Baby Boomers More Prone to Bankruptcy?
Supposedly, according to some new data, baby boomers, that age category that many of our parents fall into, or you yourself may fall into, are falling prey to increasing bankruptcy filings. The reasons are thought to be the fact that health care costs are much higher now and since they start requiring more health care around age 55, this can greatly affect them since not everything is covered even under the best health plans.
Also, mortgage debt is growing out of control, and people who’ve financed and refinanced find themselves in a big financial sink hole when they find they don’t have any real equity built up in their home to help bail them out. The fact that rising health and living costs in general are outpacing inflation in many cases, and more importantly, raises given by employers, has led to aging Americans using their credit cards more and other forms of revolving debt that is considered to be in the “bad credit” category.
Specifically, bankruptcy filings are rising in the age group of 55 and older right now and analysts are saying that the number will keep increasing and attorneys will see more people wanting to petition for bankruptcy if the mortgage and health costs keep rising like they are.
This new report and study findings is set to be published in the May 2007 edition of the “American Bankruptcy Institute Journal”. Gee, I didn’t know they had a whole journal dedicated to this stuff! I guess the harsher line taken on bankrupticies isn’t really affecting this shift in socioeconomics much then, is it?
