Ways To Save: Spending And Saving As A Retired Older Adult

Few of us have remained untouched by the current inflation and rising prices of such essentials as health care, food, gas, and utilities. Unless you have an expansive and unlimited budget, you are likely conscious these days of how you are spending money, how fast you are spending it, and how you can economize to stretch your dollars farther. The reports of consumers struggling to make ends meet are growing louder and more urgent. Already, a recent article in The New York Times reported that ⅓ of Americans have had to cut their spending or borrow money just to pay for health care. For many, plans of retirement have been pushed back or suspended altogether as the cost of living continues to rise. And for those who have already retired, many are contemplating “unretirement”, or at least returning to part-time work, to help make ends meet. Picking up gig work, such as Uber driving or food delivery, can be a lifeline for those on a fixed budget trying to navigate rising prices. A recent survey conducted by Indeed Flex found that about 30% of retirees are open to returning to work or at least picking up part-time jobs, with the majority pointing to rising prices as the reason. This comes as 1 in 5 Americans over the age of 50 who are not yet retired report that they have no retirement savings to rely on.

While many older adults are fortunate to have sufficient income and assets to ride out whatever inflation comes our way, there is also some data to suggest that many seniors are not very good at economizing and could improve their financial situations if only they were less wasteful. A recent article in MarketWatch cited data that older adults are more likely to waste food, leave utilities running unnecessarily, and make impulse purchases, motivated by discounts or sales. The article stated that 82.9% of baby boomers have credit card debt, and 16% of baby boomers have no emergency savings to access in a crisis. While there is a diversity of wealth among baby boomers, even those with significant assets have to recognize that with rising costs and longer lives, one never knows when a crisis will hit, and significant funds will become critical.    

Rich or poor, everyone enjoys a good discount or opportunity to save money on a purchase. For older adults, senior discounts abound, though not all are what they appear to be, and many have limitations on their use. Many websites suggest that an AARP membership of $20/year is well worth the investment, given how many perks and discounts come with such membership. If you’re able to stack your senior discounts with sales, coupons, or other special prices, all the better. For examples of some prominent senior discounts at retail stores, insurance companies, transportation and travel options, and other service providers, clip those coupons and click here and here.

For more specialized senior discounts, some strategists say you can’t go wrong with a Costco membership, given its discounted pricing for such essentials as hearing and vision care, prescription drugs, vitamins and supplements, and essential grocery items. While Costco does not offer specific senior discounts, its low pricing on products essential to many older adults means that the $65 membership fee is often eclipsed by the savings each year. Costco also accepts SNAP benefits, will deliver medications for free with a purchase of $35 or more, accepts Medicare and Medicaid for its prescription drug purchases, and many items are available for purchase online, without the need to travel to the store. In particular, prescription drug costs are often hard to navigate and discern who has the best pricing. NPR recently posted a story that made clear that there are no hard and fast recommendations about where you get the best pricing. It often depends upon whether your prescription is for a generic, whether it’s available on a site such as GoodRx (where it may make more sense to pay cash than to use whatever prescription drug coverage you have), or whether the drug manufacturer itself offers a discount to certain patient populations.

When it comes to utilities and energy costs, the National Council on Aging has outlined the state and federal programs that may offer discounts to older adults. And as far as those costly grocery items, Consumer Reports has a thorough list of the ways you may be able to save as you stroll down the aisles, with such ideas as purchasing private label products, signing up for loyalty programs, or taking advantage of the senior discounts that some supermarket chains offer. No matter your circumstances, a penny saved is a penny earned, and in this economy, we can all use our extra pennies wherever we can find them.