Want to live longer? Buy a lifetime income annuity.

No joke. People who have sources of income that are payable for as long as they live, live longer. A lifetime income annuity does provide income for as long as you live.

Insurance companies that sell lifetime income annuities began noticing in the 1970's that their annuitants (the people receiving those lifetime payments) were living longer than originally anticipated.

On average, they were living almost 4-years longer than the insurance company assumed when the lifetime income annuity was issued.

Living longer is a good thing for the annuitant and a bad thing for the insurance company. But it's ok, insurance companies have substantial reserves for such situations.

Wonder why people who bought lifetime income annuities were living four years longer, on average, than people who did not buy a lifetime income plan?

I can think of three possible reasons.

First reason might be that people who bought lifetime annuities were healthier and in better shape than the average person their age. They thought that their good health (and maybe good genes) made living into their 90's more likely for them and wanted to protect against a long retirement.

Second possibility is that the assurance of never running out of money in retirement lowered their stress level enough to impact mortality rates. There is a lot of peace-of-mind in knowing that your "check" is coming for as long as you live. Worrying about running out of money can affect your health.

The third possibility I say in jest- maybe it's spite. Those people receiving a lifetime check want to make sure they get the better end of the deal and want to stick it to the insurance company, "I'm gonna live to 100 you dumb insurance company. Keep my lifetime income checks coming!"