Have you noticed how many older people are working?

[leftyladyfrommo]

I stopped at Sonic. The woman running out to the cars was probably 70.

Stopped at Wal-Mart. The greeter is probably close to 80. All the checkers were probably 50 or older. Same with the stockers. I think I saw 2 younger people in the whole store.

Even McDonalds has a lot of older workers.

I am almost 70 and I can't imagine having to stand for 8 hours.

People just can't afford to not work.

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Do people realize if they spend their lives making $15 an hour, they can NEVER retire

because their Social Security benefit will be FAR FAR less than what they need to survive.

[spooky3]

4. at least if they are a married couple where both worked all their lives, there is a chance

they could survive on SS, if they saved at least a little. But for singles--no chance, because SS for one person is so low.

[Eliot Rosewater]

6. Even in your scenario it would be rough and is for millions.

We simply have to do what the Nordic countries do or someday the poor are gonna bite the heads off the rich.

[spooky3]

8. No question that it would be rough for millions.

But it is a lot harder to live on $15-20K per year than on $30-40K (couples who earned above the max each year can make $60K+ from SS). Social security was always intended to be only one leg of a three legged stool and it is geared toward couples. So it is especially hard for singles who have also had to pay housing expenses, etc. alone.

[csziggy]

23. Sometimes they have no choice

Some friends of my husband and mine worked low wage jobs all their working lives - not by choice but the husband's repeated health problems kept knocking them both back to the bottom of the pile. A few years back the wife had a stroke and the husband was advised that he should no longer work. It took them two years of struggling to stay employed against doctor's advice for them to get disability. Meanwhile the wife had a second stroke and a heart attack and the husband two more cardiac procedures. The wife went on Social Security at 62, the husband the next year at the same age.

Together their SS was just over $1800 a month. With help from their friends and by pinching every penny they could manage. The wife died from her second heart attack last year. Now the husband is left with just over $900 a month. His rent is $550. My husband drives him to doctor appointment, to buy groceries and his medicines (which my husband often helps him purchase), and to activities with friends. Twice a year my husband or other friends help refill his propane tank so he has hot water and heat.

Without help from their friends the husband would be out on the street and probably dead. He is in very fragile health and has trouble managing even with help. This despite the fact that both he and his wife worked hard all their lives. They never had a chance to build up a retirement fund and SS is not enough to live on.

Oh - and even though in past years the husband earned over minimum wage, the last five years that is all he made so that is what his SS is based on.

[davekriss]

37. You are mistaken on bene calculation

Social Security benefits are based on one’s top 35 or 38 years of earnings, inflation adjusted. Not the last 5 years of income. It’s a common erroneous meme (on par with believing one is only counted as unemployed if they collect unemployment insurance).

🙂

[csziggy]

41. That was from the statement my husband got for his SS

When he started drawing. In his case, though his income was low, it was higher at the end of his employment.

[davekriss]

42. Well, that is not my understanding:

“The Social Security benefits calculation uses your highest 35 years of earnings to calculate your average monthly earnings.” This is used to calculate the Average Indexed Monthly Earnings, or AIME, which is adjusted for inflation. That is the most important input to the benefits calculation. The benefit is then adjusted for the age upon which you elect to get benefits. If you share my birth date, you get around 72% of your full retirement age benefit if you start at 62.

https://www.thebalance.com/social-security-benefits-calculation-guide-2388927

[Lugnut]

47. Disability benefits are different.

The SSDI benefit amount is based on the last five years income. I started receiving SSDI when I was 49.

[The Wielding Truth]

51. That seems to be the difference. Disability vs Retirement distribution.

[davekriss]

57. My bad, didn't realize that we were ...

... talking about disability benefits. I’m sure you’re correct, then. 🙂

[spooky3]

2. Yes, even though I live in a millennial-filled area, I have. One woman who is very sweet to all

of us customers at the grocery's pharmacy said she wishes they could move to be near her son's family but can't afford to. She appears to be near 70.

[a kennedy]

3. and I'm thinking there are going to be a ton more older Americans working when

this guy gets the job.....

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/15/trump-nominates-mitch-mcconnell-in-law-gordon-hartogensis-for-job.html

[Sherman A1]

5. This is what they want.

Work the older folks into the ground. Noted all the advice to delay taking your SS benefits until 70 so that you get a larger monthly payment? That is all about hoping that you will simply work yourself into the grave and no payments will need be paid.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

16. THAT'S

a fact. Truer words were never spoken.

[2naSalit]

36. Yup.....nt

[davekriss]

39. "Kill the useless eaters"

Such is the desire of every fascist movement, and fascism is alive and well in the United States. Eugenics has never been beaten into hell, it still drives the hellish desires of the fascist rich.

