These are YOUR Parents, Grandparents and Friends...

Here's some food for thought: If you can't see yourself working the Nu Skin program for yourself, how about stepping up to the plate and doing it for someone you love.  If you have a parent or grandparent or relative, or just a good friend, over the age of 75...they are going to need your help! ...Dennis

Why the very old face a financial doomsday

People older than 75 are in crisis, struggling with rising debt and falling returns on fixed assets.

So much for the golden years. 

People over 75 are increasingly in financial crisis, incurring mounting credit card debt while dealing with low interest rates that crush returns on their nest eggs. As Michael Hiltzik in the Los Angeles Times notes, "The facts are sobering."

Americans over 75 lost almost one-third of their financial assets from 2007 to 2010, according to a study from AARP Public Policy Institute. On top of that, the group is adding on debt. Nearly 22% of people 75 and older carry credit card debt, a rise from 18.8% in 2007. 

Part of the problem plaguing seniors is the current financial environment marked by low interest rates, which have diminished the returns for retirees who placed their assets in fixed-rate instruments. 

As a result, the 4% rule may no longer hold valid for retirees. That guideline, developed in the 1990s, says if retirees withdraw about 4.5% of their savings every year, their retirement assets should span three decades. 

But that rule was developed when portfolios earned about 8%, about double today's returns, The New York Times pointed out in a recent article.

While some retirees have built solid nest eggs, the truth is that almost half of senior citizens die nearly broke, according to a study last year from James Poterba of MIT, Steven Venti of Dartmouth College and David A. Wise of Harvard University. 

Their research found that 46% of seniors die with less than $10,000 in assets, indicating they're unlikely to withstand financial emergencies.