Financial woes affecting planned retirement years

An article on postcrescent.com offers some interesting American statistics and commentary on those who are approaching retirement this day and age.  Some of the most startling:

• Most workers in a survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute say they have virtually no savings or investments. And 37 percent of those surveyed in the 2012 Retirement Confidence Survey think they will have to wait until after age 65 to retire. 
• 34 percent of older Americans used credit cards to pay for basic living expenses, such as mortgage payments, groceries and utilities, according to research conducted AARP. As a result, they had average credit card debt of about $8,248. About half of the people over 50 in the survey were called by debt collectors, the study says. 
• New data from EBRI show debt has actually increased for retirees 75 and older, including housing debt. Craig Copeland, senior research associate, says it’s not clear why, but it may be because of health care costs.

More and more Boomers are not only going back to work to fight off boredom, but sadly out of necessity in a lot of cases.

Read the entire article here.