Money Problems Still Loom Over Baby Boomers

A new AARP survey asking baby boomers how they’re faring as the economic downturn continues reveals what some of us already have a gut feeling about − it’s still a struggle for many, despite the rebounding stock market and glimmers of a turnaround in the real estate market.

The survey polled 939 Americans ages 45+ in July/August 2009. The results, released today, suggest a rebound in baby boomers’ personal finances has yet to materialize.

Here are some of the highlights of the survey:

• 51% had problems paying for gas or used their vehicle less to save on gas
• 41% lost sleep due to stress or worry
• 30% stopped contributing to 401(k)s, IRAs or other retirement savings
• 29% postponed needed health care or dental work for financial reasons
• 23% had problems paying for necessities like food or utility costs
• 22% had their work hours cut or had to take a pay cut

• 22% had problems paying medical bills
• 21% saw their health insurance premiums increase in between annual enrollment periods
• 19% didn’t fill a prescription, cut the dosage of prescribed medication or skipped doses
• 14% had adult children move back home

These are tough economic times, and the age 45 to 64 population is perhaps feeling the squeeze more keenly than other groups as they care for adult children and their aging parents while still struggling to put aside for their own retirements.

Do the results of the AARP poll reflect your own “high anxieties” about your future?

Save the Post Office By Writing a Letter

When's the last time you wrote a letter to someone?

If you can't remember, let it be known that you (and nearly all of us) are contributing to the growing financial cloud hanging over the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), which is facing a $7 billion deficit, even after the latest postage rate hike in May.

It's another sign of the times. Americans who are dealing with cutbacks in services of all types may soon face some big changes from one trusty institution that used to deliver: no matter what. ("And neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night, nor the winds of change, nor a nation challenged, will stay us from the swift completion of our appointed rounds.")

To narrow its deficit, the USPS has proposed cutting mail deliver to five days a week, consolidating its mail routes, closing branches and, yes, even removing thousands of blue "under-performing" mailboxes.

Earlier this year, a letter was sent to the White House on behalf of the American Postal Workers Union, the National Rural Letter Carriers Association, the National Association of Letter Carriers and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, asking for a "bailout" reminiscent of car-makers' and financial services companies' bailouts. Legislation was introduced in January that would provide the USPS relief in funding future retiree healthcare benefits.

The venerable USPS is said to be hemorrhaging $20 million a day, due not only to Americans' increasing propensity to use email, but also because many of us are more apt to text or call someone than use snail mail. With unlimited texting and cell phone minutes a commonplace feature of many plans, texting and email are not only quicker than the mail, but cheaper. In fact, the volume of mail crisscrossing the country dropped more during the past year than at any other time in the Postal Service's 234-existence, according to the Washington Post.

The recession hasn't helped. If people can save 44 cents by paying a bill only, they often will. Party invitations and RSVPs can be handled the same way.

Perhaps the most obvious sign of postal troubles is the disappearance of thousands of blue mailboxes from city streets and suburban neighborhoods across the country. The USPS has sold for scrap roughly 200,000 "under-performing" mailboxes; that is, those that collect less than 25 pieces of mail a day. Roughly 175,000 mailboxes remain on the streets. As for post office branches, fewer people are trekking to them when they can buy stamps elsewhere or order them online, postage paid.

Said one Postal Service employee, "People just take it for granted that we're always going to be there. Well, if you want to keep your collection box, would you mail a letter, please!"

Would you be sorry to see the USPS go? Is it an institution worthy of a bailout?