“More and more seniors have experienced this experiment with do-it-yourself pensions, and they are entering this age group who do not have the same kind of income as seniors,” said economist Teresa Ghirarducci. I’m here. She is a professor at the New School, specializing in retirement policy. “I don’t think it’s temporary,” she said.
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The proportion of older people officially below the poverty line is low by historical standards in the United States, but still highest in developed countries, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The average poverty rate among older people in the United States also masks a much higher proportion of more vulnerable groups, with her 5 of her 65+ Black and Hispanic women in 2021 Nearly one person falls below the official poverty threshold. Hundreds of thousands of older Americans whose spouses died of Covid-19.
Poverty rates are also not a bright line when it comes to financial hardship. Liabilities are not considered. piled up by seniors since the Great Recession. Plus, nearly 1 in 4 of her over the age of 65 is under 150% of her on the federal poverty line, which means he’s under $19,494 on average for living alone. another measureDeveloped by Institute of Gerontology, University of Massachusetts Boston According to a study called the Older Age Index, meeting basic needs costs $22,476 for one healthy senior with no mortgage, and for renters and those with health problems. , its cost is higher.
According to Jan Matchler, a demographer at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, who helped invent the Elder Index: “The assumptions that go into what we call afflictions are just flawed.”
So does Juanita Brown, 77, who lives alone in Galax, a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. She was a farmer’s daughter and worked as a nanny, certified nursing assistant, and preschool teacher. Her husband works in the local textile industry, and after raising two children they had built quite a nest egg.
But then Mr. Brown’s mother developed Alzheimer’s disease and was unable to support herself. Ms. Brown stopped working to take care of her. This cost an additional $500 per month. Her husband had prostate cancer and had to spend a long time in a hospital in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.