This proposition comes directly from economic theory, which says that people respond to the risk of dying not by shortening their planning horizon and blithely assuming they will die right on time, but by choosing to consume somewhat more when young and somewhat less when old, if they do end up living longer than expected.

FORBES: Not All Social Security Advice Is Good Advice

And I go even further and say, conventionally, you want much more in stocks when you're young and much more in bonds when you're old.

FORBES: Intelligent Investing Briefing Book

It's not that he was precocious, he was simply old when he was young in terms of his thinking and aesthetic.

WSJ: All The Pretty Houses

Dr Cook-Deegan was one of the authors of a study that showed a significant risk of adverse selection in the market for long-term-care insurance (the sort bought by the young in order to ensure they have nursing care when they become old and infirm).

ECONOMIST: Genetics, medicine and insurance

One possible counter-argument is that this correlation may simply show that different economies are at different stages of the cycle: when an economy is growing strongly, employment rates for both the old and the young are likely to be high.

ECONOMIST: Why the old should not make way for the young

Men become old when their hurt becomes need, but time is a lover and your time is young.

NPR: Joe Henry Is a Still Driving Man

And Towanna Brinkley was only 41 years old when she was murdered, a mother who left behind a young son.

FORBES: Witnesses and Accomplices