Personal Finance and Investing

poverty rate among the elderly has declined so dramatically. And why very few elderly live with their grown children anymore.

All four of my grandparents were born in the third quarter of the 19th century. Paternal grandfather died in 1939. The other three all lived out the ends of their lives living with grown children. I don't believe paternal grandmother had any income of her own, as she would never have worked outside the home, and her husband probably was not covered by SS. The other grandparents had a very small pension and SS, absolutely not enough to live on independently, but enough to cover their costs if they lived with family.

In addition, SS does do COLA increases, and an awful lot of people still in the workforce have gotten few or no raises in years now.

Not that life is totally rosy for all seniors, but overall it is a heck of a lot better than it used to be.