U.S. life expectancy has hit a record high. As advances in medicine help Americans live longer, investors seeking to finance their golden years could turn to income-generating exchange traded fund strategies.
In 2012, life expectancy in the U.S. touched a record 78.8 years, a 0.1% increase from 2011, reports Larry Copeland for CNBC. Life expectancy for women is 81.2 years, whereas men show an average life expectancy of 76.4 years.
Jiaquan Xu, a medical doctor and lead author of the report on mortality, explained that the 78.8 year expectancy is a projection for those born in 2012 and accounts for infant mortality and teen mortality, which are higher than older individuals.
Looking at those who were 65 years old in 2012, the average life expectancy was 19.3 years, or 20.5 years for women and 17.9 years for men.
“I think the health of the U.S. population is improving,” Xu said in the article. “The death rates for heart disease and cancer, the two leading causes of death that account for 46.5% of all deaths, have been falling since 1999.”
With retirees living longer, it is important to include conservative assets that generate a steady flow of cash in one’s investment portfolio.