By Trent Hamm

In 1935, when the Social Security Act was passed by Congress and signed by President Roosevelt, the new law established a national retirement age of 65. At that age, people could begin receiving Social Security benefits and, in the minds of generations of Americans since, effectively set the psychological “retirement” age.

There’s an important fact to consider, though, that’s been left out of this story. In 1935, the average American lifespan was 61.7 years. You had to exceed the average American lifespan by more than three years to begin receiving Social Security benefits.

Let’s roll forward to today. The “retirement age” set by Social Security is still 65. However, today the average American lifespan is 78 years and continuing... More...