THE LONGEVITY PARADOX

AN UNFOLDING CRISIS

Marc Middleton

Extra years of enjoyable life should be considered a major goal and one of life’s greatest blessings. but without sufficient resources to adequately fund a longer life, that additional time may be filled with heartbreak and disaster.

A major crisis is now unfolding at the intersection of rising healthcare costs and a rapidly aging, and mostly unhealthy, population.

Actuaries are now calculating what they call “longevity risk,” the very real and rising risk of outliving your money. Longevity is the single biggest risk to your financial future.

That’s the longevity paradox: The thing that we most aspire to in the future—longevity—is, in fact, the greatest threat to that future.

Of course, part of the answer is to plan, save, invest and reduce spending. But the true solution to the longevity paradox is found in the health-wealth connection.

The single most important investment that you can make beginning today—and the one investment that will provide the greatest overall returns in the decades ahead— involves no money and is affordable to everyone. It’s PLM, or “positive lifestyle modification.”

PLM is the most powerful and cost-effective form of healthcare. It will make whatever retirement savings you now have or might accumulate last longer and go further by lowering your future healthcare costs.

This is critically important because healthcare costs will continue to rise and preventable, chronic illness will continue to be the single biggest driver of those costs.

That’s the longevity paradox: The thing that we most aspire to in the future—longevity—is, in fact, the greatest threat to that future.

The tragic result will be financial ruin for millions of families, and yet, we continue to live as though we’re indestructible and will have limitless resources to buy our way out of any future health crises. You can’t improve your overall health and wellness without also improving your overall financial health. The two are inextricably linked. All the money in the world can’t buy you good health, but good health can save you hundreds of thousands of dollars over your lifetime.

The Bottom Line: GET SCREENED

March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. And since I’ve lived with Crohn’s disease (a type of inflammatory bowel disease) for over 30 years, I try to find as much humor as I can when it comes to any type of bowel screening. I’ve had at least a dozen colonoscopies over the years. And I’ve tried all the different preparations for colon cleansing.

If you are age 50 or older, call your doctor to see if you should have this important screening. If you have a friend, parent or neighbor who is age 50 or older, ask them to call their doctor, too. Colorectal cancer is serious business; there’s no joking about a cancer diagnosis. But there’s good news: Modern medicine has made tremendous advances in detecting colorectal cancer early and successfully treating it.

Modern medicine has made tremendous advances in detecting colorectal cancer early and successfully treating it.

ANNE EBRIGHT MEDICARE CUSTOMER COMMUNICATIONS

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