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Sol and Marilyn Weltman never thought of themselves as poor. And statistically speaking, they are not. But that doesn’t mean that things aren’t tight, as they are for all those aging Americans who, while not technically below the poverty line, live lives in which income never quite keeps up with costs.
Call them the “new poor.”
“All your life you’ve lived in the middle class, and suddenly you find you’re in the poor class,” Marilyn says.
In November, the U.S. Census Bureau unveiled an additional way to measure poverty in America. The “supplemental poverty measure” attempts to address shortcomings in the way poverty has been calculated since 1965. Its goals include reflecting the effects of government policies, adjusting for increased standards of living over the years, and taking into account medical costs across different population segments.
The supplemental measure identified a poverty rate of only 0.8 percent more than the official measure. But the story is different for the country’s 65-and-over population. The official measure sets the poverty rate for senior citizens at 9 percent. But according to the supplemental measure, 15.9 percent of Americans over the age of 65 are poor.
The Weltmans, who live in Brighton Beach, earn a yearly sum of just over $30,000. They consider themselves lucky: they have health insurance and enough food in their fridge. Their small but comfortable apartment is subsidized. And, they say, their Social Security income exceeds that of many others in their apartment building.
Eleven years ago, when Marilyn was 67, the company where she worked as a bookkeeper moved from New York to New Jersey. She didn’t drive, and it was too difficult for her to make a daily trek across the Hudson River using public transportation. And so she decided she had no choice but to retire. Sol’s company also moved and he decided to retire as well. They did not have retirement savings, and they were forced to start living on their income from Social Security.
The Weltmans’ income is well above 15.9 percent of their peers, but still, they struggle to make ends meet. They have trouble paying their credit card bills, and even their rent sometimes, even though it is subsidized.
“You just have to pay these astronomical bills to the pharmacist,” Marilyn says, “and as you grow older you have to take more medication.”
This is certainly the case for Sol, who has been living with diabetes for the last ten years.
“It is painful in many ways,” he says, “but the place where it hurts the most is in the pocketbook.”
They create an itemized list every two weeks to make sure their budget is on track. Marilyn can recount how the price of items as specific as tuna fish and Clorox have changed over the years.
“I remember paying $4 for a box of Tide,” she says. “Now I believe it’s $10.”
Sol smiles and says, “Well, why don’t we stop washing our clothes?
But their sense of humor doesn’t help their finances. They shared with The Brooklyn Ink their expense log for the month of August, which shows Social Security earnings of $2,541 and expenses of $3,218. They spent $677 more than they earned in August. If their expenses were constant each month, this would mean $8,124 lost, every year.
“It’s been a balancing act,” says Sol, “and I feel like we’re getting closer to the edge of the cliff.”
Additional reporting by Olivia B. Waxman
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