As well-born actuaries we all know the long term risks of longevity:

• Life Expectancy variance Monster
• Longevity Swaps: The Next Bubble
• Coverage Ratio Solution Space
• Exceptional Longevity Predictable

Lots of actuaries keep expending their energy on calculations of 50 years ahead mortality probabilities....  And indeed..., this is challenging....

Some research reports predict a decline in life expectation, others and more serious recent reports show a steady increase of life expectation.

Mission Impossible
Fact of actuarial life is that - although long term research is useful and educational - we are no Actuarial Magicians.

We should never suggest that we're able to value a bunch of complex and systemic risks  (liabilities, assets,mortality, costs, demographics, etc) into a reliable consistent model that predicts reality.

It's a farce!

Instead trying to compress a complex of long term risky cash flows into one representing unique value, we need to:

1. Analyze and model the short term risks
2. Develop a method (system) that enables boards of directors to manage and control their risky cash flows (profit share systems, experience rating, etc.).

As a 2011 report of the National Research Council clearly shows:  The previous 50 years we've seen a 3 months yearly increase of lifespan every calendar year.


Instead of recalculating, checking and pondering this trend, let's take a look at the short term effects of this longevity increase trend.

Effect of 'one year life expectancy' increase 
First we take a look at the cost effect of the increase of 'one year of life expectancy' on a single-premium of a (deferred) life annuity (paid-up pensions)...
( Life table total population: United States, 2003 )


Depending on the discounting interest rate, a one year improvement of longevity for a 65 old person demands a 2,3% to 4,0% increase of the liabilities.

Of course the increase of the liabilities of a portfolio (of a pension fund) depends on the (liability weighted) age distrubution of the corresponding portfolio.

Here's a simple example:


This comes close to the rule of thumb as mentioned by AEGON:


From the above presented visual sensitivity analysis we may conclude that for general (distributed) portfolio's a 'one year lifetime increase' will demand approximately 4-5% of the actual liabilities.

A three to four months yearly longevity-increase - as is still the actual trend - will therefore demand roughly a substantial 1,5% (yearly) of the liabilities.
This implies that in case your contribution is calculated at 4% and your average portfolio return is 7%, there's 3% left for financing longevity and indexation (=method). As 'longevity growth' in the near future will probably cost about 1,5%, there's  only 1,5% left for indexation on the long run.


Case closed


Related links:
-  Spreadsheet (xls) with data used in this blog
- Forecasting longevity of Dutch pension scheme members using postcodes
- Increasing life expectancy at pension funds (uvt;2011)
- Life Tables for the United States Social Security Area 1900-2100
- Valuing Pension Fund Liabilities on the Balance Sheet
- No limits to life expectancy?
- Broken Limits to Life Expectancy
- NRC: Explaining divergent levels of longevity (pdf;2011)
- Wolfram Alpha: Longevity U.S.
- AEGON: Longevity Rule of thumb