How Americans over 80 keep working to pay the bills

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Sharon is a 84-year-old Uber driver

Transcript

00:00What I do for money is Uber driving. I'm curious to know whether there are any

00:08other 84 year old drivers. I'm 82 years old and I wish I could retire now. I do

00:15not have any retirement savings. I always felt that I was too young to think about

00:21retirement and I was a hippie and I was all about living in the here and now.

00:26The cost of living has gotten out of sight and there is no safety net for the

00:33elderly. Bills are harder to pay because everything costs more. I grew up very poor

00:38and part of what drives me right now is that I don't want to be poor again because

00:43I know what it feels like as soon as you start working plan for retirement.

00:48I've worked since I was 15 and a half. I've been a cocktail waitress. I've driven a catering

01:02truck. I've worked in cable TV. I started as a professional drummer. I did that for about

01:1015 years. I used to have my drums right by my bed so that I could just get out of bed in

01:16the morning and start playing, which drove my parents crazy.

01:19Nursing, I never really thought of as a career. It was like process of elimination.

01:27I don't want to be a secretary. I don't want to be a teacher. I do want to help people so

01:33nursing was a job that I could do.

01:36I got my degree in mathematics. Then I got recruited by General Electric to become a computer programmer.

01:44Computer science was a very new field, but it was exciting because we were in such demand

01:50that companies would essentially bid for you.

01:55After I left music, I went into healing work. I had a very active practice in Houston. At the

02:03peak of my career, I was probably earning maybe $50,000 or $60,000, which isn't a lot of money,

02:10but it was enough for me.

02:12The peak of my career was my last job. I was vice president of a company that developed advanced

02:18communication systems. I earned $115,000 a year.

02:24The peak would have been in 2010. I made $100,000 per year.

02:34Being a night owl, night shifts weren't that hard on me at the time.

02:43I raised my kids on my own with no help. After my separation, I was working four jobs at a time,

02:52seven days a week.

02:59I got laid off, I think, two times in my career, and it took me a while to find other employment,

03:05so I would draw from that 401 money to support ourselves.

03:09In the early 90s, there was a stock market crash. I didn't know what I was doing. I panicked,

03:22so I sold all of my stock. I might have a degree in mathematics, but it doesn't mean I'm financially

03:27literate.

03:28I decided I was going to sell my house and move to Texas, so I did sell the house, and

03:35it was right at 2008 or 2009, and the people that were buying the house lost their jobs.

03:42It fell out of escrow, and I'm still here. I lost all the equity in my house, and it took

03:50quite a while for it to come back up.

03:55Getting in debt from traveling have set me back. Currently, I'm in debt for, I think,

04:01about $16,000, which for me is a lot.

04:05In terms of financial setbacks, there is a man who still owes me $60,000. I had to learn the hard way.

04:15Had I not been in a situation where I had to use my 401k money, I'd probably have maybe

04:21more than a million dollars whose interest I could then live on. And I try not to think

04:26about it because I'd wake up in the middle of the night screaming,

04:30what did you do? You were a fool.

04:37Everything's more expensive now.

04:40Food costs more. Car repairs cost more. Insurance costs more.

04:46I do all my own cooking, so I know how to be able to live frugally but still nutritiously.

04:54I don't buy a lot of meat because I can't afford a lot of meat.

04:57I'll look for chickens on sale. I'll look for fish that's on sale. And if I find out,

05:03okay, well, we have fish tonight.

05:06I don't think any job I ever had paid me anywhere near what I needed to live on.

05:14I might think things are expensive, which they are for me. They're not for other people.

05:18I just got a raise to $18 an hour. And at one point in time, I'd have thought,

05:23wow, that's a lot. And now I know compared to what so many people I know make,

05:29I ain't making diddly squat.

05:32If I miss a paycheck, there are going to be consequences, financial consequences.

05:39I'm going to do without something until I can catch up. And that's scary.

05:44It makes me feel as though in spite of all of my education and all of the money that I made when I was a younger person,

05:54that in the end, I'm a failure. That's what it makes me feel.

06:08Professionally, I'm an advisor and I'm a life coach.

06:11So I just work with people from anything to couples counseling to addiction counseling.

