Survey: 1 in 10 boomers borrowing for everyday expenses

Source: Associated Press

NEW YORK - The economic downturn is hitting roughly one in 10 middle-aged and older Americans especially hard, compelling them to borrow money for everyday living expenses and to seek help from family, friends or charities, according to a survey released Tuesday by the AARP.

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One-third of survey participants said they stopped putting money into their 401(k) or retirement account and 14 percent said they had cut back on their medications.

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The majority of baby boomers said they were finding it more difficult to pay for essentials and utilities, and six in 10 said they had cut back on eating out and entertainment.

James Dyas, 75, of Sherman, Conn., said he and his wife go to their favorite Mexican restaurant about half as frequently as they used to. "About all the money we have goes to buying gasoline," he said.

While the survey doesn't show large numbers of people making radical changes — taking second jobs or moving to a smaller home — it did find that more than one-quarter of those surveyed are having trouble paying their mortgage or rent.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080513/ap_on_bi_ge/economy_survey

What the heck is up with that?

Excellent observation Art. I don't see why they would be using so much gas.

They are old, not dead. Should they just stay home and out of sight?

Glad to have you with us!

:hi:

I don't think the poster meant that in a derogatory fashion - only saying that they shouldn't have to worry financially after 75 about the price of fuel or being able to eat out - that having attained that lofty an age, they should be (in this day and time) more secure than that.

Norway or Sweden or...........you get the idea.

I watch after my 87 year old grandmother and I know that frequently she wants to get out in the world and simply can't because of physical mobility issues.

I was merely saying that even those of us who are young (I'm 33) sometimes simply have to say "no" to ourselves instead of making that car trip across town to the Mexican restaurant.

We stay housebound much more often now. I was merely honestly (not cynically) curious what would force a 75 year old out of the house and on the road if they didn't have the money to pay for gas.

For most of us that mandatory driving would be school or work. In my family's case, my wife has to drive an hour away for school (great time for a gas cris) but I work about 15 minutes from my place of business.

"force a 75 year old out of the house and on the road if they didn't have the money to pay for gas."

Groceries. Prescriptions. Clothes. Doctors appointments. Post office. Utility errands. Pretty much the exact same things that force you and I out on the road even if we don't have the money for gas...

My parents are the same age and their incomes are low, but even though they get out they don't spend anywhere near so much money on gasoline.

He doesn't work anymore but he's still very active, making trips to and from town checking on his sail boats, riding the motorcycle or other little projects to keep himself busy. He has two vehicles, a 97 Crown Vic and a 99 Chevy S10 pickup. Both get around 22mpg, and he plans on selling them for a midsize/fullsize crew cab 4 door truck, which pretty much all of them get around 16mpg.

A 75-year-old who lives in a rural area with no real mass transit system probably needs to get back and forth to doctor(s) fairly often. I know my 76-year-old mom does. A taxi would be just as if not more expensive than driving her own car.

So .... no, the person is probably not joy-riding, just doing that .... or maybe just has to buy groceries.

Anyone living way out in the country sometimes has to drive 10-15 minutes just to get to a store and probably more than that to get to a doctor, esp. if it's a specialist.

Every day? Like a commute? Still doesn't compute.

One thing about me (not that you would know because you don't know me), if I think a person is full of shit, I'll pretty much come out and say it. I was trying to figure out what would cause a 75 year old to spend a significant portion of their income on gasoline if they absolutely didn't have to get into the car regularly. I wasn't accusing or berating or judging. When I decide to lay down the law and judge you like Dredd you'll know it.

If the argument is that typically retired people's income is less than that of non-retired people...well, I get that. The same argument could be made for single mothers or Arby's workers.

My parents referred to money as what was left after all the bills were paid. In other words disposable income

.....some of us that do not live in the city. Rural folks are getting hit hard with the increase in fuel prices. You can't even ride your damned cow to town because of corn prices going thru the roof because of the ethanol being used by city-dwellers!

Condoms are cheaper than a dozen eggs, so it's cheaper to get fucked than cook breakfast!

Now, we have all these damned wind farms popping up in the country generatin all that damned electricity, which is causing birth defects in our cattle. Half my damned herd now has two fuckin heads, and that means they eat twice as much! You call this progress?

did you forget this :sarcasm: ???

I'm so confused... :crazy:

....I thought making it so absurd, people would pick up on the fact that it is indeed sarcasm.

the fog is lifting....

:rofl:

especially from small towns and in the country grew up not even thinking about how far or how often they drove their car.
When I was young, cheap entrainment was to pile into my uncle's car (we didn't have one) and go for "a ride". We would drive miles and miles on country dirt roads seeing the sites and usually having a picnic lunch. A whole days entertainment for 2-4 adults and 2-3 kids would cost about $2-$4 in gas. That practice or a modified version (no kids, longer drives, overnights, nice restaurants and paved roads)continued until the present time. Now living in the country seven miles from the nearest small store is very expensive. Planing trips to town (35 miles) which was never much of a concern is now becoming a requirement.

I'm from rural Texas. I once took scenic drives every Sunday morning to watch wildlife. It was nothing to drive a hundred miles.
I still go for drives in the country, but I do it on my Harley, now, but that keeps me on paved roads, so you don't get to see as much wildlife, and you don't see the folks who really live in the sticks where life is a lot different than most here realize.

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Looking for a fight, are you? If so, I'll pass.

1933 or maybe 1932 if he was born late in the year. Last time I checked, that doesn't qualify him as a boomer.

No question that many people of all ages are in dire economic straits. But with a headline like that, you'd think that they'd use a boomer as an example.

It's the parent of a boomer--like my mom. the Baby Boomers were born 1945-65, making the range today of 43-63.

However, a bit more from the story on where the money goes:

"In the telephone survey of 1,002 adults 45 and older, nearly four in 10 said they had helped a child pay bills or expenses. Among retirees, one-third said they'd helped their children pay bills. Eight percent said they'd helped a parent pay bills or expenses. The survey's margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

One-third of survey participants said they stopped putting money into their 401(k) or retirement account and 14 percent said they had cut back on their medications."

Among those surveyed thhe 45-54 year old cohort were in worse shape than the older cohorts.

They are running commercials here in Ohio telling people to call their State Senator to keep Payday Loans.

This is supposed to go on for 7 to 10 years according to Ravi Batra and other economists.
Dear God, we'd better figure out what to do about this because it's going to get much worse.

A lot of the energy can and does get wasted, because it's so cheap. The more expensive the energy, the more people need other people, and there will be less wasting of energy.

It's no wonder we're all a little crazy. We want better communities, and want people to help out with whatever, but at the same time, we want ever cheaper energy. Well, the cheaper the concentrated external energy, the less you need other people. We don't get to have everything. We don't get to live like kings and queens...hell, better than any king or queen from when those terms stood for something...and at the same time have tight communities where everyone is helping everyone else out with this or that problem.

Although to be honest sometimes lower income people are forced to use the credit card once the savings or checking account shrinks. It is a sad reality these days.

thay're getting what they asked for.