It's a cut and paste readers from a regular email that comes to me,it is related to the USA,though there is arguably a difference in structural retirement and pension planning in America to Australia,there is a frequent theme of bluntly put fianancial stress or more soberly put poverty,and it is increasing.So below is a quoted comment from Nancy Power in the USA
Dear Reader,
They may not have expected it or anticipated it. However, a growing number of older Americans are spending their retirement years in poverty, according to an Employee Benefit Research Institute study. The proportion of older people living below the poverty line has been growing steadily since 2005, and it's only getting worse.
Poverty rates for people ages 65-74 climbed from 7.9% in 2005 to 9.4% in 2009, according to the same EBRI study. For older retirees aged 75-84, there was an even steeper increase, from 7.6% to 10.7% over the same time period. But it's the oldest retirees who are the most likely to live in poverty: 14.6% did so in 2009. In 2010, the National Alliance to End Homelessness predicted that homeless rates among the elderly would climb by 33% in a decade's time.
This topic is so very sad. Retirement for Americans is supposed to be a joyous time in which you get to do all the things you never got to do -- like travel, spend time with grandkids and enjoy much-neglected hobbies. It's not meant to be a time when money is a big issue
