Page 2 - aruba-today-20190708

A2 UP FRONT
Monday 8 July 2019

Poll: 1 in 4 don’t plan to retire despite realities of aging

Continued from Front

According to government
data, about 1 in 5 people
65 and older was working
or actively looking for a job
in June.
For many, money has a lot
to do with the decision to
keep working.
“The average retirement
age that we see in the data
has gone up a little bit,
but it hasn’t gone up that
much,” says Anqi Chen, as-
sistant director of savings
research at the Center for
Retirement Research at
Boston College. “So people
have to live in retirement
much longer, and they
may not have enough as-
sets to support themselves
in retirement.”
When asked how finan- In this June 13, 2019 photo, a retirement advertisement sign is shown on a building in Washington.
cially comfortable they feel Associated Press
about retirement, 14% of She searched for work in think people staying in the For them, high medical bills found Movement Disorder
Americans under the age the immediate aftermath workforce longer is mostly and a lack of savings loom Education and Exercise, a
of 50 and 29% over 50 say of her layoff, a process she a good thing for Ameri- large over day-to-day ex- nonprofit organization that
they feel extremely or very describes as akin to “bang- can workers, while 29% penditures. offers support and treat-
prepared, according to ing my head against a think it’s more a bad thing “People like me, who are ment programs to those
the poll. About another 4 in wall.” Finding Manhattan and 30% say it makes no average, everyday working with similar diseases and
10 older adults say they do too expensive without a difference.A somewhat people, can have some- certain traumatic brain in-
feel somewhat prepared, steady stream of income, higher share, 45%, thinks it thing catastrophic hap- juries. He has also helped
while just about one-third she eventually moved to has a positive effect on the pen, and we lose every- lobby state and national
feel unprepared. By com- Portland, Maine. A few U.S. economy. thing because of medical lawmakers to address rising
parison, 56% of younger years later, she moved Working Americans who bills,” says Larry Zarzecki, a prescription drug prices.
adults say they don’t feel again, to Lake Oswego, Or- are 50 and older think the former Maryland police of- He receives a pension and
prepared for retirement. egon. trend is more positive than ficer who stopped working health insurance through
Among those who are fully “Sometimes I fantasize that negative for their own ca- in his 40s after developing the state, but he spends
retired, 38% said they felt if I win the lottery, I’d go reers — 42% to 15%. Those a resting tremor in his right more than $3,000 each
very or extremely prepared back to New York,” says younger than 50 are about hand and a series of cogni- year out of pocket on med-
when they retired, while Bennett, who has a blog as likely to say it’s good for tive and physical symptoms ications. “I can’t afford, nor
25% said they felt not very called Time Goes By that their careers as to say it’s he at times found difficult will my insurance cover,
or not at all prepared. chronicles her experiences bad. to articulate. the most modern medica-
“One of the things about aging, relocating and, dur- Just 6% of fully retired AP- At 47, he was diagnosed tion there is for Parkinson’s,”
thinking about never retir- ing the past two years, liv- NORC poll respondents with Parkinson’s disease. he says. “Eat, heat or treat.
ing is that you didn’t save ing with a pancreatic can- said they left the labor mar- Now 57 and living in Balti- These are decisions that
a whole lot of money,” says cer diagnosis. ket before turning 50. more, Zarzecki says he has people in my position have
Ronni Bennett, 78, who was Meanwhile, Americans But remaining in the work- learned “to take from Peter to make. When it’s cold
pushed out of her job as a have mixed assessments force may be unrealistic and give to Paul, per se, to out, or if it’s real hot out, do
New York City-based web- of how the aging work- for people dealing with un- help make ends meet.” you eat, heat (your home)
site editor at 63. force affects workers: 39% expected illness or injuries. Zarzecki has since helped or treat (your ailment)?”q