Most people tend to underestimate their life expectancy. Thinking you might live to a very old age may lead to better planning.

Life expectancy is a critical element in Social Security planning. Because benefits continue for life, the total amount you stand to receive over your lifetime hinges on how long you and your spouse live. In fact, we could add a new strategy for maximizing Social Security benefits–to live a really long time. Nothing maximizes total Social Security benefits more than extreme longevity.

If a 62-year-old person with a primary insurance amount (PIA) of $2,000 starts Social Security now, he will receive a total of $444,032 if he lives to age 80, versus $1,244,969 if he lives to 100, assuming 2.8% annual cost-of-living adjustments. He can essentially triple his take by living an extra 20 years. If he waits until age 70 to start Social Security, he’ll receive $500,891 by age 80, or $1,910,540 by age 100, or nearly four times the earlier-death amount. This is in contrast to other retirement resources which diminish as the years go by.

According to the Society of Actuaries, most people think they will live to be around 80. But there is some evidence that you — yes, you — could be among those who will end up maximizing Social Security benefits through extreme longevity. A new book titled The Longevity Project: Surprising Discoveries for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight-Decade Study has discovered that the key to a healthy, long life is living a conscientious life. This means being prudent, persistent, and well organized–the same traits that would lead a person to effectively plan for retirement.

I once heard an interviewer ask a very old woman how she managed to live such a long life. Her response: “You just keep waking up in the morning.”

So when planning for retirement, I urge you to envision yourself – not only in the golden years – but in the even older golden years. What if you get to be 90, 95, 100, 105?

I’ll bet if you ask any person who has attained one of these advanced ages if he or she thought they would ever get here, they would say no. As Eubie Blake famously said at age 100: “If I’d known I was gonna live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself.” Many people contemplating Social Security may end up saying, “If I’d known I was gonna live this long, I’d have waited until I was 70 to apply for Social Security.”

As you know, delaying the onset of benefits is the very best way to maximize Social Security in the event of extreme longevity. It means forgoing a few years of benefits in your 60s, but you’ll make it up on the other end.

So when planning your retirement, consider the value of Social Security over a very long lifetime, just in case you live that long.

Reesa Manning is a Senior Financial Advisor at Integrated Wealth Management providing expertise in planning, investing, and managing your assets for income distribution throughout retirement. For more information, call Reesa at (760) 834-7200 or [email protected]