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Direct Headline: ‘At 75, I still have to work’: millions of Americans can’t afford to retire
Michael Sainato Dec 13 2021
....Number of US workers aged 75 and up expected to increase 96.5% over next decade as some say ‘we must work until we die’....Maria Rios, 75, has worked as a food prep worker with contractor HMS Host at Phoenix Sky Harbor international airport for 17 years, where she makes $14.50 an hour. Her husband, who is retired, only receives about $400 a month in social security benefits. Rios would like to retire also, but she doesn’t have the option even as she is battling ovarian cancer.....An average of 65 million Americans receive a monthly social security benefit, with majority of payments going to retired workers and their dependents..... While receiving unemployment assistance, Rios and her husband had to rely on food banks to have enough food to eat, and because she lost her health insurance along with her job, she had to skip cancer treatments until she was able to get Medicare, but still paid hundreds of dollars out of pocket for treatments.....But the grim reality is millions of Americans are working into their senior years because they can’t afford not to have a job......
....Over the next decade, the number of workers ages 75 and older is expected to increase in the US by 96.5%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with their labor force participation rate projected to rise from 8.9% in 2020 to 11.7% by 2030, a rate that has steadily increased from 4.7% in 1996....By 2040, the US population of adults ages 65 and older is expected to increase to 80.8 million from 54.1 million in 2019....As the ageing US population grows, participation in retirement plans has declined since 2000. Nearly half of all families in the US have no retirement savings at all and inequality among Americans based on retirement savings is greater than income inequality. Over 15 million adults ages 65 and older are economically insecure, with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty line, with Black, Hispanic and women ages 65 and older more likely to live in poverty....With the average estimated social security retirement benefit in 2021 at $1,543 a month, even with a 5.9% cost of living adjusted increase for 2022, millions of Americans who rely on social security benefits are forced to continue working past retirement age in order to make ends meet....Nearly 9 million Americans ages 50 and older still have student debt, and the amount owed by this demographic is growing faster than any other age group. In 2015, 40,000 Americans had their social security retirement benefits garnished for student loans....The total debt burden for Americans over age 70 increased 614% through 2021 from 1999, to $1.27 trillion....
....The Fed asked respondents how they would pay for a $400 emergency. The answer: 47 percent of respondents said that either they would cover the expense by borrowing or selling something, or they would not be able to come up with the $400 at all.... found that only 38 percent of Americans would cover a $1,000 emergency-room visit or $500 car repair with money they’d saved. Two reports....found, respectively, that 55 percent of households didn’t have enough liquid savings to replace a month’s worth of lost income, and.... 71 percent were concerned about having enough money to cover everyday expenses. .... asked individuals whether they could “come up with” $2,000 within 30 days for an unanticipated expense. They found that slightly more than one-quarter could not, and another 19 percent could do so only if they pawned possessions or took out payday loans... A 2011 study .... conducted measuring knowledge of fundamental financial principles (compound interest, risk diversification, and the effects of inflation) found that 65 percent of Americans ages 25 to 65 were financial illiterates.....When asked to estimate how much money they had in retirement savings, close to half of all respondents — 45% — claimed they had no money put aside for retirement, while 19% said they’ll retire with less than $10,000 to their name. If these trends hold, that means 64% of all Americans will essentially retire broke.....
.....Generation Z and millennial respondents are the most vulnerable to retiring broke. More than half in both age brackets said they had $0 in retirement savings, with 63% of Gen Zers and 54% of millennials ages 25-34 giving that response. .... those generations were the most likely to use savings accounts as a means for retirement, and the least likely to choose more efficient investing tools like 401(k) accounts and IRAs. Neither group is making enough money to save, with 47% of Gen Zers and 37% of millennials agreeing with that statement....Over half of women — 56% — leave key financial planning decisions to their husbands....Similarly, 56% of widows and divorcees find at least one financial “surprise” (e.g., high debt, hidden accounts)....Nearly 60% of women expressed regret over not taking a more active role in key financial decisions while they were married....These trends don’t decrease with age. The same report from UBS found that 61% of millennial women are more likely to leave financial planning up to men, versus 54% of women from older generations.....
....The total fertility rate — the number of children a woman can be expected to have over her lifetime — was about 2.1 children per woman, which is the level required for long-term population stability. But since then, the rate has fallen to 1.8 in 2016, implying long-term population shrinkage....Fewer kids means, eventually, fewer young workers to support an increasing population of retirees. This will result in less money being paid into the Social Security and Medicare systems, requiring either cuts in benefits, a higher retirement age or ever-ballooning deficits. Past experience suggests that Americans will be asked to work longer..... High and increasing costs of housing, child care and education show no sign of reversing. The need for ever-higher levels of education in order to thrive in the U.S. job market is causing families to delay childbirth, which results in fewer children.....
