Pennsylvania woman celebrates incredible 108th birthday: ‘I am not going to sit down.’ How to make your money last to 100 (and beyond)

She told the network the secret to a long life is simple: keep moving.

It is a feel-good story. But buried inside it is a financial reality most Americans are not planning for: longevity. After spending three decades as a teacher, Browne officially retired in the 1970s. That means her retirement has now stretched longer than her entire career.

While most people can expect to live until average life expectancy, very few are prepared for a much longer-than-anticipated lifespan. There's also the fact that a healthy life expectancy is very different from your actual life expectancy when it comes to quality of life.

Here's how you can make your money last to age 100 and beyond if you're one of these rare centenarians.

Longevity gap

A whopping 64% of Americans fear running out of money in retirement more than death, according to the 2025 Allianz Annual Retirement Study (2). Outliving your savings by just a few years may be bad enough, but if your retirement is a decade or more longer than you planned for, that can cause some serious distress.

Browne's case is rare, but less so every year. The US Census Bureau projects the number of American centenarians will more than triple from roughly 101,000 in 2024 to about 422,000 by 2054, according to Pew Research (3).

Meanwhile, a study by the American College of Financial Services (4) found that extending retirement from 30 to 35 years, just five extra years, increases the risk of depleting savings by 41% under historical market returns. Plug in longer 10-year or 15-year projections, and the math gets very brutal very quickly. The oft-cited 4% rule for retirement withdrawals also typically uses a 30-year time frame.

To offset some of this risk, your portfolio needs assets that have decades (if not centuries) of runway in front of them.

Assets that stand the test of time

Whether or not you live beyond a century is difficult to predict. But you can add some exposure to assets that have track records that stretch back multiple decades.

Gold is a prime candidate. Its history as a financial instrument dates all the way back to the Anatolian kingdom of Lydia in 630 BCE, according to the World History Encyclopedia (5). Simply put, this precious metal is highly likely to remain precious for longer than your lifetime.

History aside, under a modern monetary system, gold has an inherently limited supply and can't be printed at will by the government during periods of inflation, as is the case with the U.S. dollar. This can give your portfolio a bit of extra resilience during a market downturn.

One way to add gold exposure with some additional tax benefits is through platforms like Priority Gold. This allows you to create a Gold IRA, which holds physical gold or gold-related assets in an IRA structure.

To learn more, you can get a free information guide to see how gold could fit into your portfolio. It also includes details on how to get up to $10,000 in free silver on qualifying purchases. Just keep in mind that gold is often best used as one part of an otherwise well-diversified portfolio.

But gold is just one way to diversify your portfolio. Other options include assets like real estate or even collectibles. Rich investors tend to have some exposure to these alternative assets to preserve — or generate — wealth through generations.

You don't need millions of dollars to get started with real estate. Platforms like Arrived have democratized this asset class in recent years.

Backed by world-class investors, including Jeff Bezos, Arrived allows you to invest in shares of vacation and rental properties, earning a passive income stream without the extra work that comes with being a landlord of your own rental property.

To get started, simply browse through their selection of vetted properties, each picked for their potential appreciation and income generation. Once you choose a property, you can start investing with as little as $100, potentially earning monthly dividends.

Real estate or fine art exposure can help you go beyond traditional assets for longer-term investing

In a period of heightened market volatility, data suggests stocks and bonds alone may be less reliable for consistent long-term growth. As alternative investments become more accessible and attractive, more investors are seeking new ways to diversify. After all, if you're all in on a 60/40 portfolio between stocks and bonds, a sharp market downturn during your retirement could compromise your lifestyle.