“What’s Most Hurting the Financial Security of Older Americans”

 

What’s Most Hurting the Financial Security of Older Americans?,” by Ginger Szala, ThinkAdvisor

 

 

Quote:

“Adults age 70 and older have increased their debt since the Great Recession — largely due to mortgage payments — and this hampers their ability to overcome ‘negative events’ as they age, according to a recent study by the Center for Retirement Research of Boston College. … The study also reveals that heavier debt burdens are likely to result in ‘more hardship’ for today’s older retirees. However, those ‘less well off’ retirees are increasingly vulnerable to both personal financial and economic shocks. … The authors state that the rise in debt is ‘especially concerning’ because the chances of having a negative event — such as health problems, losing a job or becoming widowed or divorced — ‘can have serious negative effects on retirement savings.’”

 

LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform:

The elderly poor get poorer even as the rich get richer due to monetary policies that inflate stock and real estate values. What this means in terms of long-term care is that more people will depend on Medicaid when Medicaid is least able to support them. The good news is that the well-to-do will have more wealth to protect and more money to pay premiums for LTC insurance. So the current mess in LTC services and financing will worsen. Medicaid will continue to deteriorate and private LTCI will become more desirable and salable.