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In the 2 articles about life expectancy, you use the phrase ‘average life expectancy’.

In my experience most people (and I include myself before I did some more research a few years ago) don’t really know what ‘average life expectancy’ really means. I used to ask people and very few had the concept clear in their mind

I suggest that most 65 year old males don’t really know the meaning of the phrase ‘at age 65 a male can expect to live 18 years on average’.

But if you tell a 65 year old male (who usually still thinks of himself as invulnerable) that half of today’s 65 year old males will be dead in 18 years (and of course the other half won’t) that usually gets their attention pretty quickly, and often leads to some constructive discussions about their future planning.

Of course we all plan to be in the half who live longer than ‘average’, but it makes the ‘what-if’ discussions a little more focused.

I suggest that in future, you include a definition of ‘average life expectancy’ in future references to this important matter.

All the best for Christmas and 2010.

Terry