Three Not-So-Bad Things on Aging and Longevity
A Weekly Newsletter
There’s no denying it: we are constantly bombarded with bad news. A pandemic, climate change, inflation, war, political discord—the list goes on. Here at the Longevity Project, we understand that bad news can be enough to take years off your life, so we want to do our part (however small) to balance the scales.
At the end of the day, though, we’re realists. Good news is hard to come by, no matter how hard you look. So we’ll aim a little lower and without further ado, we are pleased to share our first weekly newsletter: Three Not-So-Bad Things on Longevity and Aging. Feel free to share with others and send us items you want to see included. With some luck, you will see this newsletter (and some more not so bad news) every Wednesday.
Subscribe below to stay up-to-date on all the latest newsletter releases!
october 15, 2025
1. Want to Live Longer? Get More Money.
That’s the less than uplifting message of a new report from NCOA and LeadingAge LTSS Center at UMass Boston. At one level, it is not surprising to see the association between income and life expectancy, as this has been widely studied by numerous researchers, most famously by Raj Chetty of Harvard.
But the new research offers a striking new picture of how life expectancy disparities play out in the years past 60. Looking only at households headed by a person age 60 or older, the researchers found a nine-year life expectancy gap between the wealthiest 10% and the least wealthy 10%. In the study, which covered the years 2018-2022, the lowest decile had household wealth of $0 and an average life expectancy of 76. In the top 10%, household assets totaled about $2.5 million by 2022 (a 40% increase over the study period), and an average life expectancy of 85 years.
Overall, wealth in the top 20% of older households increased substantially, while the other 80% saw only very slight increases, stagnation, or even declines. These are all reflective of increasing gaps in wealth and health between the top 20% and everyone else, leading the researchers to conclude that virtually the entire bottom 80% of older adults would be unable to pay for a financial shock such as long-term care services and supports.
2. At Least It's Not the Golden Bachelor.
We’ve told you before that we have sworn off the Golden Bachelor forever. And it is a good thing too, since the Bachelors are not exactly representing older men very well. The current edition is fronted by 65-year-old Mel Owens, a former NFL linebacker, who is now on an apology tour for saying that he is only interested in women ages 45-60 and that if the women are over 60, he is “cutting them.” It’s an unusual position to be taking for the lead bachelor on a dating show featuring all women over the age of 60, but that’s show business. Not to be outdone, Gerry Turner, the first Golden Bachelor, is soon out with a tell-all book where he promises to shove a knife in the back of his on-air love and now ex-wife Theresa Nist. Frankly, if you’re looking for a good read, we have some other recommendations for you.
But not all reality shows are representing older men quite so poorly. Witness this year’s Dancing with the Stars. The show is populated by younger celebrities including Whitney Leavitt, Alix Earle, and Hilaria Baldwin, several of whom have the distinct advantage of having professional dance backgrounds. Yet, the breakout star of the season is 58-year-old Andy Richter - American actor, comedian, writer, and talk show announcer – who has won over the audience with his good humor, humility, and determination. Despite being noticeably less proficient than his competitors – he regularly receives among the lowest marks from the expert judges – Richter has stayed afloat in the competition because he is beloved by the audience – and fan voting plays a large component in the final scoring. Even in the alternative universe of reality tv shows, sometimes good guys finish first.
Shameless Self Promotion #1.
Rick Steves is not on Dancing with the Stars, but we bet that he would do well, since he is eloquent, charming, and a good guest to boot.
We know all this because we interviewed Rick for the most recent episode of the Century Lives podcast from the Stanford Center on Longevity. He shared with us how he transformed from a piano teacher with a touch of wanderlust to America’s foremost expert on European travel and an advocate for the cultural and individual value of travel. Rick turned 70 recently, and we talked with him about aging, how travel for him has changed (or not changed), and what he does to keep his tours both safe and challenging at the same time.
3. Andy Richter's Brain Will Age Better Thanks to Dancing with the Stars.
That’s what new research on the impact of creative arts on brain aging shows. Researchers from Trinity College Dublin and the Latin American Brain Health Institute in Santiago, Chile looked at the impact of creative arts such as dancing the tango, playing a musical instrument, or playing a video game (an expansive definition of creative arts at that) to assess the impact on brain health. Previous studies have found a positive correlation between creative arts and cognitive health generally, but this study took it one step further by using neuroimaging and brain clocks to assess deviations between brain age and chronological age.
The researchers found significant brain age gaps for those engaged in the creative arts, with increasing gaps at higher levels of expertise. The group that did the best? Expert tango dancers whose brains were seven years younger than their brain clock. The good news is that Andy Richter is going to live forever.
Shameless Self Promotion #2.
If you have 30 minutes, listen to our interview with Rick Steves. If you have 90 seconds, then check out our latest GrandPeople video (and if you have 31 minutes and thirty seconds, then by all means do both). We share the story of Craig Miller - a 70-year-old who traded the hustle of San Francisco for a quiet town in upstate New York - but upped the excitement when he joined the local fire department.
What started as a simple way to give back turned into months of intense training: night classes, Saturday drills, throwing ladders, and racing to put on 40 pounds of gear in under a minute. It was physically demanding, but it boosted his fitness and reenergized his sense of purpose.
Four years later, Craig says firefighting has become one of the most rewarding parts of his life. He once thought he’d stop at 70 - but now he plans to keep going as long as he’s able.
Check out our archived posts here: