"You have six months to live"

As bad as that news would be, it's probably way too optimistic, according to this entry at Professor Beyer's blog. In a recent study, doctors' mortality estimates were correct only 20% of the time, and they were too optimistic in 63% of the cases. They overestimate patient survival by a factor of from three to five.

So the point is, when you hear that prediction, you don't actually have six months left to finish your estate planning!