via twitter.
Poorer Americans are much less likely to survive into their 70s and 80s than rich Americans, a stark life-expectancy divide compounded by the nation’s growing disparities in wealth, according to a federal report.
Over three-quarters of the richest 50-somethings in 1991 were still alive in 2014, the report found. But among the poorest 20 percent of that cohort, the survival rate was less than 50 percent, according to the analysis by the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan congressional research agency.
The report finds that while average life expectancy increased over that period, it “has not increased uniformly across all income groups, and people who have lower incomes tend to have shorter lives than those with higher incomes.”
via Washington Post.
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With Americans not saving enough for retirement and the majority of seniors relying solely on Social Security, we have asked Congress to BOOST Social Security for all working Americans.
You can sign our petition here.
Social Security turns 84 today!
We are working hard to get Congress to BOOST benefits for all working Americans.
Workers in Detroit face a major — and very real — retirement crisis. Wealth inequality and workplace changes have practically sawed-off two of the legs of the traditional retirement stool: pensions and private savings. More than half of today’s retirees rely on the third leg of the stool, Social Security, for most of their income. Even with Social Security, some 7% of Michigan seniors live in poverty. The good news is that workers can increase the size of their future Social Security checks by delaying retirement.
Delayed claiming past the early retirement age of 62 results in bigger monthly benefit checks for life. Waiting until after the current full retirement age of 66 yields even greater gains — up to 44% more than early claiming. But too few of Detroit’s workers are taking advantage of this delay-and-gain strategy. More than half of Michigan workers retire by age 62 — four years before they can collect their full Social Security benefits.
Read more from our op-ed by clicking here.
Just as single-income families began to vanish in the last century, many of America’s elderly are now forgoing retirement for the same reason: They don’t have enough money. Rickety social safety nets, inadequate retirement savings plans and sky high health-care costs are all conspiring to make the concept of leaving the workforce something to be more feared than desired.
For the first time in 57 years, the participation rate in the labor force of retirement-age workers has cracked the 20 percent mark, according to a new report from money manager United Income.
As of February, the ranks of people age 65 or older who are working or seeking paid work doubled from a low of 10 percent back in early 1985. The biggest spike in employment has gone to college-educated older workers; the share of all employees age 65 or older with at least an undergraduate degree is now 53 percent, up from 25 percent in 1985.via Bloomberg.
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Even if Congress takes no action to address the projected depletion of the trust fund in 2034, Social Security still would be able to pay 79% of benefits. Social Security itself is not “at risk,” because workers will continue to pay into the system.
Today, we are announcing the rollout of our new education initiative, Delay and Gain! We will be highlighting the benefits of delaying retirement in order to receive more Social Security benefits.
You can learn more by clicking here.
She first sought FDR’s reassurance that the new administration would pursue several ambitious federal programs to help the poor, working people, and the elderly – which would eventually become signature achievements of the New Deal. One of the programs Perkins insisted upon was social insurance for American retirees, many who were literally living in poor houses across the country.
Thank you Rep. Jan Schakowsky for cosponsoring the ‘Social Security 2100 Act’ which would give a BOOST of benefits to all working Americans.
More information on this legislation can be found here.
