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Raising Social Security Retirement Age Is No Simple Fix
Tweet Share on Facebook October 29, 2010 Comment (7)Raising the Social Security retirement age is one of the common prescriptions forwarded to close the program's long-term funding gap. Increasing or entirely lifting the ceiling on taxable wages—now at $106,800—is another frequently mentioned proposal. Further down on the list are measures to change the annual cost of living adjustment for Social Security recipients, restrict payments to high-income beneficiaries, and a slew of benefit tweaks that could have a meaningful cumulative impact on program finances.
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Nursing Home Costs Continue to Rise in 2010
Tweet Share on Facebook October 27, 2010 Comment (7)Seniors needing care in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities are paying higher prices on average this year, according to an annual market survey by MetLife. By contrast, the costs for in-home care did not increase.
[See 7 Costs to Eliminate Before You Retire.]
Four types of extended care costs were surveyed: nursing homes, assisted living communities, home-based care, and adult day services.
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Healthcare Spending Tab Threatens Retirement
Tweet Share on Facebook October 25, 2010 Comment (3)People nearing retirement underestimate their future medical expenses and still don't think they will have enough money to pay them. A new survey of people ages 50 to 64 by the Society of Actuaries (SOA) finds that only 7 percent of its survey group was "very confident" that it was saving enough money to handle healthcare retirement costs. Nine times as many—62 percent—were "not at all confident."
[See 10 Costs That Could Increase in Retirement.]
When asked what kind of annual healthcare cost inflation they could manage in the long term, 31 percent said they didn't know, while 43 percent said 1 percent or less and 25 percent answered either 3 percent or 5 percent. However, healthcare costs have been rising by substantially more than this amount. The SOA noted that a government forecast earlier this year pegged annual healthcare inflation at more than 6 percent for the rest of this decade.
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8 Savings Tips for Older Consumers
Tweet Share on Facebook October 22, 2010 CommentFor the second straight year, there will be no annual cost-of-living increase for Social Security recipients. Coupled with anemic economic growth and gaping deficits at all levels of government, The Best Life Austerity Is a Virtue store has decided to stay open 24-7, 365 days a year. If you have discovered ways of saving money that work for you and that you think would work for others, please share them here. Our store will stock up on these thrifty items and include them in future Best Life stories.
[See 10 Costs That Could Increase in Retirement.]
In the meantime, here are some frugality tips. They build upon earlier lists: 20 Needless Expenses for Many Seniors and 7 Spending Cuts You Might Not Even Notice.
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10 Mixed-Up Money Messes We Need to Simplify
Tweet Share on Facebook October 20, 2010 Comment (6)More than 40 years ago, Motorola came out with a fancy new solid-state television called Quasar. The company devised a clever marketing campaign for the new set that emphasized its technical superiority without loading consumers down with a 300-page user guide and complex technical specs. Motorola did this by inventing a concept it called "works in a drawer." You can easily picture scenes from Mad Men—AMC's hit series about Madison Avenue in the 1960s—in which Don Draper and his advertising team dream up this campaign. All of Quasar's superior technology could literally be found in a drawer. You didn't need to know anything about the technology. You just needed to know that Motorola knew all about it and that all these goodies could be popped into and out of your set easily for maintenance and repairs. No problem.
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Get Ready for the Seniors' Movement
Tweet Share on Facebook October 18, 2010 CommentThere are parallels between how older Americans are treated these days and how women were regarded 40 years ago, prior to the women's movement and the sustained flow of women into the workplace. It is not uncommon for older people to be viewed as incapable of meaningful employment roles, for example, especially if they have visible physical limitations. Women used to be regarded this way as well. Today, by contrast, women are broadly perceived as being able to do pretty much anything men can do, including fighting in combat.
[See 10 Costs That Could Increase in Retirement.]
"I think that's absolutely right," says, Muriel Fox, a co-founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in the 1960s. Fox, an 82-years-old, observes that older people often are stereotyped as were women 40 years ago. "When people see someone who has gray hair or who has wrinkles or is even unable to do certain things, like walking without a cane, they often stereotype that person and think that they may not be able to think clearly or do certain things."
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Zero Social Security COLA Again for 2011
Tweet Share on Facebook October 15, 2010 Comment (1)It's official. In 2011, for the second straight year, there will be no inflation-based increase in Social Security benefits. For many retirees and advocacy groups, this is seen as a disaster. That's not a surprise, and the comments from AARP are typical:
"Many Americans who rely on Social Security as their primary source of income continue to face financial hardship today," the group said in a statement issued on the eve of the agency's formal announcement. "Over the past two years, older Americans have paid more for utilities and food, experienced a decline in housing values, tried to recover from deep retirement account losses, struggled with rising health and prescription drug costs, and faced longer periods of unemployment for those who need to work. AARP is asking Congress to provide relief to millions of older Americans in the post-election session."
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7 Keys to the Right Senior Day Service
Tweet Share on Facebook October 13, 2010 CommentDeciding that a parent or elderly relative needs care that you can no longer provide is hard for everyone involved. Adult day service (ADS) centers may provide an effective transitional solution that allows a loved one to continue living at home, gives them needed care, takes a lot of stress off of family caregivers, and is much cheaper than full-time institutional care.
A new study of the ADS industry provides solid benchmarks to help evaluate centers. The study was backed by MetLife's Mature Market Institute, in partnership with the National Adult Day Services Administration and the Ohio State University College of Social Work.
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Senior Safety Nets Held Firm in 2009
Tweet Share on Facebook October 12, 2010 CommentConsumer spending among older Americans did not decline last year from 2008 levels. For Americans overall, spending dropped by nearly 3 percent in 2009, according to the government's exhaustive annual look at consumer spending. But expenditures among people ages 65 to 74 rose by about 7 percent, and spending among those 75 and older was little changed from 2008 to 2009. The findings echo a recent report that the poverty rate increased last year for all Americans but fell for people age 65 and older.
[See 8 Money Trends Shaping Seniors' Lives.]
The ability of older consumers to maintain their overall spending last year was accompanied by income levels that also fared better than for the nation as a whole. Household incomes, before taxes, declined by slightly more than 1 percent for all consumers, falling to an average of $62,857 in 2009 from $63,563 in 2008.
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10 Reasons Seniors Continue to Work
Tweet Share on Facebook October 7, 2010 CommentWhether you work to live or live to work, the traditional concept of retirement is changing to include continued employment. Millions of older Americans feel that they must continue to work, courtesy of the Great Recession and the twin collapses of investment and home values. It's also clear that millions of boomers value the satisfaction that comes from their workplace contributions and social relationships. When the oldest boomers begin turning 65 next year, don't expect a rush to the workplace exits.
[In Pictures: 10 Costs That Could Increase in Retirement.]
