#OldAge #aging #AgingPopulation #GrowingOld
North Dakota is getting younger.
All other states are growing older, in terms of population.
The national median age rose to 38.2 years last year, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Reporters Alex Tanzi and Shelly Hagan discussed this data in an article for Bloomberg News. It was also published June 22, 2019, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
At the time of the data collection, there were approximately 3.9 million babies under age 1 as of July 1, 2018, the article says.
This is the smallest age group until age 64. The largest age cohort, making up 4.8 million of the population, is 27-year-olds, the article says.
A record 12.7 million people are 80 and older, up from 11.2 million counted in the 2010 Census. The 1.4 million-person growth is roughly equivalent to the population of Phoenix, the article says.
“The aging (phenomenon) is driven in large part by baby boomers crossing (age 65),” the article quotes Luke Rogers, chief of the Census Bureau’s Population Estimates Branch.
We all get older. As we do, our needs and wants change.
Some of us may want to slow down. Some of us can’t slow down for any number of reasons. Others of us want to cross things off our bucket lists as soon as possible, lest we die before we do.
Some of us have to ponder how we will afford to retire. Retirement today comes in various forms, but more and more of us have little say on when that day is. Decisions often get made for us, whether we are ready or not.
This prompts us to ask ourselves: what would happen if we went to work tomorrow and were told to pack up our personal belongings and go home? Would we be ready for that?
Of course, there are ways to prepare for it, but one must start as early in his or her career as possible. One has to prioritize saving for retirement starting as soon as we start working as adults.
Remember, your retirement security largely depends on you, as company pensions shrink or disappear – if they were ever offered at all. Social Security will undoubtedly change over time, regardless of whether Washington plays wit it or not. Even if Social Security doesn’t change, it alone is not enough to produce a retirement income that would allow anyone to live the life he or she is living now.
Also, there are many vehicles out there that allow people to spend a few, part-time, off-work hours of effort to produce a stream of income that could eventually dwarf your W-2 income. To learn about one of the best such vehicles, message me.
America is getting older. We are getting older. It’s incumbent upon us not to just swallow that inevitability and wallow in its effects. Rather, it’s incumbent upon us to look at the years ahead as the best years of your life.
Start now. Prepare for success and work toward it starting today, regardless of your age.
Peter