then have more wealth to pass to your loved ones.
3. Look for ways to find purpose in your later years
You’ve read about how to financially prepare for a 100-year life, but what about the emotional side of things?
Retirement is a key life goal for many people. After decades of hard work, retiring is an opportunity to spend time with loved ones and pursue experiences that are important to you. However, it can be a very challenging emotional transition.
According to Study Finds, the average retiree experiences boredom after just one year. You might experience this because your job often gives you a sense of purpose and you spend much of your time in the workplace. Additionally, many of your social interactions are likely to take place with colleagues.
With this in mind, you might struggle with loneliness, boredom, and a lack of purpose after you retire. If you retired at the State Pension Age of 66 and lived to 100, you would potentially have 34 years of retirement to create a “new normal” for yourself.
That’s why it’s crucial to consider the emotional elements of a long retirement and look for ways to find purpose in later life.
Maintaining an active social life is an important part of this, so you may want to be proactive about staying in touch with family and friends. You could also look for local events and groups you could join to help you stay active.
Additionally, you might write a bucket list of places to visit or experiences you want to have in retirement. This is an excellent way to give yourself some direction and ensure that you’re constantly pushing yourself to do exciting new things.
If you miss the structure and meaning that work provides, you could also try volunteering. It’s a useful way to give yourself some of the purpose you lost when you gave up work and support a cause close to your heart too.
These are all effective ways to find purpose and direction in your later years.
Get in touch
If you’re concerned about being unprepared for a 100-year life, we can help.
Email us at [email protected], or call 01273 076 587.
Please note
This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at retail clients only.
Please do not act based on anything you might read in this article. All contents are based on our understanding of HMRC legislation, which is subject to change.
The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate cashflow planning or tax planning.
A pension is a long-term investment not normally accessible until 55 (57 from April 2028). The fund value may fluctuate and can go down, which would have an impact on the level of pension benefits available. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
The tax implications of pension withdrawals will be based on your individual circumstances. Thresholds, percentage rates, and tax legislation may change in subsequent Finance Acts.
The value of your investments (and any income from them) can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
Investments should be considered over the longer term and should fit in with your overall attitude to risk and financial circumstances.
