Jimmy Carter's 100th birthday is a stark reminder that most Americans can't afford to live that long

By Paul Brandus

More of us will be living to 100, and we're not ready

Jimmy Carter has accomplished many incredible things during his life and during his presidency: winning the Nobel Peace Prize, brokering the Camp David Accords, promoting human rights around the world, building homes for Habitat for Humanity and hitting 100 years old.

That's a milestone looming for many Americans, but sadly, most of them can't afford it.

Read: 6 lessons from Jimmy Carter, one of America's greatest senior citizensIt's quite a feat to join the triple-digit club. Carter, the 39th president and the only one to make it to 100, is spending the day with his family at his modest home in Plains, Ga., according to the Carter Center.

Few Americans make it that far: Census Bureau data shows just 0.03% of the population - about 101,000 people - are (or were) 100 this year. But that is projected to more than quadruple over the next 30 years, to 422,000 people, of 0.1% of the population. This growth rate - and not just for centenarians but seniors in general - will be far greater than that of the U.S. population as a whole. In fact, as seniors live longer, the birth rate in this country stands at a multi-decade low. Population growth, notes the Washington Post, "has generally fallen below replacement level - the fertility level needed for one generation to replace itself - since 1971."

So, fewer babies being born means fewer workers paying Social Security and Medicare taxes down the road. Yet the elder population, which depends heavily on these giant federal programs, is exploding. Where's the money going to come from? Who's going to pay? Or will the government have to slash benefits? As I've noted before, that's the path we're on.

Read: Norman Lear, Charlie Munger, Rosalynn Carter and Sandra Day O'Connor lived long and impactful lives. What can they teach us?

Fortunately, Social Security is only one part of the three-legged stool that's supposed to finance our retirement. Unfortunately, the other two legs are nothing to write home about either.

One leg of the stool is pensions. But private-sector defined-benefit pensions have been disappearing for decades, leaving most Americans heavily dependent on the third leg: their own private savings. And study after study tells us that what most folks have squirreled away in 401(k)s, IRAs and whatnot is far too little.

I'll give you just one example. Fidelity Investments, the Boston-based financial giant, estimates that an average couple "can expect to pay approximately $315,000 (after tax) to cover healthcare costs in retirement - and that number does not include the cost of long-term care, if needed."

And yet, says Federal Reserve data, the median savings for American households aged 55-64 is $185,000, while those aged 65-74 is $200,000. I'm only talking about affording healthcare here. If I get into everything else - housing, food, etc., and tack on inflation - that's what I mean by far too little.

Ex-presidents, even those who live to be 100, don't have to worry about money. But back here in the real world, most of us do. Little wonder that nearly two-thirds of Americans, according to a recent study by insurance giant Allianz, fear running out of money more than death. More than death! As if aging isn't difficult enough, the prospect of doing so without enough cash? Well, that's downright frightening.

-Paul Brandus

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10-02-24 1205ET

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