After writing about how the price of health care and everything else does indeed double every ten years, more or less, I knew I wanted to follow up with a few thoughts about retirement planning and how the compounded effect of normal inflation must be considered in planning for retirement.

When Social Security was first established in America the retirement age was 65 years while people lived, on average, only a couple of years longer. Now, life expectancy in America is nearing 80!

In other words, people may well see their cost of living double twice during retirement. Actually, some may experience much more since living to age 100 is not at all unusual.

Consider a very real potential.

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Proponents and opponents of various health care reforms, each with different agendas, have warned that the cost of health care insurance will double in the next ten years unless we adopt their plan to stem the tide. Flash news! The cost of health care and health care insurance will double in ten years, regardless of what anyone does.

Inflation fluctuates of course, so some limited periods are more and others are less, but in the end the averages catch up with you. And on average, costs double in about ten years—always, for everything.

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