by Dr. G. A. Anderson

Created on: August 01, 2010   Last Updated: August 03, 2010

When your income has been reduced due to a lay-off or permanent job loss, a retirement with little or no pension, or an illness and loss of a partner's income, or for any other reason, it makes sense that you have to make adjustments to your lifestyle. While you learn to adjust, you must do it without suffering long-term feelings of deprivation. Those feelings lead to depression, and depression is not always an easy thing to get past.

Let's take, for example, an aging couple who both retire expecting to enjoy a full pension and Social Security for both parties, plus some savings that are quickly eaten up by unexpected health care expenses. Here is some of their story:

The company for which the husband worked for over 35 years nearly folded entirely several years after his retirement, went through many changes with mergers and other industry deals, and he ended up with one-half of his pension amount. Most of the benefits previously provided by the company were taken away, except for health insurance which continues even now to drop certain coverages to consumers. Very little is covered - office visits to doctors are never covered at any percentage, and as a result, much more comes out-of-pocket for the aging couple; this is only in the realm of medical costs.

There is no dental coverage unless bought privately. There is no hearing or vision plan in place anymore. One by one, benefits are obliterated. The older the couple gets, the less they have to go on due to mounting health care costs, including prescriptions which used to cost a mere $5 each. Now they run from approximately $10 to $50 for the co-pay. This contributes to a depletion of funds if each partner has three, four, or more prescriptions to fill each month. Dental insurance plans vary, but all are expensive and take another chunk out of monthly income.

Social Security is anything but secure these days. It provided no increase in benefits for either partner in 2010 and is not scheduled for an increase in 2011. While Social Security is helpful and the couple comments that they would not want to be left without it, it is not enough to give them any feeling of ongoing financial security. In the short term, it is merely a help.

When all of these unfortunate circumstances and more befall the individual, couple, or a family, there is nothing to do but to find ways of securing more income - not easily done in the current U.S. job market - or to cut back on expenses. A combination of both is preferable, but

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