Working well into your 70s because you can’t afford to retire.

[Anonymous]

Is our country and lawmakers going to do anything about the number of seniors who are working minimum wage jobs just to make ends meet? In the end everyone is at a loss as there are 20 and 30 somethings who can’t take the jobs filled by elderly people and then the fact that someone had to work at 75. I was in a hospital recently and the nurse was 74, she told me she had been working as a nurse for 50 yrs but can’t afford to retire bc she has medical bills to pay. What is this country doing and how can we fix it?

[Anonymous]

It’s not country’s job to fix. They should have saved more when they were young.

[Anonymous]

What is it you think the government should do?

[Anonymous]

This problem is really hard, there is no easy fix.

I feel for the uneducated. A nurse that has worked for 50 years and is not prepared for retirement baffles me. That is a good paying job. What happened?

[Anonymous]

I don't see Trump being very concerned about this. He's 70 and still working, so he figures everybody else can too. Next on the docket for this Congress may be gutting Social Security which keeps 15 million senior citizens out of poverty. I work with people who can't afford to retire and are way in their sixties and even a woman who is 70. It's fine if you are lucky to be in good health but many seniors are not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not country’s job to fix. They should have saved more when they were young.

Not OP, but how dense are you? The cost of paying for daily living eats up a lot of paychecks. Rent is very expensive in every city. Lots of the working poor put 50% or more toward rent. Food is expensive. Getting educated is expensive. Having children is very expensive. Nobody has pensions any more, other than government employees. If you get laid off past a certain age, it's harder to get another job. It's not always possible to save. You have to stop assuming that poverty is always the result of individual failings because that's false.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is it you think the government should do?

Not OP, but I don't think they should ever consider gutting social security. We are going to have a raging elderly homeless problem on our hands if this Congress has their way. They need to stop raiding that trust fund to support their other spending. Also-I think the new tax bill sucks and will enrich the few on the backs of the poor. So, getting that modified should be a priority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not country’s job to fix. They should have saved more when they were young.

Not OP, but how dense are you? The cost of paying for daily living eats up a lot of paychecks. Rent is very expensive in every city. Lots of the working poor put 50% or more toward rent. Food is expensive. Getting educated is expensive. Having children is very expensive. Nobody has pensions any more, other than government employees. If you get laid off past a certain age, it's harder to get another job. It's not always possible to save. You have to stop assuming that poverty is always the result of individual failings because that's false.

Yeah right and this is what happens when you expect govt to take care of you.

[Anonymous]

When the retirement age was set at 62, the average life expectancy was around 65. SS was never designed to support non-working people for decades. That's why it's hard to fund retirement. It's hard to make enough money in 40 years of working to support yourself for 25 more years. If people are healthy, there's no reason that they shouldn't continue to work. Everyone in my family has, even though they could afford to retire. Retirement before 70 is not a right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is our country and lawmakers going to do anything about the number of seniors who are working minimum wage jobs just to make ends meet? In the end everyone is at a loss as there are 20 and 30 somethings who can’t take the jobs filled by elderly people and then the fact that someone had to work at 75. I was in a hospital recently and the nurse was 74, she told me she had been working as a nurse for 50 yrs but can’t afford to retire bc she has medical bills to pay. What is this country doing and how can we fix it?

Before you get on that soapbox remember this, she has a pension because she belonged to a nurse's union, she has SS, she is on Medicare, she probably gets a discount for all medical and either you or she is lying because no nurse I know works as a nurse in their 70s.

[Anonymous]

It's not uncommon for people who have pensions, retirement and savings to have something happen to them or their family that wipes their savings. For example, relative needing long term care, the person being diagnosed with a terminal illness that costs $$ to treat.

My mother has great insurance but when she had to go to daily radiation treatments, the co pay was still $50. $50 daily (5 days a week) x 8 weeks is a lot of money ($2K over the course of 8 wks)when you are only getting paid a fraction of your salary while on disability leave.

[Anonymous]

Social Security should be three times what it is today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not country’s job to fix. They should have saved more when they were young.

My dad DID save. My mom has not had a full time job ... ever in my life. My dad got laid off a few times in his career, once right before finding out he needed open heart surgery, right at the start of the recession. Sometimes luck is not on your side. He is a hard worker. He has a master's degree. He is one of two old guys at his company.

[Anonymous]

I'm 72 and will work until I can't. I love what I do and am good at it. It actually is costs more for me to work in Medicare and taxes. I am paying the government to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This problem is really hard, there is no easy fix.

I feel for the uneducated. A nurse that has worked for 50 years and is not prepared for retirement baffles me. That is a good paying job. What happened?

Medical bills happened. They happen even to “the educated.”