Tips for Baby Boomers Reaching Retirement Age in 2012

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Keep voting for tea party candidates that help Big business and people like George W. Bush that sold out the middle class to promote their own well being and that is what you will get

Richie of FL 12:25PM January 20, 2012

Any intelligent person can see.
It was the last few presidents setting up the Big Company & the Big coorperations & with encouraging them to send jobs over sea's.
that set the momentum for were we are now.
The dammage was done from past Presidents.
Now look at the economy.
Many of us reaching 62.
Can't find work & forced to get early SSI just to get by.
So Retirement the way we planned is just another struggle.

Douglass of WI 11:47AM January 20, 2012

I can't beleive how many middle classers are looking at painful retirement. No bailouts or help for the working class. The government adn big business just sucks every last cent until many fall into abject poverty.
Very sad. Thanks for the "Change" Mr. Obama and Congress.

JJJM of MA 10:18AM January 20, 2012

All of these ideas are very well and good if it was 1965. The fact is that most of those of us at or nearing retirement age are well on our way to becoming the new American lower class. Congress decided several years ago that older people were the enemy and embarked on a campaign to feed their own interests and those of their billionaire supporters with our social security and pension funds. I am 63 and retired (involuntarily) about a year ago. I was fortunate in that I was fully vested in my pension plan, was able to keep my health insurance until age 65 for an affordable rate and was able to find part-time employment that will allow me to hold off on enrolling in Social Security until age 66. I know many people who are far less fortunate than I and they will be the ones hoping for a few crumbs from the same Congress that put them in this position in the first place. We should all be angry about this. I know I am.

Dave Bates of MI 10:09AM January 20, 2012

I think that some of the social security rules need to be changed but not the ones that are being changed like raising the age limits. I think if a person has worked all his life to age 62 he or she should be able to get their full benefits because old age has begun to wear on our bodies and how many people at age 62 can still work and live like the young people. Also I think that the rule to give a spouse the worker's pension after he or she dies is fine(they worked for it) but I think a lot of what is draining the fund is the many spouses out there are drawing 1/2 of the spouse's pension when they never worked a day or very little. If a person hasnt worked and paid in social security why give them anything? That is the way our system works---You dont get a paycheck if you dont work so why should social security be any different?

Old Woman of MS 10:02AM January 20, 2012

There are no jobs and haven't been for years. People have been forced into early retirement just to survive and maintain. Wake up Congress!!! Your days are numbered.

kate mcdaniel of SC 8:56AM January 20, 2012

Ah...the "promise" of America! Older...no job...savings gone...401k killed off...house worth less than you paid for it...and reduced social security benefits taken out of necessity. Certainly don't applaud these Congressmen the next time you see them. They've destroyed the lives of milllions of Americans, and then take their bows in public forums for our suffering.

Anonymous of CT 8:14AM January 20, 2012

I am relieved to hear that I am not alone in living day to day with no 'nest egg' that they talk of in the article. I am better off than some friends who are already on SS (I will start this year at 62 out of necessity). And when I have the extra money, I help them out any way I can. I am lucky in that I basically own my own home (have a small equity loan that my part time job allows me to pay off in 2 yrs.) and own my car. But I still have to live and it isn't getting any cheaper. I have taxes to pay, that are fortunately, low but who knows how long that will last as counties and states struggle to survive too. I don't know about anyone else but I am NOT better off than I was four years ago. I am looking at a bleak future.

Carlene of VA 7:57AM January 20, 2012

Plans, plans! Everything I planned and worked for in my retirement years is gone. I live day to day hoping I can hold on to my home. My husband and I got laid off and, except for unemployment; all our assets have dried up. At first our family could help us, some of our friends stepped in when they could, but there is a time when all the loving monetary support must end. We will be forever grateful to all those who loved us so well, and we are thankful, embarrassed, humiliated and humbled. I don't know where we will be next month or next year. I am 64 and my husband is 61, very few employers will look at us. We have been very successful in our lifetime but, after losing a business, we are left with debt and a tenuous tomorrow.

Christine Litton of NH 7:24AM January 20, 2012

Some have had to go ahead and take social security before wanting to because of loss of jobs or not being able to find new ones! And the fact that anything would come out of SS is awful because it is not enough to live on as it is and then medicare paymetns come out of it? That is all the money some will ever have coming in now......so much for the golden years. Some were not able to save for later, as it took it all to live right then! or if they have been able to put a bit away, it is not enough to make a real difference or to live as one had when working. Many of us gals are alone and only have one SS to relie on also or have been alone raising kids and could not save or had the kind of jobs that offered any retirement funds! We are the ones that are concerned with the stealing of our funds out of SS by the government...it is all we have to live on!!

Ruth of AZ 2:23AM January 20, 2012