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Elder Law Prof Blog
Katherine C. Pearson, Editor, and a Member of the Law Professor Blogs Network on LexBlog.com

Income Sources

By rmorgan

I am guessing a significant majority of us teach about income security, saving for retirement and the “three-legged stool,” and have various discussions about the stability of the stool for those retired or about to retire. (sometimes I liken retirement security to a pogo stick-it goes up and down and can wobble if you’re not balanced).  AARP’s Public Policy Institute  just released a fact sheet by Ke Bin Wu on the  Sources of Income for Older Americans, 2012.  This  report looks at income for individuals (not households or families) who are 65 or older.  Here are the “bullet points” from the report: 

  • Social Security remains the mainstay of retirement income for most older Americans, while only about one in three receive regular payments from pensions and retirement savings.

  • Social Security accounts for about four out of every five dollars of income for older people with low to moderate incomes.

  • Earnings as a source of older people’s income have risen steadily over the past two decades, while income from assets has fallen.

  • Older minorities are less likely to have income from Social Security, pensions and retirement savings, interest, and dividends.

The fact sheet has some good data and helpful charts. It looks at not just the typical three legs of the stool, but also discusses the role of earnings , SSI and income trends. The fact sheet notes the importance of earnings in the discussion since more folks are working longer. Be sure to take a look at figure #2 which shows in graph-format the “Income Sources as a Percent of Total Income for People Aged 65 and Older, 1990 to 2012.”