According to a WSJ article, today’s Seniors have loaded up on debt compared to their parents in 1989.  The debt burden represents about 80.5% of their annual income compared to just 16% four decades ago. This growth has been spawned by rapidly rising costs associated with healthcare and education (college). Incredibly, those over 60 years of age have added more student loan debt (nearly $34,000) than those under 30 ($25,000)!! Furthermore, we now have 50% of households headed by someone 75-years-old or older with debt compared to just 32% in 1992.

The great financial crisis upended the normal life cycle for Americans, and it hasn’t gotten better since.