Re: Longevity vs. Retirement Age

From: Randy S (cryofan@mylinuxisp.com)
Date: Wed Aug 13 2003 - 09:52:41 MDT

  • Next message: Brian Atkins: "Re: Creatine Found To Improve Memory And General Intelligence"

    Excellent post! Right in line with my recent thoughts. This really belies
    the growing neoconservative "arbeit mach frei" propaganda that has helped
    lead to the increasing age at which one may draw SS benefits (was 62, now 65,
    soon to be 67). We need to take a look at what we are doing, and decrease
    the SS eligible age even if we have to greatly reduce benefits.

    "David A. Kekich" <kekich@transvio.com> said:

    > Optimum Strategies for Creativity and Longevity
    > By Sing Lin, Ph.D.
    >
    > Member of National Council of Chinese Institute of Engineers
    > USA/Greater New York Chapter and Member of the Board of
    > Director of National Taiwan University Alumni Association,
    > Greater New York
    >
    >
    > Subj: Longevity Vs. Retirement Age
    >
    > The pension funds in many large corporations (e.g., Boeing,
    > Lockheed Martin, AT&T, Lucent Technologies, etc.) have
    > been "Over Funded" because many "late retirees" who
    > keep-on working into their old age and retire late after the
    > age of 65 tend to die within two years after their retirements.
    > In other words, many of these late retirees do not live long
    > enough to collect all their fair shares of pension money such
    > that they leave a lot of extra-unused money in the pension
    > funds resulting in the over-funded pension funds.
    >
    > Dr. Ephrem provided the important results in the following
    > Table 1 and the associated chart from an actuarial study of life
    > span vs. age at retirement. The study was based on the number
    > of pension checks sent to retirees of Boeing Aerospace.
    >
    > Table 1 Actuarial Study of life span vs. age at retirement.
    >
    > Age at Retirement Average Age At Death
    >
    > 49.9 86
    >
    > 51.2 85.3
    >
    > 52.5 84.6
    >
    > 53.8 83.9
    >
    > 55.1 83.2
    >
    > 56.4 82.5
    >
    > 57.2 81.4
    >
    > 58.3 80
    >
    > 59.2 78.5
    >
    > 60.1 76.8
    >
    > 61 74.5
    >
    > 62.1 71.8
    >
    > 63.1 69.3
    >
    > 64.1 67.9
    >
    > 65.2 66.8
    >
    >
    > Table 1 and the chart indicate that for people retired at the
    > age of 50, their average life span is 86; whereas for people
    > retired at the age of 65, their average life span is only 66.8.
    > An important conclusion from this study is that for every
    > year one works beyond age 55, one loses 2 years of life span
    > on average.
    >
    > The Boeing experience is that employees retiring at age of 65
    > receive pension checks for only 18 months, on average, prior
    > to death. Similarly, the Lockheed experience is that employees
    > retiring at age of 65 receive pension checks for only 17 months,
    > on average, prior to death.
    >
    > Dr. David T. Chai indicated that the Bell Labs experience is
    > similar to those of Boeing and Lockheed based on the casual
    > observation from the Newsletters of Bell Lab retirees. A
    > retiree from Ford Motor told Dr. Paul Tien-Lin Ho that the
    > experience from Ford Motor is also similar to those in Boeing
    > and Lockheed.
    >
    > The statistics shown in the Pre-Retirement Seminar in
    > Telcordia (Bellcore) indicates that the average age that
    > Telcordia (Bellcore) employees start retirement is 57.
    > Therefore, people who retire at the age of 65 or older are
    > minority as compared to the number of early retirees.
    >
    > The hard-working late retirees probably put too much stress
    > on their aging body-and-mind such that they are so stressed
    > out to develop various serious health problems that forced
    > them to quit and retire. With such long-term stress-induced
    > serious health problems, they die within two years after they
    > quit and retire.
    >
    > On the other hand, people who take early retirements at the
    > age of 55 tend to live long and well into their 80s and beyond.
    > These earlier retirees probably are either wealthier or more
    > able to plan and manage their various aspects of their life,
    > health and career well such that they can afford to retire early
    > and comfortably.
    >
    > These early retirees are not really idling after their early
    > retirements to get old. They still continue doing some work. But
    > they do the work on the part-time basis at a more leisure pace
    > so that they do not get too stressed out. Furthermore, they have
    > the luxury to pick and chose the types of part-time work of real
    > interest to them so that they can enjoy and love doing that "fun"
    > work at a more leisure pace.
    >
    > The late retirees are small in number, tend to die quickly after
    > retirement and disappear from the population of old people
    > beyond the age of 70. Late retirees, therefore, have very little
    > weight on the statistical average life expectancy of the population
    > of "old people" dominated by the early retirees.
    >
    > Conclusion and Recommendations -
    >
    > When you get older, you should plan your career path and
    > financial matters so that you can retire comfortably at the age
    > of 55 or earlier to enjoy your long, happy and leisure retirement
    > life into your golden age of 80s and beyond. In retirement, you
    > can still enjoy some fun work of great interest to you and of
    > great values to the society and the community, but at a part-time
    > leisure pace on your own term.
    >
    > On the other hand, if you are not able to get out of the
    > pressure-cooker or the high-speed battleground at the age of
    > 55 and "have" to keep on working very hard until the age of
    > 65 or older before your retirement, then you probably will die
    > within 18 months of retirement. By working very hard in the
    > pressure cooker for 10 more years beyond the age of 55, you
    > give up at least 20 years of your life span on average.
    >
    >
    >
    > Richard H. Stack, Jr.
    > OSBL SI&GF Business Manager
    > BSF China - CSPC Nanhai Petrochemicals Project
    > 86 752 556 8519 (w) 86 752 555 1165 (h)
    > 86 139 2737 0520 (Mobile)
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >

    -- 
    --------------
    -Randy
    


    This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Aug 13 2003 - 10:01:46 MDT