Melvin Lukenbach writes, in Life Begins at 85:
"They say that life begins at 40, but I'm here to state they're wrong: It really starts at 85 – ask me – I've lived that long. When you're 65 or 70, they don't forgive your sins, but when you arrive at 85, that's when life begins."
Living longer is becoming a way of life. To prove it, the life insurance policies that are being sold today are using the 2001 CSO. The 1980 table ended at age 99, but now, the 2001 table ends at age 120.
Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D., bestselling author of Age Wave wrote Age Power in 1999 and talked about the baby boomer generation transforming the largest elderly population in human history. He also developed a unique presentation titled "Life Course Navigation," where he encouraged the audience to chart their journey to retirement freedom.
His question of "How Old is Old?" challenged the listener and viewer to see the changes in perceptions of a 65-year-old, from the picture of Whistler's Mother at 65 to Sophia Loren at 65. What a difference.