Longevity

A recent study of a population with high levels of longevity indicates that a common feature of the group is a slightly underactive thyroid. An underactive thyroid is a condition that, until recently, seemingly required medical attention. The study seems to indicate otherwise: Researchers tested the levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) in 236 Ashkenazi Jews, who were about 100 years old, and their children, most of whom were in their 70s. For comparison with people not related by blood,...

The head of an Australian financial service firm's life operations, Richard Howes, is an advocate of compulsory annuitization . Howes believes that 30 percent of retirement funding should be compulsorily assigned to guaranteed income streams--in other words to annuities. Howes also suggests that the relatively slow take-up of annuities in the Australian market is a result of investors who have been conditioned by a uninterrupted 20 year bull market in equities. Howes spells-out the case for...

A House bill introduced by Representative Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., would affect the tax treatment of certain annuities and income from IRAs. H.R. 2748, the Retirement Security Needs Lifetime Pay Act, would create a tax exemption for 50% of the income drawn from a non-qualified annuity. The exemption would be capped at $10,000 per year. The bill would also create a 25% tax exemption for income payments from an individual retirement account (IRA). Last, the bill would exclude the value of longevity...

As reported earlier , a new derivatives market is evolving to deal with longevity risk. Longevity swaps allow corporations and other pension plans owners to offload the risk of their plan participants living longer than expected. The market for longevity swaps, however, has been developing very slowly. Only one deal has taken place this year. Industry participants note that there is a slight backlog of deals and that roughly a half dozen deals should take place during the remainder of the year...

David Sinclair is Professor of Pathology at the Harvard Medical School. Professor Sinclair presented some of his research at a recent conference sponsored by the International Longevity Center . The research suggests that longevity genes can be leveraged to activate the human body's natural repair mechanisms and enhance longevity. In particular, Sirtuins are proteins responsible for the positive aging effects that accompany caloric restriction. Professor Sinclair and his team of researchers are...