a large body of research shows that the rich live longer — and that the life span gap between rich and poor is growing. And that means that the progressive ideal built into the design of Social Security is, gradually, being thwarted. In some circumstances, the program can actually be regressive, offering richer benefits to those who are already affluent.
Read the full article at The New York Times.
After a career of working, scrimping and saving, many retirees are well prepared financially to stop earning a living. But how do you find meaning, identity and purpose in the remaining years of your life?
Read the full article at The New York Times.
Imagine you’re about to retire. Clean slate, free days. What will you do with yourself? The answer depends, in large part, on whether you’re a woman or a man.
Read the full article at Forbes.
Are you saving too little for retirement? Are you spending too much in retirement? Are you maximizing your Social Security benefits? Those are among the questions retirees and soon-to-be retirees often grapple with.
The Wall Street Journal’s Experts panel recently addressed some of those and other concerns–with a fresh perspective on some of the conventional wisdom.
Read the full article at The Wall Street Journal.
Your wellness depends not only on your physical and mental well-being, but also on your financial security. As you or loved ones age, you or they may be more at risk for financial fraud and abuse, which leads to financial turmoil and emotional distress. To learn more, and to garner strategies for preventing elder exploitation, BeWell spoke with Marguerite DeLiema, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher at the Stanford Center on Longevity in the Financial Security Division.
Read the full article at BeWell@Stanford.
Women earn less money than men for the same job. Over the course of a 40-year career, this wage gap costs women over $400,000 versus their male counterparts, according to a new study by the National Women’s Law Center.
Read the full article at Forbes.
The road to retirement will be less rocky under new rules issued this week by the Labor Department. The rules require financial advisers to act solely in a client’s best interests when giving advice and selling investments for retirement accounts. The best-interest requirement, also known as a fiduciary duty, will be a big improvement on current practice, in which many advisers are free to steer clients into high-priced strategies and products even when comparable but cheaper ones are available.
Read the full article at The New York Times.
Death and taxes may be inevitable, but they hit the rich and poor in different — and sometimes unfair — ways.
That’s increasingly evident with the expected life spans of today’s workers, given that low-income Americans are projected to die as many as 13 years earlier than their wealthier cohort, while a century ago the rich and poor had relatively identical lifespans, according to new research into longevity and retirement from the Government Accountability Office.
The growing gap between the lifespans of the rich and poor is eating away at the benefits that poor workers can expect from Social Security, the report found.
Read the full article at CBS MoneyWatch.
Economic conditions in the United States have caused older Americans to see significant increases in financial inequality over the past three decades—and it could get worse.
Further, a new study shows that inequality is higher after age 64, and is especially apparent after age 74, more than during traditional working years.
Read the full article at Futurity.
First, Alzheimer’s takes a person’s memory. Then it takes their family’s money.
That’s the central finding of a report published Wednesday by the Alzheimer’s Association on the financial burden friends and families bear when they care for someone with dementia.
Read the full article at National Public Radio (NPR).