"...to enhance the quality of life for senior citizens...through education and legislation."
Although it was a largely overlooked issue during the 2016 elections, President-elect Donald Trump was pretty clear during his campaign that he planned to leave Social Security alone. Trump's belief is that America has a pledge to honor in paying retired workers, and it would continue to honor that pledge for years and generations to come. Rather than adjusting specific components of Social Security, Trump aims to grow the economy at a faster pace
Read morehttp://www.eoionline.org/blog/video-dont-wanna-work-til-we-die/
Read moreMost U.S. households are heading for a worse lifestyle in retirement than they had while they were working, because they simply aren't saving enough, experts say. Thirty-five percent of households in their prime earning years or later have nothing saved in a retirement account and no access to a traditional pension, according to an AP analysis of savings data from the Federal Reserve. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/a0f8d3ab3aed48b2809f3081e2361336/divided-america-easy-retirement-only-privileged-few
Read moreIt sounds like a simple fix to the nation's immense problem of funding Social Security and Medicare for an aging country — just get everyone to work to 70 and the math works out a lot better. But this idea, despite being embraced by a number of politicians, has a long way to go. It's being challenged in academic circles as a new form of inequality. This one has been dubbed "longevity inequality." http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/ct-marksjarvis-column-social-security-inequality-0828-20160828-column.html
Read moreSaving for retirement is a source of financial anxiety for 29 percent of Americans, a recent survey by life insurer Northwestern Mutual estimated. Say hello to two members of that 29 percent: Gail and Sid Ouattara, of Everett. Frugal and focused on paying down their mortgage debt, Gail and Sid Ouattara are concerned they haven’t done enough to invest for retiring in a few years. http://www.seattletimes.com/business/frugal-couple-wonder-if-retirement-is-but-a-dream/
Read moreShare on FacebookShare on Twitter Today's 65-year-olds can expect to spend an average of $130,000 on health care during their retirement, from premiums to co-payments to eyeglasses, according to new estimates. The average single 65-year-old woman can expect to need $135,000 to spend on health care in retirement, while a man will spend $125,000, according to estimates from Fidelity Investments. (The difference is because the woman is expected
Read morePeople seeking to manage their federal Social Security benefits online can no longer do so unless they provide a cellphone number so they can receive an access code by text each time they log on. The change, which took effect July 30, is part of an effort to improve online security, according to the Social Security Administration. Users with online “mySocialSecurity” accounts already could choose to use texted codes as an extra layer of security,
Read moreBeginning Jan. 1, 2017, employees of small companies can set up retirement accounts through an online portal first approved by state lawmakers in 2015 when they voted to create a new Small Business Retirement Marketplace. The marketplace will be similar to the Washington Health Exchange, which offers health insurance for people in the state. http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2016/07/01/3-questions-department-of-commerce-official-on-new.html
Read moreWe have a retirement security crisis in America that threatens the middle class and people working their way into it. Americans are less prepared for retirement today than in decades and the overwhelming majority of people are anxious about their ability to retire. https://waseniorlobby.org/wp-content/uploads/WHCoA_One_Pager.pdf
Read moreSurgeons have operated on Wanda Riley’s hands and replaced both her knees, one of her hips and both her shoulders. “That’s it,” the 85-year-old retired state employee recalls saying after the latest surgery. “I’m not doing any more operations. Of course, there’s hardly anything left to operate on.” Yet, Riley considers herself lucky. Her health insurance covered the procedures and never sent her a bill. The state helps with her monthly
Read moreThis article is part of Next Avenue’s 2015 Influencers in Aging project honoring 50 people changing how we age and think about aging. Paul H. Irving was a member of the 2015 Influencers In Aging Advisory Panel. “Thousands of baby boomers each day surge into their 60s and 70s,” he wrote in a recent article for The Wall Street Journal. “It’s time to focus on enriching lives, not just lengthening them; on providing purpose and productivity,
Read moreHarriet Kelly has one word to describe the day she stopped driving four years ago: miserable. "It's no fun when you give up driving," she says. "I just have to say that." Kelly, who lives in Denver, says she was in her 80s when she noticed her eyesight declining. She got anxious driving on the highway, so decided to stop before her kids made the move for her. "I just told them I'd stop driving on my birthday — my 90th birthday — and I did. And
Read moreMore than 40 million people in the United States are 65 or older. By 2035, the U.S. Census Bureau projects this number will double, which makes improving the quality of life for older Americans even more important as we look to the future. It is Social Security's priority to provide a safety net for older Americans. You can learn more about Social Security at www.socialsecurity.gov. - See more at: http://www.agewisekingcounty.org/en/152/1/1095/Social-Security-A-Safety-Net-for-Older-Americans.htm#sthash.0UW9R8oD.dpuf
Read moreRetiring, but Not All At Once Corliss Fanjoy is turning 65 this year, but she is not ready for retirement. And at a small handbag maker in Maine, where Mrs. Fanjoy spends her working hours cutting intricate patterns in leather, she is not alone. Most of her co-workers are over 55. One of them is her boss, Susan Nordman, 60, who bought the then-struggling company, Erda, based in Dexter, in 2013. She inherited a mostly older work force; Ms. Nordman
Read moreEVERY day, 10,000 baby boomers — Americans born from 1946 to 1964 — leave the work force. Most of them have not saved enough for retirement; at least one-fifth have basically no retirement savings. Our economy has a shortage of skilled workers. Keeping older Americans on the job therefore benefits everyone: It is crucial to maintaining economic growth, and it will help the boomers to preserve and increase their savings if longevity continues
Read moreDemocrats in Congress often lament the fact that full-time working women in the United States earn 78 cents for every dollar men earn, but less attention is paid to the much wider and harder-hitting income gap for women in retirement. According to a report Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) released Thursday, the average total income of women over age 65 is just 55 percent of older men's income, and those women are nearly twice as likely as men to live
Read moreRetirement remains a time when many Americans move away from things they have to paint, feed or nurture. Only 41 percent of Americans 65 and older live in households with pets, compared with 68 percent of those 45 to 54 and 76 percent of 18- to 24-year olds, according to a 2014 survey by Mintel, a market research agency. The golden years may have less bark, bite and meow, but in the last decade new scientific studies, evolving attitudes about pets
Read moreRetiree Sr. and Retiree Jr. Longer lives and pensions have meant families with retirees from two generations in one family. But disappearing pensions and delayed retirements will probably change that. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/12/business/two-generations-retired-and-together.html
Read moreI am an idiot. That, at least, is the impression I get from personal finance websites and magazines and books. They all seem to say I’m doing pretty much everything wrong when it comes to my financial life, basically because I don’t pay that much attention to my finances. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/12/business/retirement-reality-is-catching-up-with-me.html
Read moreThe Social Security Administration has resumed mailing statements to workers letting them know the estimated benefits they will get when they retire. The agency stopped mailing the statements to most workers two years ago to save money. Instead, Social Security directed workers to track their future benefits online using a secure website. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/social-security-resumes-mailing-benefit-statements/2014/09/16/28ac8400-3db0-11e4-a430-b82a3e67b762_story.html
Read more