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Fidning Your Way in a Difficult Economy

 

Experts say the worst is over. We’re no longer in economic freefall; instead, the national economy has begun a slow recovery. While that’s good news, there’s no telling when American households will actually feel the impact of recovery in their own communities. Therefore, it’s no surprise that people of every age and background stand in need of help.

 

Employers continue to cut staff and budgets to stay afloat, so the threat of layoffs and the challenges associated with finding new jobs remain very real. Job loss has slowed, but substantial employment gains are not expected any time soon. And the unemployment rate for African Americans still outpaces the rate for all other groups at 15.4 percent, as of September, compared to 9.8 percent for all workers.

 

Times are tough in the black community. A recent AARP survey shows that over the past 12 months, African Americans experienced a significant loss of health care insurance (16%), and had trouble paying rent or mortgage (26%) and utility bills (38%), as well as paying for food, at a rate more than twice that of whites. This Great Recession is causing hardships on a scale that only our elders have witnessed before.

 

As people struggle through these hardships, many are looking for help, but resources are often scattered, hard to find, and sometimes difficult to navigate. So AARP created www.AARP.org/realrelief, a website to connect people to programs and services. This one-stop online portal offers tools and programs to help individuals and families manage their pressing financial obligations. The information and materials on the site are updated regularly, including interactive opportunities, like the webinar offered earlier this month by the Partnership for Public Service on the ins and outs of applying for a federal job.

 

Through Real Relief, you’ll find help preparing for job searches, developing skills to tackle career changes, examining education and training opportunities, and even help using assessment tools to identify different areas of work that might be a good fit. There’s also information on companies known to value older workers.

 

Additionally, there are a variety of suggestions for cutting back on household expenses and tips for protecting yourself and your money from fraud and scams. Remember, even during the worst crises, unscrupulous individuals are working to dupe you out of your money, your home, your identity or whatever they can get away with – so stay alert.

 

For men and women close to retiring, the site provides tools to help figure out retirement options, such as how to position yourself for retirement or whether retirement is really the best choice in the midst of a recession. And anyone looking for help with everyday expenses such as food, utilities, and clothing, will find resources to help them determine their eligibility for a range of public benefits.

 

Times are tough. Quite suddenly, we’ve found ourselves facing challenges most Americans today have never experienced. Getting through them calls for using every resource available, like www.AARP.org/realrelief, to help safeguard the future for ourselves and our loved ones.

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