People Over 50 Carrying More Debt Than in the Past

[Burnsie]

People Over 50 Carrying More Debt Than in the Past

People Over 50 Carrying More Debt Than in the Past - WSJ

Not a good sign IMO. Could lead to problems down the road.

 

[Dreaming of Freedom]

Is there a way to read the story without subscribing?

 

[Burnsie]

For any article that has a subscription requirement, just put the article title in a search engine and then click on the link to access the entire article.

 

[harley]

Copy and paste the title into the google search bar. Then click the link that comes up.

 

[Amethyst]

Bit of a contrast with other articles I've read, that say older Americans have more money while younger ones are struggling with debt. Note the paragraph about old people suddenly carrying student debt.

I guess some people in any group will have money problems.

"Older Americans are burdened with unprecedented debt loads as more and more baby boomers enter what are meant to be their retirement years owing far more on their houses, cars and even college loans than previous generations.

The average 65-year-old borrower has 47% more mortgage debt and 29% more auto debt than 65-year-olds had in 2003, after adjusting for inflation, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released Friday.

Just over a decade ago, student debt was unheard-of among 65-year-olds. Today it is a growing debt category, though it remains smaller for them than autos, credit cards and mortgages. On top of that, there are far more people in this age group than a decade ago."

 

[HF63]

I have a friend close to 70's, he makes minimum payments to his credit cards. I do not expect that the banks will ever get their money back. He has no assets to his name at all.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Really sad that this is the case for so many people. I find the student loan debt shocking.

 

[ABQ2015]

I'm wondering if the student loan debt could be that of their children. I have a friend age 62 who is delaying retirement until age 66 to pay off her daughter's student loans.

 

[jazz4cash]

So after the big headline further into the article you get this:

“Retirement-aged consumers’ repayment has shown little sign of developing weakness as their balances have grown,” according to Ms. Brown.


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[CRLLS]

I googled the title and saw the graph comparing 2003 with 2015, a span of 12 yrs. Assuming that someone at age 50 in 2003 is 62 in 2015, I see less debt today for the same people, starting with age ~48 in 2003. That is a good thing. I guess one can interpret things any way they want.

 

[GravitySucks]

My guess on the seniors with student loans might be traced back to the people that went to law school during the Great Recession and even back to the dot com bust.



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[Rustic23]

Why should this surprise anyone. The baby boomers are growing up. There are more of them than prior generations. As wealth is somewhat a pear shape with very few people at the top and lots at the bottom, we could assume there are more people at the bottom than in past generations. Also, inflation will also cause the next generation to owe more than the previous. Homes, cars, and just about anything other than computers cost more.

 

[Hamlet]

I'm not sure that a lot of this is all that concerning. Mortgage debt is higher, but is the cost of servicing that debt actually higher? I can buy tons of blue chip stocks that yield more than my mortgage's rate-- why would I ever pay it off?

 

[cyber888]

Mortgage debt may be rising for seniors as it include Reverse Mortgage. I would not be surprised if more seniors use reverse mortgage.

 

[Walt34]

Mortgage debt may be rising for seniors as it include Reverse Mortgage. I would not be surprised if more seniors use reverse mortgage.

They must be profitable for the banks, as much as they're advertised. A banker at a community bank we talked to refused to even carry the product because he'd seen so many people exhaust their resources and then health issues forced them to move from the house.

He was straight out of "It's a Wonderful Life" and said it hurt to tell people there was nothing he could do to help them.

This makes me believe that except perhaps in some very rare circumstances a reverse mortgage is a bad idea for the borrower. Admittedly I'm predisposed to be opposed to borrowing anyway.

 

[ownyourfuture]

Nobody else noticed the irony here ?
Burnsie posts a link to a story @ the WSJ concerning older Americans carrying more debt than in the past, & says this concerns him.

Yet the next three responses relate to people interested in the article itself, but not willing to pay for it. IE: They want it free

Maybe the guy/gal who wrote the article, is over 50 & had to take on more debt because people refuse to pay to read their articles ?