Each year, when I return from the annual conference of professionals in the field of aging, friends ask what hot topics were discussed. This year, Chicago was too cold to generate much other heat at the event. However, some of the speakers did stir some important thinking.
Several subjects caught my attention. Among them was concern for baby boomers, Americans born between 1946 and 1964. A fine talk given by Debra Whitman, a vice president at AARP, explained why.
Whitman laid out seven problems that she sees facing the Boomer generations.
1) Baby boomers are badly equipped financially for their retirement years. “Almost half of the people over age 55 have saved less than fifty thousand dollars,” Whitman reported. And, further, “Nearly half of all workers are not even offered a retirement savings plan by their employers.”
To bring about change, Whitman would like this adage to prevail: “Saving for retirement is cool.”
2) If Americans do accept the habit of building a nest egg for retirement, how do they make sure that the nest egg will last? This is a complicated question. It’s hard to know whether you are taking out too much from your savings, or too little. Predicting interest rates or inflation is difficult. And so is trying to predict how long you will live. The financial service industry does not provide easy access to wise decisions.
3) How can we encourage people to work longer? “It’s still true that by working longer you can often better your finances in older age,” Whitman said. An encouraging sign comes with the statistic that, now, almost one in five people stay working past age 55. That’s double the percentage in 1985.
Still a strong safety net will be required for those who cannot work. To continue this progress, the help of employers can prove crucial.
4) How can we help people in this age group to manage their own health? Given how hard it remains to cope with such a badly performing marketplace as our health care system, this is a hard task. But, among other moves, “we need to provide consumers with basic information.” Boomers must be ready sometimes to ask their doctors if a certain procedure is really necessary or whether another option is just as good.
5) How do we pay for long-term care services and support? Our current system functions badly, and recently the White House gave up on the Class Act as part of the health care law. Family caregivers remain the backbone of the whole system. It has been estimated that family members provide services worth 450 billion dollars!
6) How can our society best deal with the increasing number of people with cognitive issues? Five million Americans currently have Alzheimer’s and the number grows. A large workforce of helpers with appropriate training is needed to provide their care.
7) How can we get politicians to take the long and broad view? This would replace their current focus on narrow politics and infighting between parties.
Three brief comments from me:
For not a few people, managing money adequately proves impossible. Some simply need to spend every last bit of money they take in. Still, many others could save much more than they ever do. The speaker was clearly right: failing to save is a bad way to prepare for retirement.
Her advice to work longer strikes me as desirable for those who can do it. To me, it’s a privilege in later life to have some earnings, no matter how small. Besides, there’s the benefit of contact with other people – one of the connections that helps promote longevity.
And finally, discontent with the way Congress handles these issues remains one of my main concerns and that of most of the people I know.