[llmart]

40. Absolutely correct.

I'm almost 70 but I took mine early. I was not going to buy into that b.s. about how much more I would get at 70. Hell, I could be dead by 70 and that's what they're banking on. I know way too many people who bought into that meme and they didn't even make it to 66. So, they lost it all. Everything they paid into it. Never got a cent.

[Sherman A1]

48. I bought my first house at 23

From a nice couple who were retiring and moving to a small town away from the city. They left me a few things such as a stove that I didn’t have starting out and were otherwise very pleasant. I learned later that he was dead 6 months later never having a chance to enjoy his post working years. I swore that I would retire as soon as I could do so.

Everyone’s economics are different, but I encourage those to whom I speak to go as soon as they can do so, you never know what tomorrow brings.

[mythology]

7. It helps the economy, thus benefiting everybody

Also a lot of people I know have no desire to retire. Scale things back sure. But the first thing my aunt did when she retired was two find two part time jobs doing things she enjoyed.

Are there some who have to work? Sure, but it's silly to presume everybody who is older and working is doing so out of economic need.

[Bradshaw3]

15. I guarantee you the vast majority are

working because they have to. I live in a senior community and people are getting squeezed to death. It's either go back to work or live on the street.

[Kirk Lover]

17. Yes I speak to a lot of retired people at work and some don't want to. When I retire I will also

probably still work part time.

[cwydro]

19. Yes. I know several older people who work.

In fact, most the ones I know choose to work.

They enjoy it.

[Ferrets are Cool]

20. You are so wrong here. You can have an opinion, sure, but you are WRONG.

I can't even believe you would say those words. OMG

[shanti]

35. I think

most seniors who still work are doing so because they have to, not because they want to. But there will always be the people who feel they will die when they stop working, the diehard workaholics. I see it mostly in men, and they often have no hobbies or interests outside work. A lot of people still work because they don't want to lower their standard of living, and I find that sad because it's just something that you expect when you retire.

[Decoy of Fenris]

38. About half the people I work with are retirees. They work by choice, not by need.

The job I work at is fairly light, physically, so even after these guys retire, they do the job more as a hobby than for any particular need. It's good social contact, the hours are flexible, the pay is half-decent and the benefits are good. To quote one of the old fellas, "Pay's good, job's easier than balls, why the fuck would I give this up? Gonna work until I can't."

I have to admit, I'm in the same camp. I can't fathom sitting around and doing jack-shit all day; if I wanted to feel useless, there are far better ways. I guess retirement just isn't for everyone.

[BigmanPigman]

9. I have noticed it for the past several years.

They can't afford to live in expensive areas like CA and with the moron and GOP in charge it has gotten much worse. I have friends in PA who are going back to college to get an education for jobs they never thought they would consider but they have no choice. This is for a second or third degree and they are in their 50s. One friend needs the ACA and in PA it is $2,000 a month.

[NBachers]

10. I work full time at 69; I work with a guy who's 84. My Fitbit says I did 19,238 steps & 8.44 miles

today, just running around at my job. I'll have more steps & distance in before the day's over.

If I can get another 10 good years of work in, then maybe I can consider retiring.

[Stinky The Clown]

24. I am a little older than you, but I am fully with you. I also wear a fitbit and work full time

A slow day for me is 8,000 steps. I am more often in the 15,000 to 20,000 range. My whole company wears fitbits. I am most often the top numbers for the day. No one believes my age when I tell them. I do a few 5Ks a year just because I CAN, goddammit!

I have no DESIRE to retire. I love what I do and it is something I can do until I'm drooling down my shirt.

[Hoyt]

34. Yep, coming up on 69 too. Working full time. I typically quit every couple of weeks,

but they calm me down as I’m walking around cursing to, not at, my very patient boss on the phone. I’m sure they are plotting so that one day they will accept my angry resignation.

I would have to cut back a lot if I were not working, but I’d still be better off than people who are having to work $8 an hour jobs just to eat. That’s tough at our age when you have little choice but to work, scared knowing one day you just won’t be able to make it to that job.

The system is messed up, although I don’t see it really changing. Heck, the so-called Cat Food Commission recommended increasing Social Security for those at lower end during Obama’s terms, and even Democrats went berserk.

I do wish someone could get through to young folks that they likely will live to an old age, and they better think about the consequences, sooner rather than later.

[rownesheck]

11. yep.

and I'm gonna be one of them soon. I've worked store level retail my entire life. I'm stuck. I'm gonna die in the middle of bagging some rich prick's groceries. Hopefully, I'll bleed out on his totino's frozen pizza.

[mercuryblues]

45. Not even a Tombstone pizza

Man, You have no flair.

[3Hotdogs]

12. Lucky for me, with pension and SS, I don't need to work.

I have been retired 12 years now. I wanted work to fill time and be with people. I went for an interview at a supermarket for part time work. $10.00 an hour, 30 hour maximum per week. Fuck that.

