ExpertGlossary

Your life expectancy is the age to which you can expect to live. Actuarial tables establish your official life expectancy, which insurance companies use to evaluate the risk they take in selling you life insurance or an annuity contract.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) also uses life expectancy to determine the distribution period you must use to calculate minimum required distributions from your retirement savings plans or traditional IRAs.

However, your true life expectancy, based on your lifestyle, family history, and other factors, may be longer or shorter than your official life expectancy.