By Bob Carlson

Average life expectancy in the U.S. declined by 1.5 years in 2020, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That is believed to be the largest one-year decline in life expectancy since at least World War II. Life expectancy was 77.3 years in 2020, about the same level as in 2003.

Life expectancy should be a major factor in retirement planning. I often recommend that one of the first steps in developing a retirement plan is to assess the potential life expectancy of the retiree, and each spouse in a married couple. Many features of a plan are likely to be different when the plan assumes a 15-year retirement instead of one that’s 30 years or longer.

Despite the importance of life expectancy in a plan, I don’t recommend anyone change a retirement plan in response to this change in average life expectancy. It doesn’t matter if you’re already retired or still planning to retire.

Most of the decline in life expectancy in 2020 was attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic, drug overdoses (especially from opioids), homicides, and the usual chronic diseases.

Most of those factors aren’t likely to affect those who currently are retired or near retirement. They already survived the pandemic and probably are vaccinated from Covid-19. They also likely engage in activities that are low risk for contracting Covid-19 and are likely to continue doing so.

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