Normal Retirement Age - NRA

  

Categories: Retirement

Well, it used to be 65. A lot of factory workers who smoked took early retirement at 55 with reduced wages and pension benefits, but increased time for fishing. And all this was great during the FDR Era. The average white male lived to about 67 and change, the average female, about 69. We died peacefully in a bed filled with soot from Camels and Menthol Parliaments a la Marlboro.

But then we stopped smoking. We stopped eating meat every night. We started working out. We stopped driving drunk. We started getting vaccinated for pretty much everything. We started drinking Diet Whatever. And lo and behold, today, the average life span for most Americans is around 82 if you're a male and 84 if you're a female. And that number is still growing.

So if you retire at 65, today, you need enough cash around (or investments that throw cash, or are sellable), to pay for 22 years of life instead of just two and change. Huge difference. Tons of very old people driving Uber to just make ends meet.

So what happens when they, en masse, run out of money? Answer: Bad things.

So yeah, that's why this term is even a Thing. We have to start discussing it more as a nation or we're going to start looking a lot more like Bangalore or Delhi than New York or Miami. Great nations don't let millions beg on the streets.

Related or Semi-related Video

Finance: What is an actuary?2 Views

00:00

and finance Allah shmoop What is an actuary Oh all

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right people The world is a dangerous place You could

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get hit by a speeding Maserati while crossing the road

00:13

or choke on your next bite of pastrami on rye

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Yep same goes for businesses They take on risk opening

00:20

up a new store in a new location or working

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with a new vendor An actuary not a fake actuary

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assesses the actual value of insurance risks and the premiums

00:32

that should be required to pay Hey for those risks

00:35

we're talking all types of risk here people for individuals

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We've got health insurance life insurance and car insurance as

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individuals and we have dealing with the Ricks of well

00:44

being alive dying in car damage for businesses There's worker's

00:48

compensation insurance you know in case workers get injured on

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the job Right Professional liability insurance We have two In

00:55

case you have an oops seize moment and property insurance

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you know to cover equipment and the building itself in

01:01

case there's a fire We're quake or other catastrophe If

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you liked poker like Todd and you have a bad

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poker face While actuarial work might be a good fit

01:10

for you Actuaries like good poker players like Todd are

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good at calculating bets Actuaries are betting on the future

01:17

using statistics to figure out the risk of a certain

01:20

not so fortunate event happening when a person or a

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business gets insurance Well they're essentially taking on a bet

01:26

for instance for health insurance When you buy it you're

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betting that you'll need it Otherwise why would you be

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buying it right The Health insurance agency is betting that

01:35

you'll be fine if you win the bet Well that

01:38

means you lost in real life You're probably in a

01:40

hospital bed somewhere But hey you won the bet which

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means you get the insurance payout You know that the

01:46

health insurance company promised you well Every month you don't

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end up in a hospital while the health insurance company

01:51

wins the bet Right When they win a vet they

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keep collecting your monthly payments A premiums while you keep

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walking around you know unharmed For now insurance companies are

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in the business of betting on the future Actuaries figure

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out the Probabilities III the likelihood of these unfortunate events

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happening They use these probabilities of unfortunate event calculating likely

02:14

liabilities into the future to figure out how much premiums

02:18

the dough you pay to them should be And what

02:20

the insurance hey out would look like if you win

02:24

your health insurance bet against your own health slash life

02:28

slash business savvy Yeah So how can premiums be so

02:31

much less than the promised insurance payout Well first nobody

02:35

would be buying insurance if premiums cost the same as

02:38

the payout Like if you would like $10,000 should you

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ever find yourself wrapped up like a mummy in a

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hospital bed you wouldn't hey an insurance company $10,000 Now

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you just keep the money in your bank account Or

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maybe in stocks where it can grow or earn interest

02:54

Until that catastrophe hits Well that interest is the key

02:57

Insurance companies like banks makes some of their money by

03:01

taking the money you give them an investing it So

03:04

when you're paying insurance companies say 300 bucks a month

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you're not just giving them $300 but also the opportunity

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to make interest on that $300 an opportunity that you

03:14

lose People are willing to pay a premium overtime betting

03:17

against themselves for the fat insurance payout that will come

03:20

if and when they really need it In this way

03:22

actuaries are like poker players betting on danger actuaries air

03:26

math whizzes usually and puzzle solvers crunching numbers at computers

03:31

It's a pretty chill gig with a sizable income if

03:34

you're good at it but it takes lots of math

03:36

education and test to get there You confined actuaries anywhere

03:39

that sell insurance It's one of those jobs where there's

03:41

probably only one of you with the company and you

03:44

know like the guy like tech support only your way

03:47

cooler because you're basically the danger arranger guy Bonus points

03:51

If you get that printed on your business card yeah

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)