NPT Reports: ‘Aging Matters: Economics of Aging,’ a new documentary exploring the challenges of financing retirement, premieres 9 p.m. Thursday, January 29
How will Boomers pay for retirement? It’s a question that has been grabbing headlines locally and nationally since the first Boomers began turning 65. Now, with pension funds endangered and medical costs rising, financing a comfortable retirement is becoming more and more of a challenge.
The statistics are sobering.
The good news is we’re living longer: The average person turning 65 this year will live to be 85 years old. However, the median retirement account for Americans ages 55 to 64 holds $111,000 and roughly one-third of us will rely on Social Security as our only source of income during retirement. Almost 70 percent of us will need expensive long-term care at some point during our lifetime.
“Economics of Aging,” the latest installment of the “NPT Reports: Aging Matters” series, hosted by Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Kathy Mattea, discusses the costs and financial impact of aging and how people are navigating crucial financial decisions. This documentary draws on the knowledge of financial advisors, advocates and healthcare providers, as well as seniors who are living with these decisions right now.
Produced by LaTonya Turner (“Translating the Dream,” “Looking Over Jordan: African Americans and the War”) and Will Pedigo (NPT’s “Children’s Health Crisis” and “Next Door Neighbors” series), “NPT Reports: Aging Matters: Economics of Aging” will premiere 9 p.m. Thursday, January 29, on NPT.
“It’s not exaggerating to call it a crisis,” Turner said. “There’s no way to sugar-coat the message that a lot of people will not have the financial resources needed to last as long as they live after stopping work. That doesn’t mean they haven’t made smart choices about financial planning, the playing field has shifted greatly but some of the strategies haven’t.”
“NPT Reports: Aging Matters: Economics of Aging” is made possible by the generous support of Cigna-Healthspring, the West End Home Foundation, the HCA Foundation and the Jeanette Travis Foundation.
About Nashville Public Television:
Nashville Public Television, Nashville’s PBS station, is available free and over-the-air to nearly 2.4 million people throughout the Middle Tennessee and southern Kentucky viewing area, through its main NPT and secondary NPT2 channels, and to anyone in the world through its stable of NPT Digital services, including wnpt.org, YouTube and the PBS video app. The mission of NPT is to provide, through the power of traditional television and interactive digital communications, high quality educational, cultural and civic experiences that address issues and concerns of the people of the Nashville region, and which thereby help improve the lives of those we serve.
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