Americans are less financially secure now than they were in 2000 even as the likelihood of needing resources for a longer life increases, says Stanford Center on Longevity study.
The Stanford Sightlines Project synthesized eight different studies that covered two decades and involved 1.2 million Americans to come up with its findings on living longer. It found that three-fourths of Americans want to live to be 100 if they can do so in good health.
The study found that financial security across an extended life span is a growing challenge and is less likely for Americans in 2014 than it was in 2000. This is particularly true among the least educated, who are more likely to live at or near the poverty level, lack emergency resources, and are less likely to have invested in their financial futures.
“Millennials, people age 25 to 34, are facing ever greater uphill struggles,” says the report. Those who went to college are 50 percent more likely to carry debt because of college loans. The average debt in this group is five times higher than what the same age group had 15 years ago.
More than half of those age 35 to 64, and two-thirds of those age 25 to 34, are in debt. Nearly one-third of Americans under age 35 are carrying debt in excess of 20 percent of their annual income and one-quarter are carrying debt in excess of 30 percent of their income, which is a 136 percent increase from 2000.
Two-thirds of Americans are opening retirement accounts before age 55 if they are eligible for employer sponsored plans. Among those ineligible for employer-based plans, such as independent contractors and self-employed people, only one-third have a retirement plan.
On the plus side, according to the the Sightlines Project, a 15-year decline in health insurance coverage among those without a high school education has been reversed since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.