Retirement Bliss Becomes Nightmare
I feel so bad when I hear of retirees who are experiencing financial distress. True, there are no guarantees in life, and that includes financial security. But it still saddens me that a person could work so hard, for so long, and not retire comfortably, if at all. And the data points to more of these heart-breaking stories ahead, according to the New York Times’ John Leland and Louis Uchitelle. Back on September 23, they wrote:
Today’s retirees have less money in savings, longer life expectancies and greater exposure to market risk than any retirees since World War II. Even before the last week of turmoil, 39 percent of retirees said they expected to outlive their savings, up from 29 percent in 2007, according to a survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, an industry-sponsored group in Washington…
Older people with few assets, including the one-third of retirees who rely on Social Security for 90 percent or more of their income, may not suffer directly from the decline in the stock market, but they feel the pain of higher gas and food prices and reductions in volunteer services like Meals on Wheels, which have been curtailed because of fuel costs.
The collapse of the housing market has hit older homeowners. According to the Center for Retirement Research, Americans over age 63 pulled $300 billion out of their home equity through refinancing from 2001 to 2006, lowering their net worth.
Surveys by AARP, the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies and the Employee Benefit Research Institute have found that more workers nearing retirement age are putting off their plans to retire, curtailing contributions to their 401(k) accounts and borrowing from the accounts to pay for living expenses, including credit card and mortgage debt.
After three decades of decline, a higher percentage of Americans older than 55 are now working than at any time since 1970, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. Some are working because they want to, but many because they need to.
The McKinsey Global Institute reported in June that the typical worker would have to work to age 70 to maintain his or her standard of living in retirement.
Source:
“More to Fear in World of Retirees”
John Leland, Louis Uchitelle
New York Times, September 23, 2008
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:08 am
Good Advice, your readers may also be interested in reading “A Lumpy Tale” at http://www.financialtales.com
October 2nd, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Speaking of Retirement, tomorrow here at work we are having cake and punch, to say thank you to five employees who are being laid off. Two have been here for 30 years or more; all five have a total of over 100 year’s experience.
And Corporate America’s way of thanking these people for contributing a good-sized chunk of their life to their employer is by feeding then cake and punch?
One word - Amazing!
-Mammoth
October 2nd, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Thanks for the comment and contribution, Will C.
October 2nd, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Thanks for the comment Mammoth.
“… tomorrow here at work we are having cake and punch, to say thank you to five employees who are being laid off. Two have been here for 30 years or more; all five have a total of over 100 year’s experience.”
Too sad…