I found a couple jobs paying $15 to $20 per hour. I work around 10 hours per week. I still wonder about taking a job from somebody who really needs the money.


The new problem is that as I am getting older, I can't do some of the tasks I used to be able to do. I wonder what I would have done if I needed the money and had my physical limitations.


In my situation, if I really needed money, I could substitute teach at $100. per day.

[Historic NY]

13. I know many who had a business and forgot to pay themselves every week.....

in other words putting money into their SS accounts. A lot complain but it was all self-inflicted.

[maveric]

14. Not where I live.

There are middle-aged men standing on medians with cardboard signs all over this town.

[Turbineguy]

18. Long term effect of

living in a republican paradise.

[mcar]

21. I live in retiree world, the oldest county in FL

So many of the service workers are older, it took my college student 20 YO nearly a year to get a job.

[neeksgeek]

22. When I was in college...

In the mid-90s, pizza delivery drivers were usually my age (I ordered lots of pizza back then). Now, many are my age (40-something) or older.

[HeiressofBickworth]

25. I have a friend in her early 70's who is working two jobs

I don't know how she does it. She still has mortgage and car payments so she needs (rather than wants) to work.

I consider myself very fortunate. I'm on social security and medicare. Medicare saved my financial ass two years ago when I had bypass surgery.

But what really saves my ass is that my daughter and her husband live with me. The house is paid off and we share expenses. Without this arrangement I couldn't afford to stay in the house. They benefit by not having rent or house payment so they have money for other things.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

27. My wife and I were talking about how she needs to give birth to some adult children to support us.

Anyone know where we can adopt a group of 40-year-olds?

For the record, I turn 69 this month and work part time as a substitute teacher. It's the hardest work I have ever done, and probably the least rewarding. Were we really such hellions to subs when we were growing up?

[kairos12]

28. Were you also the first and only Liberal in Palm Springs?

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

43. When I arrived in Palm Springs in 1997 the population was old and retired.

When summer came the entire town shut down and everyone left town. Since Sonny Bono was mayor, I concluded he was elected by a conservative population.

Over the years more people have decided to stay in Palm Springs all year, obviously attracted by the 120 degree summer days. Two things happened that I think changed the complexion of the city. The first is that PS decided it would no longer be the preferred destination for Spring Breakers, and by strictly enforcing the laws managed to chase them east to Lake Havasu. They calculated that the trouble they brought exceeded the benefits of their spending.

The second thing involved when the first White Party was held. There suddenly became an interest in Palm Springs as a desirable gay destination, and when someone vacations somewhere enough times the thought, "We should move there," often arises. Over the following years there has been a fairly significant influx of members of the LBGT community. Suddenly there has been an increase in the arts (the Palm Springs Film Festival has grown quite a bit, and attracts A-List people), there are lots of boutique shops downtown where there were once only t-shirt shops, the number and type of restaurants has grown exponentially (Hamburger Hamlet is no longer the big downtown eatery), and there has been an overall shift toward the left in politics.

Meanwhile, the existing elderly population has either been dying off or moving east toward the newer, richer cities of Indian Wells and Palm Desert.

Palm Springs is being reborn as a progressive city -- its mayor is a lesbian, which breaks two precedents -- and if you can take the summer heat and afford the high living costs. Unfortunately, we can't do either, so we bought a house in the desert above PS, 4,000 feet higher and 20 degrees cooler than where we lived before. We don't have as much to do, although Joshua Tree National Park is in our backyard, but it's nice to sit outside at night in the cool desert air and watch the stars, which are still visible in this neck of the woods.

It's unbelievably conservative, however, and probably has the highest number of tattoos per capita. Seriously. I had a 50 year old lady show me her tramp stamp last week. How am I ever going to unsee that?

Anyway, that's one person's take on living in Palm Springs. If you visit, don't forget to visit the aerial tram, where the mountain station weather is about 30 degrees cooler than the desert floor, and the Living Desert, where I used to volunteer in the African village trying to keep kids from killing the goats and sheep in the petting kraal.

[kairos12]

46. Thanks for that very informative

reply. I hope you continue to stay above the heat and the stars stay out for you!

[Cha]

50. Mahalo. LLiPS..

That was interesting. I lived in Indio in the early '80s for about 2 years. I remember the 117 degree summers.

I don't mind the heat, though.. I loved my short stint in the desert.

Sounds beautiful out among the Joshua Trees and the Stars.

[Texasgal]

26. My Father is 76 years old

and still goes into the office everyday. He says he cannot afford to retire.

[WillowTree]

29. I wouldn't be able to be on my feet for long periods anymore........

.......but I'm 68 and still working full-time.....by choice. I like what I do and I like that there's somewhere I need to be, out among people and being productive. Anyway, I'm the only one left who does what I do who knows our legacy systems, so that gives me a bit of job security, at least for the time being. Must be a family thing 'cause my Dad didn't retire until he was 79 for much the same reason. Certainly wasn't because he needed the money.

