Meanwhile, any retirement savings they built up earlier in life may have been drained by a financial setback like a divorce, a medical calamity, or children in need financial help, she added. “And that’s just not a practical solution to this problem.” People working at this age and older are sometimes doing so because their Social Security payments - which average about $1,100 a month - don’t go far enough, Ghilarducci said. “I figure that we have 3.9 million people in America now who are working over the age of 70 who need GoFundMe accounts,” Ghilarducci said. workers over 70 are working because they don’t have enough money to retire, and 25% are working because they want to. Ghilarducci, who researches the retirement crisis at the New School’s Retirement Equity Lab, estimates that about 75% of U.S. ‘We as a nation have not come to terms with that math’ “Even when they’re participating, they’re not accumulating as many assets as workers in better paid jobs,” Scott told MarketWatch. Part-time workers may not work enough hours to qualify for a 401(k), and their earnings may be so low that it’s nearly impossible to save adequately for retirement, he said. About half the American workforce does not have access to a 401(k) retirement account at work, but working at an employer that offers one does not necessarily guarantee retirement security, said John Scott, the retirement savings project director at Pew Charitable Trusts. More troubling, though, is the situation in the real world, where the odds of an older lower-wage worker having a well-funded retirement account are slim, experts told MarketWatch. Several have $0 in donations, a search of the site shows. At least 20 GoFundMe campaigns for Walmart workers have been started over the past few months most have fallen far short of their fundraising goal. ![]() The campaigns to help workers retire represent a tiny fraction of activity on GoFundMe, which has raised more than $25 billion since its 2010 launch and is a go-to for people who need help covering funeral costs, medical bills and other unexpected expenses. And that’s just not a practical solution to this problem.’ ” - Teresa Ghilarducci, a labor economist focused on retirement security “ ‘I figure that we have 3.9 million people in America now who are working over the age of 70 who need GoFundMe accounts. Shows the power of how one fundraiser can spark others in a positive way.” “We’ve seen fundraisers started in Maryland, Florida, Texas and around the country. “Our community has been so inspired by the stories of strangers helping elderly workers that they have started other fundraisers to help people in their neighborhoods,” a GoFundMe spokeswoman said. Postal Service also got support from GoFundMe campaigns. They weren’t all Walmart workers older employees from McDonald’s, Target, Burger King and the U.S. A campaign for Carmen, another 82-year-old in Arizona, brought in more than $136,000 and was covered on “Good Morning America.”Īround the holidays, GoFundMe highlighted several fundraisers helping older workers retire. (Walmart did not respond to requests for comment for this story.)Īfter TikTok videos encouraging people to donate racked up millions of views, a few of the Walmart workers hit the GoFundMe equivalent of a winning lottery ticket: an 82-year-old named Butch was able to retire after a GoFundMe attracted more than $166,000 in donations. Others simply say they’re trying to give an older person who’s been working most of their life some peace of mind and relaxation. Some describe situations where people in their 80s and 90s are working because they need to pay off medical bills. ![]() The appeals usually feature a photo of the worker in their store vest and name tag. The campaigns are typically started by someone who has either seen a baby-boomer-or-older employee working at their local Walmart, or someone who has an older loved one working at the store. ![]() ![]() Workers have appeared on GoFundMe over the years, but they started popping up more frequently last summer and gained momentum during the holidays, a GoFundMe spokeswoman told MarketWatch. ‘Stories of strangers helping elderly workers’
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