This Goldilocks Economy Is Just Right for Seniors

Our seniors have benefited enormously from this "Trump Economy Tailwind” and below are listed a few important milestones:

1. In 2018, Americans 55 and older gained almost half of the 2.9 million jobs created in the workforce — the largest share of any age group according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics.

USA today noted that 39.2 percent of people 55 and older were working at the end of last year, the highest level since 1961.

Of those people over 65 years old in the labor force, 24% are men and 16% are women.

Older managers are valuable not only due to a wealth of experience but they provide lower health cost advantages if they are over 65 and qualify for Medicare, according to TLRanalytics.

2. Retirement investments have prospered during the Trump Administration. In the past two and a half years, the S&P 500 Index has returned 38% including dividend reinvestment and the NASDAQ has generated over 53% returns.

3. The U.S continues to offer the best environment to generate entrepreneurs. An estimated 27 million Americans will transition from the corporate workforce to full time self-employment by 2020.

Kauffman Index of Startup Activity has found the highest rate of U.S entrepreneurial activity is currently among the 55 and 64 age group.

Rising life expectancy, insufficient retirement savings, as well as desire to maintain productive activity are all playing a role.

4. A Babson College study "The State of Small Business in America," confirms that 57% of small business owners are aged 50 and older.

In total there are 30.2 million small businesses in the U.S. employing 58 million people in 2018.

Small businesses are now creating jobs at an all-time high according to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).

This trend could accelerate as regulatory and administrative burdens that have previously hindered many small enterprises are reduced or eliminated.

5. Senior entrepreneurs pay more than $120 billion in federal taxes annually thus supporting fiscal programs and reducing dependency on entitlements.

The “Longevity Economy” will remarkably transform the US. We now have 108.7 million people over the age of 50 responsible for $7.6 trillion of annual economic activity. (Fast Company, "Our Aging Population," 3/13/17)

6. A strong economy like this one stimulates venture funding and has accelerated “Age-Tech” startups geared toward our older demographic.

As our longer life community expands, this market will need innovative, low cost technological improvements in areas such as caregiving, assisted living and end of life.

My hope is that this economic prosperity not only continues but we all better understand how much this growth is critical to our future!

Clara Del Villar is Director of Senior Initiatives at FreedomWorks Foundation. Her financial industry career included senior roles in Investment Management, Private Asset Management, and Capital Markets. Her entrepreneurial ventures involved digital media as Founder, CEO of The Hispanic Post; energy tech as founder of InEnergy and health tech. She is a former advisor at 60Plus Foundation. Currently, she is a Board Director at General American Investors Co. and Executive Committee of Weill Cornell Women’s Health Symposium. She earned a BSFS at Georgetown University. To read more of her reports — Click Here Now.