If you're a 65-year-old woman, your remaining life expectancy is 18.4 years, according to the statistical tables used for many federal calculations. But according to tables used by your insurance company, your remaining life expectancy may be closer to 21 years.

These estimates, of course, may not make much difference if, while driving your mini-compact vehicle, you happen to run a red light next week. But sometimes you wonder why you can't get a more informed estimate of what your life expectancy is. After all, the life expectancy tables don't really know you - these rows and columns of numbers are unaware that you don't smoke, that your 95-year-old father is still mowing his own lawn, and that you eat cauliflower twice a week.

If the statistics knew you a little better, what would they have to say? The non-profit Alliance for Aging Research has an interesting web site at which, if you answer 23 questions about yourself, your family history, and your personal habits, you will get a "refined" estimate of your life expectancy. After you've answered the questions and have seen what your statistical life expectancy is, you can even go back and change some answers (what if I say I'm 10 pounds thinner?) to determine the impact of these changes.

The "Living to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator," as it is called, makes its estimates of your life expectancy based on data from the New England Centenarian Study, conducted by Boston University Medical School. This study's findings also served as the basis for Living to 100, a book by Harvard geriatrician Dr. Thomas Perls.

When you complete the questionnaire, if you also take time to fill in the optional blanks with your e-mail address, name, and address, you will receive a free subscription to the Alliance's quarterly newsletter. To access this site, go to http://livingto100.com

December 2002