Agenda - 02-15-1999 - 2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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"Money Makes the World Go Round" Economic Security in Later Years • Roughly one -fifth of NC boomers are comfortable or well -to-do (household incomes greater than $63,000 in 1996 dollars). Another fifth are below the poverty level or just above. Some 60 percent are in the middle. How well boomers do now influences how much they wilt accumulate for retirement in Social Security, pensions, and assets. • The bipartisan 1994 -96 Advisory Council on Social Security released three separate recom- mendations to sustain Social Security beyond 2030. Each proposal included raising the re- tirement age, a slight increase in taxes, and privatizing some or all of the trust fund revenue. With no change, the trust fund will still be able to cover 75 percent of benefits in 2029. • North Carolina has a greater proportion of new jobs in technical fields than the nation, and these may offer good salaries and pension plans. However, nearly one million NC boomers — roughly half —are in occupations that did not offer pensions to people who retired in 1993. • Boomers are just entering the ages when their parents began to save more of their earnings for retirement. Will the boomers save enough? To live on 75 percent of their current earnings, boomers making $20,000 would have to save $120,000 to supplement Social Security. For those with middle to high incomes, savings and pension together must surpass $1 million to maintain the same standard of living. And what about the poor and near -poor? • Lifelong learning through North Carolina's community colleges and universities are help- ing boomers get and maintain better jobs now and will be a major source for job retraining, information, and self - development. "Stayin' Alive" Health Status of Boomers Now and In the Future • Around 260,000 (13 percent) of NC boomers —many fully employed and middle class — have no health insurance, decreasing their chances of getting preventive services and early treatment that reduce the possibility of serious health problems later. - • Boomers talk a good game about living healthy life- styles, but do they really? About a third of older NC and US boomers are overweight. Smoking rates in this state are among the highest in the country, and NC boomers exercise less than boomers nationally. • North Carolina is the twelfth highest in the nation in "preventable deaths =that is, deaths caused by changeable behavioral or environmental causes. • The anticipated arrival of boomers has heightened public concerns about the future of Medicare and Medicaid and interest in a range of options including managed care, medi- cal savings accounts, flexible long -term care insurance, and "medigap." "When We're 64" and Older How Will Boomers Live When They're Old? • Like today's older adults, the boomers in later life will be disproportionately women. They are even more likely to be single, and on average, they will have fewer children. • Several trends suggest that boomers will age with fewer disabilities and be able to use lower -cost service options. Still, their numbers will have a heavy impact on the formal and informal long -term care system. • Technology will make a big difference. On the positive side, better, more carefully tailored services will be available. On the negative side, the glut of information may make people more vulnerable to its misuse, increasing the need for consumer education and protection. • Like their parents, most boomers will enter retirement healthy and active, but some face difficult odds and create special challenges for their families, communities, and govern- ment. What can we do today about the 344,000 who lack a high school education, the nearly 186,000 boomer households at or near poverty, and the substantial numbers who smoke, are overweight, or fail to exercise? The NC oepwwrwd of Neam coca H~ serves does na ascr:ni- nw an ft wsis of race. color. na- tiond wvr% sex. reig -% aye. or 6siDiy it ernpbprA nt or 1M Provi- sion of serviom 1000 copies primta0 at a cost of SW or $0.06 per copy.