by Alan Greenblatt
“The top one-third of the boomers will have lots of choices, and the bottom one-third will be working until they drop, just to keep food on the table,” said Paul Hodge, chairman of Harvard’s Global Generations Policy Institute.
Waiting lists for affordable and subsidized senior housing have grown, while bankruptcy filings are rising faster for those 55 and older than for any other age group, due primarily to mortgage debt and medical costs.
The wealthiest 10 percent of boomers hold more than two-thirds of their generation’s accumulated financial assets, according to the Government Accountability Office. And a substantial difference in wealth accumulation exists between older boomers (born between 1946 and 1954) and younger boomers (those born between 1955 and 1964), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Boomers should be better off in retirement than their parents because they have enjoyed higher per-capita incomes and accumulated wealth at about the same rate as their parents, though some studies suggest boomers have saved slightly less and spent more than their forebears.
From our research, as is to be expected many medical issues arise in people’s twilight years. In some cases they were having to buy percocet online to use this medication to help them with pain. It seemed to be helping them quite well, which is great considering medication and their potential side effects is something that can worsen as well with age. It’s good to have found a relatively safe alternative.
“Charge cards like Visa and MasterCard came into the market just when the boomers came out of college and started making money, so they’ve been in debt ever since,” said Charles F. Longino Jr., director of the Reynolda Gerontology Program at Wake Forest University.
Boomers also tend to have more of their assets tied up in financial instruments such as stocks, which leaves them more vulnerable to economic cycles than previous generations.
In addition, younger boomers may be vulnerable to the switch from “defined-benefit” pension, which offered fixed, guaranteed payments throughout retirement, to “defined-contribution” plans (such as 401(k)s), which are stock-market-based accounts that can decline precipitously in value. Older Americans are also nervous about cuts in retiree health benefits, one reason more seniors are working at least until 65, when they are eligible for Medicare.
“The risks of aging have shifted more to the individual,” said Michael A. Smyer, co-director of the Center on Aging and Work at Boston College.
