Hacking Longevity Bit By Bit

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Today, I want to create a clear understanding of two concepts:  longevity (specifically “longevity risk”) and compounding. 

Longevity is the duration or length of our lives. Longevity risk represents how our longevity will compromise our lifestyle. Financial people refer to it as the “risk you will run out of money before you run out of breath.” As a group, we try to prevent ourselves and our loved ones from eating cat food in our 80s. But there is another longevity risk that I want to address, and that is that your healthspan—the duration of that part of your life in which you are free from debilitating illness—won’t be long enough if you don’t take ameliorative steps now.

In his best-selling book, Outlive, Dr. Peter Attia introduces the word “healthspan” into our lexicon. Sadly, Americans have a healthspan that lasts approximately 80% of our lifespan. (Ew.) The risk of living 20 out of 100 years in a debilitated fashion is not appealing; not to me, anyway. Even healthy people—because you’re more likely to have a body part wear out than you are to suffer from chronic illness—need to think about increasing our healthspan further to accommodate our increased lifespans.

Compounding is the accrual of money, movement, etc., that grows inclusive of previous growth. As a result, compounded growth is greater at each interval than simple incremental increases. If I run a compounded 5% faster each year, after five years, I will have run not 25% faster, but 27.6% faster. I realize running improvement isn’t linear, but you get the point. This is why not paying off your credit cards is never the best decision.

Part of the aging challenge involves tiny imbalances that we create from injury, bad posture, and genetic asymmetries.

Unfortunately, each of those imbalances is compounded for every year we age. As a result, we end up with, for example, a bad knee because we’ve favored the opposite hip for years. Or we have a sore back having sat in an uncomfortable chair for too long. Or we have arthritic necks because we’ve been looking down at our phones. All these discomforts start off tiny and compound with age until they are a problem with which we must reckon.

Our job, starting yesterday, is to identify our imbalances and fix them. Fix the way we sit on the sofa. (Better yet, don’t sit on the sofa, take a walk.) Fix the way we sit at our desk. Put a soft pad down in the kitchen at the sink and in front of the stove to mitigate the discomfort of standing that causes us to lean. Stand at your desk with a yoga block between your knees.

Really, fixing your posture solves so many problems.

In the spirit of creating Atomic Habits (J. Clear,) we can counter our tiny imbalances with tiny balances before it’s too late and we’re headed to pain management or surgery. The price of failing to do so means that more of our money will go to out-of-pocket healthcare in retirement rather than fun and living the life we have earned.

And while we’re fixing tiny compounding imbalances, we should also be moving every day. As Arnold’s Daily Blog says, you don’t need “100%” days, you need “non-zero” days. (I adore Arnold. Always have. Fun fact:  Did you know I was a natural bodybuilder for a hot minute in my 30s? Surprise!)

Two observations for your consideration from my own travels: 

One is a trip Fred and I took to Eastern Europe in 2019. Each day involved 6- to 10-mile walks on cobblestones. Ever walk up the Buda Hills? It made me very sad to know that two members of our party had aged out of doing those walks. They just didn’t have the legs for them.

The other is a trip my niece and I took to Peru in 2022. In addition to the challenging steps of the ancient cities of Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu, there’s an overlook mountain available to climb called Huayna Picchu. I couldn’t help but notice that I was the oldest person to sign up to climb the overlook that day. (Yikes!) Luckily, I do my squats; but we passed plenty of poor souls who were in no shape to continue up and having an equally hard time getting down.

The reasons for working to hack your longevity/healthspan have a lot to do with maximizing your pleasure when you’re finally able to take a big trip. Don’t give that up without a fight! And as for compounding money, the more runway you give yourself, the more you’ll have in the end.

I’m sure I’ll do plenty of writing about compounding instruments, I promise.

I #moveeveryday, not because it’s going to make me tall and willowy. That’s never going to happen. I move every day because I’ll be damned if I’m going to go into my 90s unable to walk independently.  I’m trying to hack my healthspan to pretty much equal my lifespan. In turn, that’s going to enable me to spend more of my retirement money on the things I value and not on out-of-pocket healthcare.

Let me know that you’re moving daily too, and what else you’re doing to hack longevity, bit by bit. #MoreRunwayThanYouThink

Recommended reading: Outlive by Peter Attia, MD

© 2024 Madrina Molly

The information contained herein and shared by Madrina Molly™ constitutes education and not investment advice.

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