WeBuy75.com, an Atlanta-based life settlement consulting firm, recently launched a new version of its life expectancy calculator, explicitly tailored to the life insurance industry.
The new calculator uses proprietary algorithms and mortality tables that reflect the death rates of U.S. residents with life insurance policies. It provides valuable data for a wide variety of financial planning needs, such as overall retirement savings, the purchase of financial products, or the sale of a life insurance policy on the secondary market.
According to Wm. Scott Page, president of WeBuy75.com and one of the founders of the life settlement industry, says most life expectancy calculations available online rely almost exclusively on Social Security Administration data, which fails to recognize the better education, financial positions, and lifestyle habits of individuals with life insurance. He believes that many seniors are making financial projections based on antiquated data.
“Many seniors use calculations which inherently underestimate the longevity of individuals with life insurance,” said Page. “We built a calculator that more accurately estimates life expectancy for most Americans actively planning for the future.”
The calculator, available for free at WeBuy75.com, was designed based on 30 years of experience and thousands of representative mortality outcomes. It asks users to answer a small battery of questions and enter general health data. The questions were designed to measure the key conditions that impact individuals with life insurance. A typical survey takes less than five minutes to develop a customized life expectancy based on proprietary tables.
“Every long-term financial decision is based on life expectancy,” said Page, the author of the retirement planning book It’s Never Too Late. “If an individual begins their financial plan with an inaccurate life expectancy projection, they may end up outliving their savings or the financial coverage provided by an annuity or life insurance policy.”
During a long career assisting individuals with end-of-life issues, Page has learned that many people don’t like to discuss longevity and life expectancy, but it represents a conversation and a calculation that should be made early.
“We know that most people avoid talking about mortality, but we have also learned that most seniors have a great fear of outliving their savings,” said Page. “It’s impossible to plan for end-of-life issues without good data.”
