Florida Trend | Florida's Business Authority

Who Said That?

"Mortality is being shifted outward"

-- James Vaupel, director of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

The expectation that most American children younger than 14 today will live to see their 100th birthdays is beginning to seem a lot less far-fetched to many researchers who study worldwide longevity trends.

The prospect of living to 100 stirs up lots of emotions, but it is especially daunting for actuaries — the folks who juggle sophisticated math equations to set the prices and payouts for pensions, annuities, life insurance and long-term care policies.

If they bet wrong on when baby boomers will die, the insurance and financial services industries could be in turmoil.

Read more at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.