September 14, 2015 - Even some of the staunchest Beatles fans are surprised to learn that one catchy tune from the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album about reaching a certain age was one of the first songs Paul McCartney ever wrote, by some accounts as early as age 16 when the band was still calling itself The Quarrymen.

Give "the cute Beatle" points for looking almost fifty years into the future to ponder love, life and, even if he was doing so unintentionally, joint life expectancy.

Today, married couples probably don't think enough about joint life expectancy but if they want to make sure their retirement assets last as long as they do, they should.

(Full Disclosure: One of the authors, Dr. Wade Pfau, was one of my professors during my Retirement Income Certified Professional® studies through The American College)

This last one is worth analyzing a bit further.

The classic "four percent" draw down approach (a common SWP where retirement assets are invested in a mix of stocks and bonds and retirees withdraw four percent of the principal each year to live on hoping what remains will earn enough to allow the money to last a lifetime) has recently been called into question.

So much so than this SOA paper didn't even consider this approach as an option since prior research "showed this method failed (savings were exhausted) in unfavorable investment scenarios." (p.14)

Saving the best part of the report for last, it doesn't get any more straightforward than what the authors concluded about a hypothetical sixty-five year old female with $250,000 in retirement assets:

NOTE: This calculus also extends to same-sex married couples by the way though it is unknown to what extent outcomes might vary. Additional research is needed.

If want to see what YOUR OWN chances of living to a certain age will be, Vanguard has a nifty interactive "Plan for a long retirement" tool you might like. It's a fun (and possibly frightening) exercise.

So whether you're trying to decide what to do with an anticipated personal injury settlement, a larger-than-usual attorney fee or the current 401(k) balance you've managed to accumulate during your working life, I hope this information on life expectancy has given you something to think about.