'Will they outlive their money?': How seniors are coping with the cost of living

Seniors and the cost of living We speak to CARP's Bill Vangorder about how inflation and rising costs are impacting older Atlantic Canadians.

Inflation and the rising cost of living has hit Canadians hard the past several months and it can be a major cause for concern for seniors on a fixed income.

The chief operating officer for the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) says members are voicing concern.

“We survey our members regularly and they tell us what’s concerning them,” says Bill Vangorder. “For a long time now, it’s health care and even housing have been a concern, but financial security continues now to be the number one topic. Basically, will they outlive their money?”

Vangorder, who is also the volunteer senior spokesperson for CARP Atlantic, says the other major concern is the rising cost of groceries.

“There’s some things that you can cut back on, you can do less of, maybe you could travel less, you could buy fewer luxury items, but you can’t avoid food. You can't avoid food for yourself, for you pets, for your family,” he says. “And when food goes up, at the rate that it’s been going up, seniors just find that totally impossible to be able to meet their budget and be able to live the way they should be. “

Canada's year-over-year inflation rate slowed to 7.6 per cent last month, with the deceleration largely driven by a decline in gas prices, even as prices for food and rent continued to rise.

Vangorder says there is a misconception surrounding seniors and housing.

“We often hear 'Oh, those lucky old people. They own their own homes, homes have gone up in price so much they’re worth more,' but it’s only property value which puts no cash in their pockets. If they were to sell their house, where would they go? There’s a tremendous lack of apartments, even condos, those prices have gone up.”

He adds seniors are now anxious that they’re not going to have enough money to live the rest of their lives.

“The good news is we’re all living longer. The bad news is we didn’t plan 20 years ago, 25 years ago, to live longer and need money to support ourselves during that time.”

For those finding their situation difficult, Vangorder has a few pieces of advice.

“Many seniors did, some years ago, go to a financial advisor, made plans for later on so they would have enough money and they haven’t been back since. It is time now to talk to a highly qualified financial advisor, look at your whole financial situation and rework where you’re at, at this time.”

Vangorder admits the second piece of advice is a bit more complicated.

“Many, many seniors are going back to work or working part-time finding that they can’t be totally retired and that’s a real conundrum for them because with COVID, unfortunately, looking like this fall it could be on the rise again,” he says. “A lot of seniors would like to go back to work, but most of those jobs are in places where there are many other people and they’re afraid to go back to work.”

He says the pandemic is still top of mind for CARP members.

“If you’re an older person with other illnesses… you’re still very worried about getting COVID. And a lot of people are really concerned about the fact that people aren’t wearing masks anymore, especially in large groups in shopping centres, in stores, at public events,” says Vangorder.

“They really wish that everybody, in consideration of those who are at risk, would wear their masks again."

With files from the Canadian Press.