- Home
- Real Life Success
- Wall Street and Main Street Matter But What About Retirement Road
Wall Street and Main Street Matter But What About Retirement Road
- By Rejoyce Wilson-Herbert
- Published 10/18/2008
- Real Life Success
- Unrated
Rejoyce Wilson-Herbert
Rejoyce Wilson-Herbert is the founder of National Information Resource Services (NIRS), an organization committed to educating people on the home care industry. Currently residing in Newport Coast, CA, Rejoyce is the General Manager of MemorialCare Home Caregivers. She is also a nationally recognized advocate for the elderly
and is one of the most highly-sought after speakers in her field. She is a proud mother, grandmother and great-grandmother and continues to work hard and help people realize their own goals.
So much is being said about the Wall Street/Main Street bail out, yet there is a road much traveled by the elderly citizen of this country: Retirement Road. The young people of this country have time to make up for the money they lost on Wall Street. The wealthy and the rich have funds set aside to protect themselves regardless of the situation in the financial markets. Even the mature person, who only has another ten to twenty years before retirement, may still have time, and hopefully some luck on their side. The people hurting the most are the people currently in retirement.
Today’s retirees and their pensions or retirement funds saw an unfortunate and unbelievable drop last week during the worst drop in stocks in the history of the US. This caused an incredible financial dilemma for retirees trying to meet their financial responsibilities. They are facing problems with everything from paying mortgages and utilities to finding money for their medications. Most retirees live on a tight budget, so the smallest of increases in costs, combined with the losses they experienced are making life more of challenge.
I recently made an in-home visit to an 85-year old man who was suffering from Parkinson’s. Mr. Smith (we’ll call him) and his wife were working class people in the airline industry. Mr. Smith was an airline pilot and Mrs. Smith, a flight attendant. Both were very proud and happy with the fact that they had worked and put away the funds needed for them to remain in their home, throughout their retirement years.
They had redesigned and equipped their home with all the medical equipment that would be needed to accommodate Mr. Smith’s Parkinson’s disease. The Smith’s are a couple who live a modest, upper middle class lifestyle.
Mrs. Smith is a very happy woman whose life is wrapped up in caring for her husband, so when I received a phone call from her in tears, I was very concerned. I immediately went to the Smith’s home. When I got to the Smith’s residence, I found Mrs. Smith sitting in a chair and looking completely overwhelmed. What she said next had such an impact; she said that she and her husband had lost most of their pension funds when Wall Street crashed.
The Smith’s are just a sample of hundreds of thousands of people living on Retirement Road. The thought that they would have to give up their home, move into a facility and completely disrupt their lives, after all the planning and savings that they had done in their younger years, was more than any person could or should bare. Mrs. Smith sat and stared into space trying to form words, but there was so many scenes playing out in her head that nothing could come out. Mr. Smith knows that all is not well with his wife, but is unable to process information, so he sits and waits for his wife’s smile and encouraging words to return. Mrs. Smith is already suffering from a heart condition, fatigue, and exhaustion, and with this present situation she is being forced to take on the role of caregiver for 12-hours a night.
Yes, Main Street is feeling the effects of the 2008 Wall Street crash, but most people on Main Street will have time and opportunities to recoup some of the money they lost. It's the people on Retirement Road who live solely from their investments, savings and pensions, that are now between a rock and a gravestone. These are the people who planned their lives so they wouldn’t have to rely on the government. What do they do now? This will be a challenging stretch for everyone, but for the retirees, it’s much more trying. Wall Street and Main Street need to come together and remember Retirement Road, the foundation of our nation.
Today’s retirees and their pensions or retirement funds saw an unfortunate and unbelievable drop last week during the worst drop in stocks in the history of the US. This caused an incredible financial dilemma for retirees trying to meet their financial responsibilities. They are facing problems with everything from paying mortgages and utilities to finding money for their medications. Most retirees live on a tight budget, so the smallest of increases in costs, combined with the losses they experienced are making life more of challenge.
I recently made an in-home visit to an 85-year old man who was suffering from Parkinson’s. Mr. Smith (we’ll call him) and his wife were working class people in the airline industry. Mr. Smith was an airline pilot and Mrs. Smith, a flight attendant. Both were very proud and happy with the fact that they had worked and put away the funds needed for them to remain in their home, throughout their retirement years.
They had redesigned and equipped their home with all the medical equipment that would be needed to accommodate Mr. Smith’s Parkinson’s disease. The Smith’s are a couple who live a modest, upper middle class lifestyle.
Mrs. Smith is a very happy woman whose life is wrapped up in caring for her husband, so when I received a phone call from her in tears, I was very concerned. I immediately went to the Smith’s home. When I got to the Smith’s residence, I found Mrs. Smith sitting in a chair and looking completely overwhelmed. What she said next had such an impact; she said that she and her husband had lost most of their pension funds when Wall Street crashed.
The Smith’s are just a sample of hundreds of thousands of people living on Retirement Road. The thought that they would have to give up their home, move into a facility and completely disrupt their lives, after all the planning and savings that they had done in their younger years, was more than any person could or should bare. Mrs. Smith sat and stared into space trying to form words, but there was so many scenes playing out in her head that nothing could come out. Mr. Smith knows that all is not well with his wife, but is unable to process information, so he sits and waits for his wife’s smile and encouraging words to return. Mrs. Smith is already suffering from a heart condition, fatigue, and exhaustion, and with this present situation she is being forced to take on the role of caregiver for 12-hours a night.
Yes, Main Street is feeling the effects of the 2008 Wall Street crash, but most people on Main Street will have time and opportunities to recoup some of the money they lost. It's the people on Retirement Road who live solely from their investments, savings and pensions, that are now between a rock and a gravestone. These are the people who planned their lives so they wouldn’t have to rely on the government. What do they do now? This will be a challenging stretch for everyone, but for the retirees, it’s much more trying. Wall Street and Main Street need to come together and remember Retirement Road, the foundation of our nation.
