How Covid-19 Will Affect the Economics of Retirement
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your Money Briefing for Monday, November 30th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. The pandemic has sharpened our focus on our mental and physical health, but for older Americans, it's also reshaping how they'll face aging and retirement.
A lot of people are spending more time isolated, but the flip side, the good side of that, is that a lot of people are thinking more about what they really want to do with their lives and their legacies and, you know, what kind of impact they want to have.
Coming up, our retirement reporter Ann Turgason will explain how long-term care is likely to change because of the pandemic and the pressure it's putting on savings, Social Security, and government health care programs.
How is the pandemic reshaping retirement economics and why does it matter?
That's after the break.
Retirement can be expensive. Savings and proper health care are keys to living comfortably and in good health past your working years. But the pandemic is likely to cause sweeping changes to the economics of retirement. For some details, let's bring in our retirement reporter, Anne Tergesen.
Why might lower interest rates force people to delay retirement or save more?
Anne, thanks for being here.
You're welcome.
So how are the effects of the pandemic likely to make people rethink the age that they'll retire?
Well, there's a lot of factors that go into that, but from a financial perspective, the pandemic has caused interest rates to decline, which makes it harder to save enough for retirement, especially for people who depend on diversified portfolios that have bonds in it. So when you have bonds paying very low interest rates, almost nothing, It just becomes harder for people to generate enough income off of their portfolios to meet their standard of living. So there are some people who feel like, you know, we've seen people shift towards working longer and they feel that this is just going to exacerbate that going forward, you know, as we get out of climb out of the current recession.
So the pandemic will essentially really change up the economics of aging?
People are going to have to save more if they want to retire and they don't want to cut their standard of living. So, you know, you have the choice. You could certainly retire on your current savings, but you probably won't be able to spend as much because your bonds won't be throwing off as much income. So, you know, for some people, it's going to be a choice and that they're going to have to make to either cut their standard of living or
How could Social Security uncertainty influence decisions to stay in the workforce longer?
Work longer, save more, you know, potentially continue to work for as long as possible. And some people feel that the uncertainty facing Social Security and the financing of Social Security, which Congress, you know, we're looking at a deficit in, say, 2034, that range, that that could also cause people to decide to stay in the job market longer because Social Security is, you know, a big piece of what people depend on when they retire. So all these things probably together really argue in favor of potentially working longer and saving more.
Now, the pandemic has also had a devastating effect on nursing homes and long-term care facilities. How will that affect aging going forward?
How has COVID-19 changed perceptions of nursing homes and the demand to age at home?
Yeah, so when you read surveys and certainly when you talk to people, they often say that they would prefer to age at home. And I think that a lot of people who are sort of in jobs where they focus on issues that have to do with retirement and aging, they say that one really significant trend that's going to come out of the pandemic is that nursing homes and institutional care for the elderly are are really going to be under a lot of pressure. Because on the one hand, you have the pandemic, which has caused a significant amount of death in these facilities. And that makes people very reluctant to either go there themselves or to have their parents or loved ones go there. The second thing is that the government is raising regulatory standards.
So it's going to raise costs for these institutions, which could cause more of them to go out of business in the future. In general, you know, the feeling is among all the experts I've spoken to, which are a lot of experts, is that people are going to there's going to be more of an emphasis on aging at home and what they say aging in place, which is, you know, basically not moving to institutional care.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:05–0:45
2
How is the pandemic reshaping retirement economics and why does it matter?
0:45–1:10
3
Why might lower interest rates force people to delay retirement or save more?
1:10–2:23
4
How could Social Security uncertainty influence decisions to stay in the workforce longer?
2:23–3:06
5
How has COVID-19 changed perceptions of nursing homes and the demand to age at home?
3:06–4:39
6
What policy and technology shifts are needed to support more people aging at home?
4:39–6:17
7
Could COVID-19 reduce life expectancy and how is it prompting people to rethink priorities?
6:17–9:10
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from WSJ Your Money Briefing
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