{"id":338242,"date":"2025-12-10T22:05:41","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T22:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/finance\/debunked-the-later-you-retire-the-earlier-you-die\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T22:05:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T22:05:41","slug":"debunked-the-later-you-retire-the-earlier-you-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=338242","title":{"rendered":"Debunked: The Later You Retire, The Earlier You Die?!"},"content":{"rendered":"


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I am writing this post for one reason \u2013\u00a0<\/p>\n

To debunk a terrible, bullsh** study which concludes that: <\/p>\n

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\u201cThe later you retire, the earlier you die.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Sounds\u2026intriguing?! <\/p>\n

Retire early = live longer?!<\/p>\n

Retire later = die sooner?! <\/p>\n

It pains me that a bunch of suckers in my line of business (creating educational personal finance content) either don\u2019t have the common sense to really<\/em> think about these results, or<\/em> <\/strong>are too cynical to care that they\u2019re re-posting bullsh**. See below: <\/p>\n

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I know I\u2019m not the only one thinking, \u201cJesus, where\u2019s the common sense?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

Forgive me for my attitude. <\/p>\n

But this study is making the rounds among thousands and thousands of retirees and soon-to-be retirees, and it\u2019s clear that many people are falling for it. <\/p>\n

This \u201cstudy\u201d is totally false. So please \u2013 if you ever<\/em> see this study shared online, simply share this article in response to help those would-be suckers. <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get to de-bunking. <\/p>\n

Retire Early, Live Longer. Retire Later, Die Sooner. <\/h2>\n

It\u2019s pretty simple. This \u201cstudy\u201d suggests that the average early 50s retiree will live to their mid-80s, while the average mid-60s retiree will live less than 5 years more. <\/p>\n

Roughly, for every year you retire earlier, you\u2019ll live at least<\/em> one year longer. <\/p>\n

Retire at 60? You\u2019ll live to 77. <\/p>\n

Retire at 55? You\u2019ll live to 83. <\/p>\n

What a sobering stat, if true. <\/p>\n

But\u2026<\/p>\n

The Common Sense Filter<\/h2>\n

First, let\u2019s use common sense. <\/p>\n

Of the many smoking guns here, I\u2019ll just skip to the biggest one: <\/p>\n

The average person who retires at age 65 will die by age 67?! <\/strong><\/p>\n

Does that pass the sniff test in any way? <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s keep going to ages 66, 67, 68, 69, etc. (which conveniently aren\u2019t in this study). <\/p>\n

Does the average person who retires at 68\u2026just immediately die? <\/p>\n

Do they hop in a time machine to die at 67? Whoa, it\u2019s 2024 again..aaaannnd I\u2019m dead.<\/em><\/p>\n

Did the people who created this study not consider these obvious questions? <\/em><\/p>\n

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The Lived Experience Filter<\/h2>\n

We\u2019ve all lived a long time and met a lot of people. <\/p>\n

Surely a result as stark as this would mesh with our lived experience in the world, at least to some degree. <\/p>\n

The Causal Filter<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s ask what if<\/strong>. <\/em><\/p>\n

What if this study is actually correct? We ought to then wonder, \u201cwhat would the causal factor be that\u2019s leading to this result?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

Why does each year of earlier retirement actually lead to longer life? <\/p>\n

The most frequent answer seems to be, \u201cWork is so stressful. You leave work, no more stress, you live way longer.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

But if that was true, surely people would be dying AT WORK!!!<\/strong> Why aren\u2019t more people dying at their desks from all the stress? <\/p>\n

If work is that stressful, then the act of leaving work, at any age<\/em>, ought to fundamentally decrease<\/em> one\u2019s mortality, not increase it. <\/p>\n

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The average 68-year old employee<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The \u201cWhy Haven\u2019t I Heard of This?\u201d Filter<\/h2>\n

We all know that smoking increases mortality. We know that. <\/p>\n

So does heroin and being 200 pounds overweight. <\/p>\n

If you\u2019re smoking, shooting heroin, and 200 pounds overweight, you better quit your job right away.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve all heard of the real<\/em> factors that have the biggest impacts on our mortality. For example, the CDC states that smokers\u2019 life expectancies are at least 10 years shorter than non-smokers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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10 years of life expectancy is a huge deal. That\u2019s why you\u2019ve heard of how bad smoking is. <\/p>\n

So \u2013 why aren\u2019t more legitimate people shouting about this \u201cretirement risk factor\u201d from the rooftops? <\/p>\n

The Distribution Filter<\/h2>\n

The American Academy of Actuaries (aka the foremost experts in longevity) includes\u00a04 factors<\/strong>\u00a0when helping retirees estimate their potential lifespan<\/a>.<\/span> Those four factors are: <\/p>\n