The Senior Debt Trap
The Employee Benefit Research Institute says that 68% of retirees in their survey reported outstanding credit card debt in 2024, compared to 40% in 2022. And the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances found that debt more than quadrupled in households headed by people 65 to 74 (from $10,150 to $45,000) and increased sevenfold for those 75 and older (from $5,000 to $36,000) between 1992 and 2022.
Rodney Brooks
An award-winning journalist, writer and author and my specialty is retirement planning and other personal finance issues. I have written for many national publications, including USA TODAY, The Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report, AARP and National Geographic. I am available to speak on personal finance, financial literacy and the racial wealth gap.
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The author tells the history of the Freedman’s Savings Bank, how it grew much too quickly, why it failed and the impact on Black America. The Freedman’s Bank offered a safe depository for formerly enslaved people, expanded quickly and gained millions in deposits – mostly ranging from $5 to $50. But inexperience and corruption doomed it to failure, costing may of the small depositors their savings.