Honesty, I don't know what I'd do all day if I quit/retired. At least not for the time being.

[Sunlei]

30. on the positive side, I think the service is much more competent from a mature person.

I'm all for doubling the guaranteed monthly ss check for all. ss is supposed to keep people above the poverty line, it doesn't.

I'm all for removing/suspending the monthly ss check from persons with retirement 'incomes' above 250,000 a month. If they lose their wealth resume the check.

[samplegirl]

31. I'm 61

And still standing on feet and then go and clean mopping floors and cleaning floors one day a week at a assisted living. Exhausted and don’t know how I’m doing it!

[zeusdogmom]

32. 70 years old, divorced, retired, work part time

"Retired" when my really good job laid 60 of us off in 2010. I was old enough and had worked there long enough to official retire. Between SS and a small pension, I have "enough" to pay bills, etc. but there isn't much left for fun let alone travel. So I work part time as a seasonal at a retail greenhouse. I love the job but it is hard, physical work. I feel fortunate that I am healthy and can handle standing and walking on concrete for hours, am strong enough to lift heavy flats of plants, and can deal with the 90+ temps and humidity of the greenhouse. The paycheck makes life a little easier and helps to keep the savings account intact a little longer. Is this what I planned? Nope - but it is what it is. 3 of my co-workers are also 70+. Most of my married retired friends are in better shape financially - the single women (divorced or widowed) not so much.

[gollygee]

33. Yes, I have noticed this

It seems to be routine now. People can't retire.

[sarcasmo]

44. Merica, a two tiered shithole.

[tavernier]

49. I tried retiring three times. It didn't take.

I love being useful, being appreciated, being with a group of people who are a fun team. The laughter alone is worth it. The extra money and the physical workout is a bonus.

Not every job has these perks... I’m 71 and lucky.

[True Dough]

52. Good to hear, tavernier

There is a dichotomy here. Some working because of financial necessity. Some, like yourself, get so much more out of it than a paycheck. Glad to read that you've found a great fit for a workplace and it fuels you.

[Civic Justice]

53. Tragic Cycles

I know family members who met with the same due to historical low wages, heck we still have it today as many of us have wages that does not meet with the promoted standards claimed by America.
This kind of elderly poverty has been going on for centuries in America... so a few can wallow in wealth beyond any level they will ever utilize.
This nation got off on the wrong foot... in its pursuit of slave and low wage labor. Its an American Atrocity. Its a further madness for a nation to claim such wealth and be sitting on $20+ Trillion of debt, so a few people can claim the holdings of $billions.

Yes, wealth helps build, but at a certain point when it centered in the hands of a few beyond their industrial investment, it become destructive to the whole of the society.

There are many now forgotten Titans, who spent their lives hoarding and chasing the fiction of more money as if it will make them more than simply a human being.
Money has value when it "circulates"... it then performs to meet its best valuation.
What good does it do America for wealthy people to stash and hide mass volumes of money offshore. Some seek to see how big of a non used pile they can amass.

Many wants "power" and the pursuit of power in a civilized nation as a Democracy, leads to a Plutocracy, and it seeks to turn the people into SERF's.

People have long ago made money more important than the lives of people.

Yes, not one person shall take even one penny from this earth.

There should be no poverty and certainly not for children and senior citizens, or even for the young and working.

[Freddie]

54. I am retiring in a year

I promised my daughter I would watch her kids especially if she had another baby (#3 and final, she says) as they can't afford daycare for 3. So, naturally, she is pregnant again. Due in Nov. They will have to put the baby in daycare or get a sitter for a few months after her maternity leave is over as I can't retire til the end of the school year next year. By then I will be 62.
I am incredibly fortunate to be getting a nice pension as I work for a PA school district. But DH will have to work til 65 for the health insurance. This is the part that scares me. What if his health goes, or worse? Lots to think about.

[JNelson6563]

55. Some choose to work.

I'm not saying this an argument against statements of seniors needing to work, I know that to be a fact. Still, I work in a bakery within a grocery store. Out of four bakers two are well into retirement age (my manager is 70 this year!) but they keep working. Both have plenty of money and do not need their jobs.

I find it somewhat annoying that they don't retire and let their jobs go to people who really need it. Even though this applies to a minority of seniors, it would make a big difference in many lives.

[Freddie]

56. DH hires retired people

To deliver auto parts. He is regional manager of an auto parts chain that sells 95% to garages and dealerships. The driver schedule is half day either morning or afternoon. The vast majority of the drivers are men and they all tell him the same thing - their wives don't want them underfoot during the day. Works out well most of the time but once in a while a guy shouldn't be driving anymore due to age. DH can't "release" a guy for that reason unless they have an accident, and they do, almost always fenderbenders.