Advice to Help Your Kids Get the Most From College

Posted: 08/21/2015 by | Comments

A recent family party celebrated a first-born child heading off to college. As the evening wound down, relatives gathered around the picnic table and offered advice to the college freshman, ranging from “Study hard but have some fun” to “Call your mom occasionally.” These suggestions were especially interesting in light of the “Is college worth it?” debate that has developed post-recession. Last spring Gallup released the result of a survey of 30,000 college alumni that found six elements common to …

Is It a Good Time to Find Work? Most Say No

Posted: 03/21/2014 by | Comments

How do Americans view today’s job market? Apparently not favorably. In a Gallup poll of 1,048 adults in March, more than two-thirds (68 percent) said now is not a good time to find a quality job. Only about 1 in 4 (28 percent) were positive about the odds of landing a position, the highest measure since the start of the economic downturn in January 2008. >> Sign up for the AARP Money newsletter Older workers were even more pessimistic. Among those …

Support for Obamacare Inches Upward

Posted: 10/24/2013 by | Comments

The Affordable Care Act has taken it on the chin recently, from its controversial role in the recent government shutdown to the website meltdown that came as the long-awaited health insurance marketplace opened on Oct. 1. Nonetheless, a new Gallup poll shows that public support for the law seems to be inching upward. Sign up for the AARP Health Newsletter. Obamacare still has its share of critics. The Gallup survey finds that 50 percent of Americans generally disapprove of the …

Age Divide Narrows on Hot-Button Social Issues

Posted: 06/06/2013 by | Comments

Older Americans are moving closer to younger people in their views on a wide range of moral and cultural issues, including many at the center of contentious legal and legislative battles, a new Gallup report shows. “Americans’ fundamental views on several issues that define the nation’s culture have changed in important ways since the start of the last decade,” Joy Wilke and Lydia Saad of Gallup write. “Gallup trends by age show that (in every case) increasing acceptance of several matters …

Are You Planning to Work Into Your Retirement Years?

Posted: 05/24/2013 by | Comments

Three-fourths of employed adults plan to keep working past retirement age, many because they want to, according to a new Gallup poll. “‘Retirement’” once connoted a lifestyle free from the demands of work, but also reliance on personal savings and Social Security,” Gallup noted. “Both of those impressions may change if Americans carry through on their intent to continue working, at least part time, after reaching retirement age.” And that could be a good thing, according to Gallup. “While this …

Retiring Later? Join the Club

Posted: 05/17/2013 by | Comments

The brutal economic downturn that began in 2008 and the subsequent sluggish recovery has thrown a cold splash of reality on many Americans’ dreams of a comfortable, stress-free retirement. So it’s probably not much of a surprise that Americans are now retiring at an older age than they did just a few years ago, and that most of us expect to keep working to age 65 or older. The big surprise, though, according to Gallup’s newly released annual economic and …