When I talk to various groups and organizations about Social Security, my PowerPoint presentation includes a slide with a bar graph that shows the most common sources of income for elderly Americans. As you might guess, the longest bar on the graph is Social Security. About 85 percent of seniors get a Social Security check. Other bars on the graph represent various income sources such as “Retirement benefits other than Social Security,” “Veteran’s benefits,” “Asset income,” etc.
But today, I want to talk about another bar on that graph. That bar represents “Earnings from work.” As I’ve updated that graph over the years, I’ve watched that bar grow longer and longer. When I first started using that slide, earned income was just a tiny little blip. Only about 5 percent of seniors were working. But today, it’s about 35 percent and still climbing. In other words, more and more older Americans are working.
