By ANTHONY BOTTAN
So what toll has the country's economic turmoil taken on older Americans who have retired or thought they were on their way to living the "good life"?
A longtime Lynbrook resident and AARP member - who asked not to be identified - said that even though he receives both a New York City pension and a civil service pension, he has still cut back on spending. He has been retired for eight years, but because of the economy, he has cut spare-time activities to save money. He used to drive to a racetrack in New Jersey with his buddies every weekend, he said, but this year he could only afford to go once. "I look at my money in the bank, and it's not going as far as it used to," he said. "All these little things add up."
In an AARP survey of workers age 45 and older conducted in September, 69 percent said that if the economy does not improve significantly, they would delay retirement and work longer. Thirty-seven percent said they would save more for retirement, and 20 percent said they have already started to work more hours and have stopped putting money into their retirement accounts. Nearly half of the 1,628 people polled said that it has been increasingly difficult for them to pay for necessities like food, medicine, home heating oil and gasoline.
According to a study by the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan economic and social policy research group, there are roughly 94 million Americans, 50 and older, who are approaching retirement or already retired. Over the past year, the stock market has lost 27 percent of its value - $7 trillion - and retirement accounts have lost 18 percent of their value - $1.6 trillion. The financial turbulence of the past year, the institute concluded, has wiped out the gains made between 2005 and 2007. Today, the typical household retirement account for those over 50 has a balance of just over $89,000 - less than a year's average household income for the 50-to-59 age group.
Janice Principato of Oceanside, who has been retired from her job at Arrow Exterminating in Lynbrook for 10 years, said that even during these hard economic times, her family's finances have remained sound because they have stayed within their spending limits. "I was never a person who needed everything the Joneses had, because that doesn't always make you a happy person," Principato said. "I know there's a lot going on in the country, but the younger generation likes to spend, and that's a problem - and that's how you get into trouble."
A couple from Lynbrook, who declined to be identified, said they are afraid of retirement. They explained that when they want to retire - perhaps in the next six or seven years - they may do what they call "incremental retirement," picking up part-time jobs to help pay the bills.
The U.I. research team noted that the housing and stock market slump will likely increase the number of retirees looking for jobs to supplement their shrinking nest eggs. In the 1990s and early 2000s, a little less than a quarter of retirees returned to work, but the current, relatively high unemployment rate of 6 percent limits their job prospects.
According to the U.I. report, each additional year of work increases annual retirement income by 9 percent.
Polly Talbot, owner of A la Carte Culinary Services Ltd. in Lynbrook, said that she has worried for many years about retirement, and wondered which retirement plan would be most useful. "I tried so hard to save," Talbot said. "Now it seems that a simple savings account would have been just as good as all those different, confusing types of plans. I feel I've wasted a lot of time worrying about nothing."
Mary Malloy contributed to this story. Comments about it? ABottan@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 246.
