People are already living much longer than in the past causing stress on many retirement and estate plans. Imagine what would happen if people lived 50% longer lives on average than they do now. It could be a reality soon.
Biologically it is not a necessity for the body to break down as people get older. There are marine creatures that do not get weaker at all as they get older. Each individual cell in our bodies contains all the information necessary to live forever without growing old.
However, our cells are continuously dividing and each division creates the possibility of more errors and damage. Eventually, enough damage has been done that the cells are no longer able to repair it all and we get weaker.
While the amount of time this takes is different for everyone, we plan our retirements and estates based upon when it happens for the average person. However, what would it mean for your retirement and estate plans if you could take a drug that would prolong your life for an additional 40 years?
As the National Post reports in "No more Alzheimer's? World's first anti-aging drug could let you live more than 120 years in good health," the FDA has approved human testing on a drug that might do just that.
The drug is already being used to treat diabetes and scientists have been able to use it to prolong the life of other animals. Anecdotal evidence exists that the drug has worked to prolong the lives of diabetes patients so there is good reason to believe it will work in testing.
If the testing goes well, you will certainly hear about it on the news. If that happens, be sure to consider what it means for your retirement and estate plans and how you will need to adjust them.
Reference: National Post (Nov. 30, 2015) "No more Alzheimer's? World's first anti-aging drug could let you live more than 120 years in good health"
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