If you’re living for the weekend largely because it’s pay day, you’re not alone: While fewer people are dependent on their next paycheck to make ends meet this year, more people in their 40s and 50s are living paycheck to paycheck compared to younger adults, according to a new survey.
CareerBuilder, the nation’s largest online job site, found that 43 percent of people between the ages of 45 and 54 reported they were living paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet in a recent survey of more than 3,800 full-time employees, the highest share of any age group. About one-third of people over age 55 reported living paycheck to paycheck. On the bright side: the share of total workers who "usually or always live paycheck to paycheck" -- 40 percent -- has fallen 46 percent in 2008, CareerBuilder found.
So why would the 45-to-54 cohort be the hardest pressed when it comes to making ends meet? There’s the squeeze of supporting children and family (one survey found that 90 percent of boomers shoulder this load) and the fact that a quarter of Americans age 50 and up used up all of their savings during the recession years of 2007 through 2009. Health also affects one's ability to make ends meet. Injury and illness are the biggest causes of personal debt for 40- to 59-year-olds, according to an AOL Jobs article.
Living paycheck to paycheck gets in the way of saving, but at least two-thirds of respondents were contributing to a retirement plan. Employees 55 and up were the most likely to say they stashed away more than $1,000 a month (13 percent) and were the most likely to participate in their companies’ retirement savings plan (73 percent).
Huff/Post50 asked its readers what some of their biggest obstacles to saving were. What’s yours? Let us know either by answering our poll or tell us in the comment section.