06:23In 2010, I retired from hospital nursing, but social security is not enough for my lifestyle.

06:35So I started driving for Uber in 2016.

06:39I'm working part-time as a substitute teacher. I work about three to four days a week.

06:46That's $154 a day. If I need something more, I just work another day.

06:52Had I not decided to go back to work, we would have had to sell the house.

06:58Uber driving is the quickest way of getting extra income to cover my bills.

07:11I have not had a speeding ticket for three years, which I'm very proud of.

07:17I have a Mazda 6 now, which is bigger than the biggest car I've ever had.

07:23Backup cameras are such a blessing.

07:26I try to make at least $250 a week.

07:30I just wish I had enough passive income that I could do whatever I wanted without trading hours for dollars.

07:43I'm an administrative assistant. It's phones. It's filing. It's data entry. It's a little bit of everything.

07:55My social security takes care of my house payment and my insurance and the basics.

08:02And if I want to eat or do anything else, then I work and bring in more money.

08:12Older people are more invisible, are not taken seriously.

08:17As an older woman, I can tell that it's easier for people to try to ignore me.

08:26A lot of us do feel good enough to keep working, but there are no jobs for us.

08:35I think at 80 plus years old, it is impossible to find a job.

08:41I would interview, interview, interview and never get hired.

08:47If you're not extremely careful, your age comes through in that application.

08:53Working at 80 years old is a challenge on the one hand, but it also feels good because I can still do it.

09:07It keeps my mind busy, keeps my feet on the ground,

09:14and I look at my work as part of my social life as much as I do a job to help me survive.

09:23Actually, I enjoy working, so it's a difference for me.

09:27It's part of what keeps me young.

09:29I don't know what I would do if I retired.

09:31How many times can you play golf? How many times can you play tennis?

09:34What I like most about it is the freedom.

09:37It's like a little pipeline to money whenever I feel like going for it.

09:43What I like about substitute teaching is I still am in a position to develop,

09:47albeit just a day at a time, young people by giving examples of my own life.

09:53Uber will give me feedback of what Ryder said.

09:58I got a lot of compliments about great conversations and stuff.

10:03And most people give me five stars.

10:08Airport.

10:10I consider myself a lifelong learner.

10:13I am teaching myself Kiswahili now using something called Duolingo.

10:18I am still looking for ways to generate more revenue,

10:23which is why I'm looking at putting together the website,

10:28learning social media, those skills in order to market myself.

10:32I've become interested in AI,

10:35and I would like to use this venue or technology

10:40to be able to assist others in their healing.

10:43It's a new world.

10:46It's scary.

10:48And it's amazing.

10:50And I wanted to be a part of it.

11:00Most days I don't feel I'm 82 until I look in the mirror.

11:05I don't mind being in my 80s.

11:08I just don't want to look like I'm in my 80s.

11:11Aging is not for the timid.

11:14It's like any machine.

11:17As it gets older, things break.

11:19Humans, they call these health challenges.

11:22For a while, getting old was kind of crummy.

11:25And now I kind of appreciate it and feel good about where I've gotten

11:31because so many people can't get this far.

11:35I didn't think I was going to live this long.

11:41One day you're going to be old.

11:43And you should begin to plan for that now.

11:47Looking back, one of the worst decisions I made was not going to college,

11:52not advancing my education.

11:54I kind of wish I would have known about the thing if you just save like $25 a month or with compound interest,

12:04like starting at age 25, that you'll be a millionaire by some 65 or 70 or something.

12:11I regret not having appreciated the value and then hired, I guess is the word, or engaged a financial planner.

12:18Find a job where you are happy because you're going to work your whole life.

12:23Make the right decisions for yourself, whether it's in your personal relationship or whether it's in your professional relationship.

12:30Don't wait to do things because you may not have that future.

12:36You may not have it physically.

12:38You may not have it financially.

12:40Find a way to do your bucket list all through your life instead of at the end of your life.

13:00How much of me is going to be visible?

13:07I was hoping it would be like from here up.

13:11Hello.

13:12Hi, I'm here. Hello.

13:14I'm glad to be 81 now.

13:17I don't have to have another birthday until I'm either 85 or 90.

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