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In 2011, the number of Americans taking early Social Security benefits dropped to a 35-year low, according to a new report from the Urban Institute. For the second consecutive year, those taking benefits fell (to 27% of the number of eligible older adults). That's down from 31% in 2009, reestablishing a 12-year downward trend interrupted only by the recent recession.
Many of us worry about ending up in a nursing home, a fear that surely has to do with the shocking stories we've read over the years: neglect and abuse at the hands of caregivers, the inappropriate use of antipsychotics to drug residents into submission or stupor, the lack of adequate oversight by…
So much of the financial news about older Americans is downbeat. More of them are falling into poverty. A disproportionate number of older workers lost jobs in April. Will they get new ones? Don't hold your breath.
Higher charges by doctors, hospitals and drug companies have resulted in healthcare costs that have risen even faster than the rate of inflation, according to a survey released today by the Health Care Cost Institute, a nonprofit research organization in Washington DC.
Gac Filipaj, 52, has worked as a janitor at Columbia University for X years. During this time, Filipaj"”a refugee from war-torn Yugoslavia"”took advantage of the free classes offered to employees to first learn English and then earn a bachelor's degree in classics.
For the first time in U.S. Census Bureau history, white births are no longer a majority. In the year that ended last July, non-Hispanic whites accounted for just 49.6 percent of American births, while minorities"”including Hispanics, blacks, Asians and those of mixed race"”accounted for 50.4 percent. The demographic shift is playing out differently across the states; white births remain the majority in many areas. In others, however, there's a growing gap between the ethnic and racial makeup of older and younger Americans.
More 401(k) plan sponsors are offering to pay benefits in a form that guarantees a set level of monthly income, regardless of how long you live. And more employers are beginning to offer these plans, Time's Dan Kadlec reports. "Before long your 401(k) may look a lot more like your dad's pension,"…
A new Government Accountability Office report says 55 percent of jobless older adults"”or 1.1 million Americans 55 and older"”have been unemployed for more than six months, up from 23 percent just four years ago. The report was addressed to the Senate Special Committee on Aging, which begins a hearing on older adults and unemployment issues today. Led by Sen. Herb Kohl, the Committee will investigate age discrimination in the workforce and ways to boost older workers' job prospects.
I have to admit, this story smacks a little bit of media-manufactured-trend piece, but the New York Times is reporting that an increasing number of would-be grandparents are helping pay for their daughters to freeze their eggs. One doctor says three-quarters of his egg-freezing patients have parents who paid part or all of the bill.
Not only is fish great for your brain, it could also lower your risk of rectal and colon cancers, doctors say. A team from Xijing Hospital in China analyzed 41 past studies on the link and found regular consumption of fish tied to a 12 percent lower risk of developing or dying from colorectal cancer.