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Life Expectancy Calculator

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I've long held the view that it is good to be mindful of the finiteness of our days. In fact, I find value in having in mind the year that I will pass on according to life expectancy calculators - by having an exact year in mind, I'm naturally inclined to make the most of my days.

Here is a free life expectancy calculator that takes into account factors like our age, height, weight, ethnicity, education, and a few other metrics to give us an idea of how long we will live:

https://www.blueprintincome.com/tools/life-expectancy-calculator-how-lon...

This calculator tells me that I am expected to live until 99, with a 75% chance of living to 90 years of age. Assuming I live until I'm 90, my year of passing will be 2063 - any years I might be gifted beyond 2063 will be considered bonus years.

With an "end date" in mind, I am regularly reminded to give all that I can to people and causes that I would like to support and encourage. With respect to monetary resources specifically, it doesn't make sense to me to hoard savings until I die, only to have an executor of my will distribute whatever is left. I believe a far better approach is to give what I want to give now or as soon as I can.

For example, I think that adult children can get far more value out of every dollar they have when they are more likely to be struggling in their 20s and 30s than when they are more comfortable in their 50s and beyond. Of course, parents will not want to have their adult children become entitled by giving them an amount that may disincentivize them from working to become independent. I think the ideal scenario whenever possible is to give adult children enough to identify and pursue their interests, but not enough that they don't have to do anything in life.

As for ourselves, I think it's important to carefully consider what we will realistically be able to do in each decade of our lives. The realities of life and aging are such that some life experiences simply won't be possible for us in certain decades. For example, I would really like to spend some time living in Korea, and I recognize that the sooner I make this happen, the better my experience is likely to be.

For me, a worthwhile exercise has been to carefully curate my bucket list, and then to assign each item on this list to a specific decade of my life - 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, etc. Going through this exercise can help us gain clarity on the things we really should be pursuing sooner rather than later.

If getting the most that we can out of our remaining years is a topic of interest, I can suggest the following books:

Die With Zero, by Bill Perkins:

https://amzn.to/3zQva4B

In Canada: https://amzn.to/3FPwo3N

Four Thousand Weeks, by Oliver Burkeman:

https://amzn.to/3t6sbl0

In Canada: https://amzn.to/3WOdYH5

 
 

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