Not that we’re big on dramatics (or alliteration), but the following comes courtesy of the Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Ind.
- In 2011, the number of people in the United States celebrating their 65th birthdays will increase from 2.7 million to 3.3 million, the Census Bureau says. The size of the 65-andolder population will grow steadily until 2030, when one in five U.S. residents will be over 65, compared to one in eight now.
- Nearly half of people who live to 70 will spend time in a nursing home before they die. In 2030, there will be 70 million Americans 66 or older. That’s a lot of prescription drugs, nursing home beds and medical professionals — all of which are expensive and getting more so.
- Social Security, while not in imminent danger, is not a sustainable model.
- The savings rate among Americans is sickeningly thin, so the impending retirement of millions of baby boomers is cause for anxiety. In the last three years, Americans saved an average of 1 percent of their incomes. (Whether we don’t save because we’re barely covering our expenses or we don’t save because our expenses are too lavish is beside the point, which is that we do not stash away enough money for retirement.)
- As baby boomers retire, the need for replacement workers will increase. And there aren’t as many of them as there are of us.
- Besides health-care issues, aging brings other factors: What about transportation as more and more baby boomers give up their driver’s licenses? What about underfunded pension programs that have been skating along?