Why Warren Buffett Will Live to Be 90

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Sep 21, 7:16AM EDT · Published Sep 20, 8:26AM EDT

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Actuaries preside over a weird science. Part of their jobs is to forecast how long people will live, or, on the other hand, when they will die. One set of figures stands out. Very old Americans, who are 85, have a good chance to live to be 90. Warren Buffett, who is 85, may well see his 90th birthday.

Some of the figures we examined were based on the Social Security Actuary Life Table. They are misleading with regard to Buffett, because they are predictions based on the forecast life expectancy of someone born in 2011. However, the trend is clear. Of the 100,00 people born in that year, 34,041 will live to be 85. And, 17,429 live to be 90.

Buffett has a number of critical advantages. One which is obvious is his access to the world’s best health care. Another is that he has no obvious serious medical problem.

People who are active live longer. According to an article in the Annuals of Internal Medicine, published earlier this year:

Prolonged sedentary time was independently associated with deleterious health outcomes regardless of physical activity.

Based on the number of times Buffet is seen every day on TV or at public appearances, the only time he is sedentary, is when he sleeps.

Buffett is not obese. According to the National Cancer Institute:

After accounting for other factors that could affect life expectancy, such as socioeconomic status, the researchers found that life expectancy was 3.4 years longer for people who reported they got the recommend level of physical activity. People who reported leisure-time physical activity at twice the recommended level gained 4.2 years of life. In general, more physical activity corresponded to longer life expectancy.

As a bonus, people who follow some basics, tend to keep their mental faculties. According to the authors of a Harvard Study:

Studies have shown that you can help prevent cognitive decline and reduce the risk of dementia with some basic good health habits: staying physically active, getting enough sleep, not smoking, having good social connections, limiting alcohol to one drink a day, and eating a balanced diet low in saturated and trans fats. Certain health conditions that can impair cognitive skills include diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, depression, hypothyroidism, and high LDL(bad) cholesterol. If you have any of these health issues, you can help protect your memory by following your doctor’s advice carefully.

Buffett does drink Cherry Coke, probably because he owns so much of Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO). He also says he has the diet of a six year old, But at 85 why not indulge yourself?

ALSO READ: The Least Healthy City in Every State

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.