New MIT AgeLab-backed assessment turns longevity from abstract ambition into a personal scorecard for aging well.
What if the real challenge of longevity is not adding years to life, but figuring out what to do with them once they arrive? That is the question sitting underneath John Hancock’s latest move.
At its Longer. Healthier. Better. Symposium in Boston, the insurer unveiled a new personalized longevity preparedness assessment tool, developed in collaboration with MIT AgeLab. The tool is designed to help people understand how ready they are to thrive in a longer life, scoring them across eight domains that shape how well we age – from health and finances to housing, care and social connection.
It may sound simple, but John Hancock is betting that the next big opportunity in longevity is not just helping people live longer, but also helping them prepare for the reality of longer lives.
The new interactive tool asks users a short set of questions across eight categories: health, finance, care, home, daily activities, community, life transitions and social connection. It then produces an overall score, as well as domain-specific scores, on a scale of zero to 100, with higher scores indicating greater preparedness. In other words, it is less like a medical test and more like a life check-in.
Think of it as the longevity equivalent of a financial credit score – a snapshot that can reveal where things are working and where they may need attention. Someone may be financially stable but socially isolated. Another may be in good health today, but has made no plans for future care or housing needs. The point is not to predict the future with precision; it is to make the future harder to ignore.
“Longevity isn’t just about more years lived; it’s about how well prepared we are to live them. We first launched the Longevity Preparedness Index as a way to start a new conversation around preparedness – beyond the usual focus on health and wealth,” said Brooks Tingle, President and CEO of John Hancock.
The assessment builds on John Hancock and MIT AgeLab’s inaugural Longevity Preparedness Index, launched in 2025 to establish national benchmarks for how ready US adults are to thrive as they age [1].
The results were revealing. On average, Americans scored 60 out of 100 in overall preparedness. That is not catastrophic, but it is not exactly comforting either. A 60 suggests that many people are somewhere between aware and unready. Aware that longer lives are becoming more common, but not yet equipped for what those extra years may actually require. The weaker spots included care, housing, health and financial readiness – the less glamorous pillars of aging, but often the ones that determine whether later life feels stable or precarious.
John Hancock’s new tool moves the conversation forward. Instead of leaving those insights at the national level, it hands the mirror directly to the individual.
“Giving people access to their own longevity preparedness scores sparks self-reflection, and ideally action, for a better future. With this new tool, we’re equipping individuals – and financial professionals alike – with useful, personalized insights that can guide better planning, deeper conversations, and more informed decision-making for a longer, healthier, better life,” Tingle added.
John Hancock says the tool is expected to be useful not only for consumers but also for financial advisors, who can use it to deepen conversations with clients around longevity risk and opportunity.
For decades, retirement planning has largely been treated as a numbers exercise: how much have you saved, when will you stop working, and will the money last? But longevity is forcing that model to evolve. A longer life brings questions that spreadsheets alone cannot answer. Who will care for you if your needs change? Is your home still workable in your 70s or 80s? Do you have a community around you? Are your later years built for resilience, or just survival?
“This is more than a planning tool – it’s a resource that can help translate insights into real-world decision-making,” said Wayne Park, CEO, Manulife John Hancock Retirement. “It’s a powerful catalyst for holistic planning conversations, helping individuals prepare for longevity with confidence and clarity.”
It points out that mainstream financial services are beginning to treat longevity not as a niche wellness trend, but as a structural reality and a market category.
If we look at it, there are plenty of calculators in the world. What makes this one interesting is that it reframes longevity as something ordinary people can engage with now, not someday.
“The Longevity Preparedness Index was designed to highlight the many elements that contribute to a life well lived – not just more years, but better years,” said Dr Joseph Coughlin, Founder and Director of the MIT AgeLab. “By giving people access to their own longevity preparedness score, we can empower them to understand their strengths and gaps, and to take tangible steps toward greater readiness. Research is most valuable when it drives informed action, and this tool is designed to support that goal.”
That may be the most important takeaway here. The longevity sector often talks about the future in grand terms – age-reversal, prevention, optimization, extension. However, most people live in homes, families, neighborhoods and budgets. If longevity is to become meaningful beyond the lab and the investor deck, it has to translate into decisions people can actually make.
[1] https://agelab.mit.edu/retirement-and-longevity-planning/projects/the-longevity-preparedness-index/
