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Why your healthspan is an important factor when reviewing your financial plan
Alex Stojkovic
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Investments
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May 19, 2025
When working with a financial planner to craft your personal financial plan, one big goal you’ll likely incorporate is funding a comfortable retirement.
Of course, this will require you to consider your lifespan – or how long you might expect to survive after you have retired.
3 important spans you need to consider when creating your financial plan
Lifespan – Your expected length of life, which may be affected by social, economic, behavioural, and biological factors throughout your life.
Healthspan – The period of life you spend in good health, free from chronic diseases and disabilities of ageing, and could be influenced through lifestyle changes and medical innovations.
Wealthspan – How you adapt your current and future wealth management in light of increased life expectancy, with a flexible strategy to allow for good health and the possible need for care.
Your aim is probably to enjoy a long retirement, but you also need to consider how many years you may enjoy good health.
Longevity is increasing but you may spend more years in ill health
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in the UK 65-year-old males have an average life expectancy of 85, and a 1 in 4 chance of living to 92. Meanwhile, 65-year-old females have an average life expectancy of 88, and a 1 in 4 chance of living to 94.
While longer life expectancy is great news, it’s important to consider how healthy those later years are likely to be.
For example, while average life expectancy in the UK is around mid- to late-80s, healthy life expectancy, between 2021 and 2023, was just 61.5 for men and 61.9 for women. As a result, you could spend more than 20 years of your retirement in ill health.
This chart illustrates the issue, highlighting clear variations between regions:
Statistically, the odds that you’ll require long-term care at some point during your life are higher than you may like.
Studies suggest that more than half of people over 65 will need some form of long-term care during their lifetime.
According to research from the University of Oxford and University College London (UCL), if you’re in your 50s, 60s and 70s, you’re more likely to have serious health problems than people who were born before or during the second world war when they reached the same age.
You’re also more likely to have cancer, lung disease, heart issues, type 2 diabetes, and high cholesterol than your predecessors.
This is why you may wish to factor the costs of later-life care in your financial plan.
Enough of the bad news. The good news is that acting to make lifestyle changes now could help to improve your long-term health.
Strategic action now could help you ward off ill health and elongate your healthspan
Dr Peter Attia certainly believes it’s possible to improve your long-term health.
A key part of this is maintaining physical and mental fitness.
3 top tips to help improve your healthspan
1. Have a brisk walk every day
Walking every day helps to keep your muscles and bones strong.
As you age, it may be more tempting to stay indoors, especially in the cooler or wetter months.
Walking can be super easy to bake into your day, but an exercise class, round of golf, swimming, yoga, and even gardening or cleaning the house are also good ways to boost your exercise quota.
2. Eat plenty of fresh produce, and far fewer processed foods
Eating a balanced diet is important for good health.
As you get older, it becomes even more crucial to include more high-protein foods, while avoiding food stuff with added sugar, saturated fats, and high salt.
Similarly, it’s important to aim to eat predominantly whole foods and limit your intake of processed meals, despite the convenience they offer.
When it comes to ultra-processed foods – think ice cream, ham, sausages, crisps, mass-produced bread, breakfast cereals, and biscuits – it’s wise to avoid such foods entirely. Or else consume them only very rarely, keeping them as a treat for special occasions.
3. Maintain your social life
Loneliness is a common contributor to declining health in older people.
Many studies have shown that isolation and loneliness are linked to serious health conditions, and can be a contributing factor for obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Remaining socially active in retirement may come easily to some, but if you are prone to doing things alone, try to incorporate some social contact in your weekly schedule.
This could be as simple as a regular coffee date with a family member or friend. Alternatively, maybe you could find a walking buddy, allowing you to enjoy a friendly catch up while clocking up your daily step count.
If you want to do more to elongate your healthspan, focus on exercising your brain and improving your sleep too – ideally you should be aiming for seven solid hours in a pitch-dark bedroom.
Get in touch
To discuss how certain lifestyle changes could help you improve your healthspan, and ensure your financial plan factors in potential costs of later-life care, please get in touch.
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