Britain is no country for the more and more old men falling deeper and deeper into debt

Britain, still one of the top ten richest countries in the world, is also one where one of its biggest debt charities has warned of a crisis among old men and women  over the age of 60, with record numbers facing insolvency.

'Step Change', which offers counselling and debt management advice, said 13,148 people aged 60 and over, equal to around 36 a day, sought help last year, compared with 9,628 in 2009 with the total up by 40% since the economic recession began.

The facts about this age group are that :

* they have larger debts than any other age group, owing on average £23,000, while the typical debts of the rest of those contacting the charity are around £17,650.

* this only includes their 'unsecured debt's' such as credit cards, overdrafts, personal loans and payday loans and for those who have a mortgage, classed as a 'secured debt', the total burden is even larger.

* credit cards are fuelling their problem with debtors typically having more than £15,000 of unpaid credit card bills, around £5,000 more than the average for all other age groups.

Delroy Corinaldi, one of the charity’s directors, said: 

"The rise in the number of older people seeking help from the charity, along with their higher than average debt levels is very worrying. Whatever someone’s income level during their working life, most would expect to be in a stable, if not comfortable, financial situation when they are older."

Neil Duncan-Jordan, from the 'National Pensioners Convention', said :
He feared the problems were only going to increase and "people just don’t have the income to be able to sustain their lifestyle. The number of old people going to food banks is increasing. The number going for debt advice is increasing. The number of people really really struggling, usually in silence, is increasing."

He also said that last month’s increase in the state pension of just 38p a day from £107.45 to £110.15 a week or £2.70 a week, barely scratches the surface of the problem.
"The increase does not keep pace with the rising cost of living that everybody, including pensioners, is facing."

Official figures show more than 193,000 old men and 111,000 old women at and over the age of 70 are still working in Britain with many saying that they are too poor to stop working.

Britain in 2013 : not a happy country for many debt-ridden and still-working old men.

Britain is a country where old men live in debt

My last posting was optimistically entitled :
Perhaps Britain is, after all, a country for 'happy and healthy' old men.

It referred to a 'Report' published by the 'Academy of Medical Sciences' which reported that vast numbers of the elderly in Britain are living long, healthy, productive lives.

That optimism was countered by a more pessimistic article in in the 'Gaurdian' newspaper entitled :
Pensioners will die in debt
Rising living costs and reduced earnings are depleting savings of elderly, report reveals.

It made the following points from on an 'Aviva Real Retirement Report' based on online interviews with 5,700 British consumers aged over 55 which found that :

* 1 in 7 baby boomers now hitting retirement never expect to be debt-free and 1 in 3 over-75 year olds have crippling credit card debts averaging £3,370 a head.

* as the first generation with access to easy credit from 1966, when Barclaycard introduced the first credit card, this will also be the first generation to take large debt to their graves.

* the mean mortgage debt for over 55's rose by £10,000 to £65,107 over the year, while the proportion of older households with less than £500 in savings jumped from 21% to 30%.

* over 55 households are now cutting down on entertainment and holidays to help pay for rising food and petrol bills.

The article elicited the following responses from readers :

* A friend, who was always sensible with is money used to say : " my ambition is to die a million pounds in debt". It amused him to think of the local bank manager sitting at his death bed saying "Please don't die George".
Maybe that's the only way to get revenge on our banking friends. Run up a shed load of debt and leave them holding the baby, like they've done to us and leaving instructions in our wills to send them a final note saying : 'Revenge is sweet'.

* Yep, I intend to die as much in debt as possible.

* I plan to spend everything I have by my mid 70's, house the lot!, around the world cruises, whores, coke and the rest I'll just waste. Then I'll repeatedly commit crime and spend my remaining years in a nice open prison.