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/dec/13/americans-retire-work-social-security
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Michael Sainato Dec 13 2021
....Number of US workers aged 75 and up expected to increase 96.5% over next decade as some say ‘we must work until we die’....Maria Rios, 75, has worked as a food prep worker with contractor HMS Host at Phoenix Sky Harbor international airport for 17 years, where she makes $14.50 an hour. Her husband, who is retired, only receives about $400 a month in social security benefits. Rios would like to retire also, but she doesn’t have the option even as she is battling ovarian cancer.....An average of 65 million Americans receive a monthly social security benefit, with majority of payments going to retired workers and their dependents..... While receiving unemployment assistance, Rios and her husband had to rely on food banks to have enough food to eat, and because she lost her health insurance along with her job, she had to skip cancer treatments until she was able to get Medicare, but still paid hundreds of dollars out of pocket for treatments.....But the grim reality is millions of Americans are working into their senior years because they can’t afford not to have a job......
....Over the next decade, the number of workers ages 75 and older is expected to increase in the US by 96.5%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with their labor force participation rate projected to rise from 8.9% in 2020 to 11.7% by 2030, a rate that has steadily increased from 4.7% in 1996....By 2040, the US population of adults ages 65 and older is expected to increase to 80.8 million from 54.1 million in 2019....As the ageing US population grows, participation in retirement plans has declined since 2000. Nearly half of all families in the US have no retirement savings at all and inequality among Americans based on retirement savings is greater than income inequality. Over 15 million adults ages 65 and older are economically insecure, with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty line, with Black, Hispanic and women ages 65 and older more likely to live in poverty....With the average estimated social security retirement benefit in 2021 at $1,543 a month, even with a 5.9% cost of living adjusted increase for 2022, millions of Americans who rely on social security benefits are forced to continue working past retirement age in order to make ends meet....Nearly 9 million Americans ages 50 and older still have student debt, and the amount owed by this demographic is growing faster than any other age group. In 2015, 40,000 Americans had their social security retirement benefits garnished for student loans....The total debt burden for Americans over age 70 increased 614% through 2021 from 1999, to $1.27 trillion....
....The Fed asked respondents how they would pay for a $400 emergency. The answer: 47 percent of respondents said that either they would cover the expense by borrowing or selling something, or they would not be able to come up with the $400 at all.... found that only 38 percent of Americans would cover a $1,000 emergency-room visit or $500 car repair with money they’d saved. Two reports....found, respectively, that 55 percent of households didn’t have enough liquid savings to replace a month’s worth of lost income, and.... 71 percent were concerned about having enough money to cover everyday expenses. .... asked individuals whether they could “come up with” $2,000 within 30 days for an unanticipated expense. They found that slightly more than one-quarter could not, and another 19 percent could do so only if they pawned possessions or took out payday loans... A 2011 study .... conducted measuring knowledge of fundamental financial principles (compound interest, risk diversification, and the effects of inflation) found that 65 percent of Americans ages 25 to 65 were financial illiterates.....When asked to estimate how much money they had in retirement savings, close to half of all respondents — 45% — claimed they had no money put aside for retirement, while 19% said they’ll retire with less than $10,000 to their name. If these trends hold, that means 64% of all Americans will essentially retire broke.....
.....Generation Z and millennial respondents are the most vulnerable to retiring broke. More than half in both age brackets said they had $0 in retirement savings, with 63% of Gen Zers and 54% of millennials ages 25-34 giving that response. .... those generations were the most likely to use savings accounts as a means for retirement, and the least likely to choose more efficient investing tools like 401(k) accounts and IRAs. Neither group is making enough money to save, with 47% of Gen Zers and 37% of millennials agreeing with that statement....Over half of women — 56% — leave key financial planning decisions to their husbands....Similarly, 56% of widows and divorcees find at least one financial “surprise” (e.g., high debt, hidden accounts)....Nearly 60% of women expressed regret over not taking a more active role in key financial decisions while they were married....These trends don’t decrease with age. The same report from UBS found that 61% of millennial women are more likely to leave financial planning up to men, versus 54% of women from older generations.....
....The total fertility rate — the number of children a woman can be expected to have over her lifetime — was about 2.1 children per woman, which is the level required for long-term population stability. But since then, the rate has fallen to 1.8 in 2016, implying long-term population shrinkage....Fewer kids means, eventually, fewer young workers to support an increasing population of retirees. This will result in less money being paid into the Social Security and Medicare systems, requiring either cuts in benefits, a higher retirement age or ever-ballooning deficits. Past experience suggests that Americans will be asked to work longer..... High and increasing costs of housing, child care and education show no sign of reversing. The need for ever-higher levels of education in order to thrive in the U.S. job market is causing families to delay childbirth, which results in fewer children.....
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/dec/13/americans-retire-work-social-security
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