Additional Coverage:
At 63 years old, Diane Senffner faces a future markedly different from what she had envisioned for her retirement years. Like many in her position, losing her job during the COVID-19 pandemic drastically altered her financial landscape, consuming her savings and clouding her vision of a restful retirement. Senffner, now without a safety net, is confronting the reality that retirement may never come for her, as she prepares herself for the possibility of working until the end of her life.
Senffner’s predicament is not unique but is shared by a significant number of her peers in the “peak boomer” cohort—those born between 1959 and 1964—who are reaching retirement age under less than ideal circumstances. This group finds themselves heavily dependent on Social Security for their retirement, a prospect that may provide insufficient income in their golden years.
Despite her extensive job search, Senffner, along with many of her contemporaries, struggles to find full-time employment. The challenge is exacerbated by age discrimination, an unwelcome barrier that prevents many seasoned workers from securing jobs that match their skill levels or ambitions. This unsettling trend is evidenced by the fact that many older adults, nearly one in five, have not accrued any retirement savings, amplifying their fears of financial insecurity as they age.
The reliance on Social Security as a primary source of income in retirement raises alarms for many in Senffner’s age group. With benefits that may not fully cover living expenses, there’s a growing concern amongst these individuals about how they will manage financially without adequate savings to supplement Social Security. This uncertainty looms large for a generation that envisioned a different path to their retirement years, highlighting a critical issue facing an aging America.