List three reasons why older Americans work full time or part time past the age of 65
What will be an ideal response?
Some of the reasons include the following:
• Social Security, a public retirement pension system administered by the federal government, provides income to more than 90 percent of older Americans, but the benefits depend on how long people have been in the labor force and how much they've earned. Because Social Security replaces only about 42 percent of the average older person's preretirement income, many must continue to work.
• The retirement age for full Social Security benefits increased from 65 to 66 for people born between 1943 and 1954, and has risen to age 67 for those born after 1959. As a result, Americans must work longer to receive full retirement benefits.
• The Great Recession destroyed 40 percent of Americans' personal wealth. Since then, many older people have been unemployed; their health-care costs and debt have surged; interest rates on savings have plummeted; they've dipped into their retirement savings to pay for everyday expenses; and of the pre-retirement workers who consulted professional financial advisors, only 27 percent followed the advice about investments.
• Medicare, created in 1965, is a federal health insurance program for people age 65 and older that provides almost universal health coverage. However, the higher one's retirement income, the higher are the monthly premiums. Also, Medicare doesn't cover dental and eye care, long-term care, and coverage of prescription drugs is minimal. This means that low- and middle-income retirees must pay these costs themselves or postpone retirement.
• Since the early 1990s, many companies (especially in the steel, airline, and auto industries) have reduced or eliminated their employee pension plans. As a result, many older people plan to continue working indefinitely.
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