Resources / Ripples & Wipeouts

The Associated Press reported that Ed McMahon may loose his home to foreclosure.  Unfortunately, this situation affects thousands of senior citizens everyday and their stories don’t make the evening news.

Joan Kuriansky, Executive Director of Wider Opportunities for Women, cuts to the heart of the issue.  She states, “The news reports of the foreclosure proceedings on Ed McMahon’s home in Los Angeles beg the question, ‘If Mr. McMahon, with all his status and resources, is in this situation, what are the prospects for ordinary men and women living on fixed incomes?’”Wider Opportunities for Women, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC, in partnership with the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston, has created the Elder Economic Security Standard Index™ in order to help policymakers, service providers and others construct realistic and effective policies and programs to help older Americans secure the income necessary to live independently and well. 

The Elder Index is a realistic measure of what it costs to live in the US today, with the data calculated on a county by county basis.  In Los Angeles County, where Mr. McMahon lives, it takes $30,591 for a single senior just to meet housing and other minimum basic expenses when they are still carrying a mortgage. If they have paid off their mortgage, they still need $16,355 per year to meet basic expenses.

The average Social Security payment of $12,540 is not enough to live on, and yet, one out of three seniors in California rely exclusively on Social Security to cover their basic costs.

To date, the Elder Index has been launched in three states - California, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania - and two more states will launch Indexes this summer, Illinois and Wisconsin.  Ultimately, data will be available nationwide.

Every American deserves to be able to age in place with dignity and the Elder Economic Security Index helps make that ideal a reality.

Visit the Elder Economic Security Initiative blog.
Wider Opportunities for Women