Statistics, like the Bible, the Constitution or “talk radio,” can be used to “prove” almost anything, because many of us are so assaulted by “facts” that we’re bewildered by the facts – Electing, instead, to believe whatever it is that we believed before the assault – It’s the downside of the “information age.”
Occasionally, however, it’s rather interesting to just look at some facts – Some statistics – And attempt to decide for ourselves what (if anything) we think about them; so today, just for a few minutes, let’s look at what “we” look like, without headlines or screamers screaming at us about what to believe. If I suffer the uncontrollable need to make an editorial comment, I promise to clearly identify it as such, OK?
So, here are some selected stats from a “Profile of Older
Americans: 2010,” put out by the Federal “Administration on Aging” – I did
the selecting:
- For openers, they appear to define “older Americans” as 65 or better; as we’ll see, in many cases, MUCH better. You and I both know that “older Americans” means “people that are older than me;”
- Anyway, the “older population” numbered 39.6 million in 2009, which was an increase of 4.3 million (12.5%) from 1999; in other words, one out of every eight folks in the U.S. of A. is 65+ (Mark says: …and we have an interesting tendency to VOTE!);
- Those of us who get to (or have gotten to) 65 or better have an average life expectancy of an additional 18.6 years (17.2 for males, 19.9 for females) (Mark says: So, settle in for the long-haul, and if you’re planning for retirement or your “golden years,” figure on needing a bit more moolah, huh? – Because we are just not dying according to the accepted actuarial table);
- Speaking of money (which many of us often do), the median (meaning “middle”) income of us “older Americans” in 2009 was $25,877 for males and $15,282 for females (Mark says: Doesn’t sound like much, does it? That’s because it isn’t, and those are ANNUAL figures! So, back to planning: The odds are that “Mrs.” will carry on beyond Mr., so if “Mr.” is doing the “financial planning” in the household, you might want to think beyond your additional 17.2 years);
- Money is always depressingly fascinating: According to what we told the Feds in 2008, our collective, major sources of income are Social Security (87%), income from assets (54%), private pensions (28%), government employee pensions (14%) and earnings (25%!). Mark says: Interesting! I’d wager that the “income from assets” and “private pensions” have dropped precipitously in the last couple of years, but did you get the part about 25% of us are working? “Earnings?” So, we don’t get feeble, stupid and disappear at 65?? But I’m sure you also got the part about…
- …Social Security; in fact, good, old Social Security constituted 90% of the income received by 34% of beneficiaries in 2008, 21% for married folks, 43% for non-married (Mark says: Well! Apparently we do better if we’re married, but then, statistics can be used to prove anything. And if our national leaders feel the need to mess with Social Security, I’d suggest that they do it very, VERY carefully);
- OK, back to the gender-gap: Older women outnumbered older men by 22.7 million to 16.8 million. Older men were much more likely to be married than older women (72% vs. 42%), and 42% of older women, in 2009, were widows (Mark says: No kidding. Who would’ve thought? Sparing us all the obvious wisecracks about it being VERY cool to be an “older man,” once again we have to think “planning’);
- Did I say “planning?” Half of older women 75 or better (49%, actually) live alone (Mark says: Think about that: One out of two – That’s a lot of women trying to put one foot in front of the other, day-after-day, alone. And if you’re one of the “kids,” think about that!). More broadly, 30% of all of us “older Americans” (11.3 million, but who’s counting) live alone. (Mark says: …hmm…Well, “living alone” isn’t necessarily “bad,” if you’ve figured out how to make it work for you…Have you figured that out? Have you even thought about it? Sorry – I’ll try to get away from this “planning thing”);
- Speaking of “voting blocs” (which I actually hadn’t, because I was too busy “planning”), our 65-or-better crowd is going to grow from 35 million in 2000 (“Y2K” didn’t work) to 40 million in 2010, to 55 million in 2020, which is only nine years away (Mark says: If that doesn’t impress people who ought to be impressed, they are simply UNimpressable!);
- …and in case some idiot still thinks that we’re all goofing around the golf course, 475,000 grandparents 65 or better had the primary responsibility for grandchildren who lived with them (Mark says:…and that number is growing. If you’re one or two of them, and you could use some help, call any of the numbers at the end of the column – It won’t cost you anything);
- …but just in case some other idiot thinks that none of us are having any fun, only 11% (3.7 million) of “older” Medicare enrollees received “personal care” from anybody in 1999.
“Personal care” means exactly what you’d guess it means: Somebody else’s hands on your body, helping you do stuff (sometimes, VERY personal stuff) that you’d vastly prefer to be doing yourself; now think about that:
Granted, 3.7 million folks is a LOT of folks! But it isn’t the 35.3 million (look at the increase from 1999, and do the math) that we saw above; in fact, roughly 10%-ish. So, what?
Well, it is still true in my world, and has been for the 24 years that I account for, that folks are more afraid of nursing homes than they are of morgues, so the fact is that most of us will never see the inside of one unless we (a) go to visit, or (b) are in, short-term, for rehab; otherwise, not likely.
So, that means that we have a lot of life left in us, and EVERYBODY needs to realize that! Everybody – Including us.
Mark says: Go do some planning, help somebody, get comfortable and have a little fun, because most of us aren’t going anywhere, anytime soon.
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