AARP Survey: Golden Years Appear Grim to Aspiring Retirees (+2K Views)

An AARP survey of over 5,000 American workers aged 50 or older has confirmed…that the Great Recession has radically changed the financial situation for many aspiring retirees and that the outlook for their golden years now looks grim. It seems that counting on their home equity to finance a life of leisure didn’t exactly work out as planned. [Let’s review the survey’s findings.] Words: 400

So says Tim Iacono (http://timiacono.com) in an article* which Lorimer Wilson, editor of www.munKNEE.com , has further edited ([  ]), abridged (…) and reformatted below  for the sake of clarity and brevity to ensure a fast and easy read. Please note that this paragraph must be included in any article re-posting to avoid copyright infringement. Iacono goes on to say:

In response to the question: “Over all, how confident are you that you and your spouse/partner will have enough money to live confortably throughout your retirement years?” 52.6% said they were less than confident.

Moreover, the 50-plus population – at least those surveyed in October 2010 – were worried about managing in retirement, and a variety of money matters concerned them:

• Retirement income that might not keep up with inflation (44.8% very concerned),
• not having enough money to pay for long-term care (44.3% very concerned),
• depleting their savings (39.3% very concerned),
• not having enough money to pay for healthcare (39.2% very concerned) and,
• not being able to maintain a reasonable standard of living in retirement… (26% very concerned).

[Interestingly,] few placed leaving money to children or other heirs at the top of the list or the ability of  a surviving spouse or partner to maintain the same standard of living.

Conclusion

I’ll never forget that look on my dentist’s face in 2006 in California when I suggested that home prices might not continue to go up and that they just might fall. And they might fall a lot. Echoing the view of many at the time, he said, “They better not fall, my retirement is depending on it.”

[Given what has transpired over the past few years] he probably had to juggle his plans – at least a little bit.

*http://timiacono.com/index.php/2011/05/25/home-prices-recession-and-retirement/

Editor’s Note: The above article consists of reformatted edited excerpts from the original for the sake of brevity, clarity and to ensure a fast and easy read. The author’s views and conclusions are unaltered.