\u2018Stories of strangers helping elderly workers\u2019<\/h6>\n
Fundraisers for aging Walmart After TikTok videos encouraging people to donate racked up millions of views, a few of the Walmart workers hit the GoFundMe equivalent of a winning lottery ticket: an 82-year-old named Butch was able to retire<\/a> after a GoFundMe attracted more than $166,000 in donations. A campaign for Carmen, another 82-year-old in Arizona, brought in more than $136,000 and was covered on \u201cGood Morning America<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Around the holidays, GoFundMe highlighted several fundraisers<\/a> helping older workers retire. They weren\u2019t all Walmart workers; older employees from McDonald\u2019s, Target, Burger King and the U.S. Postal Service also got support from GoFundMe campaigns. \u201cOur community has been so inspired by the stories of strangers helping elderly workers that they have started other fundraisers to help people in their neighborhoods,\u201d a GoFundMe spokeswoman said. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen fundraisers started in Maryland, Florida, Texas and around the country. Shows the power of how one fundraiser can spark others in a positive way.\u201d<\/p>\n \n \u201c<\/span> \u2018I figure that we have 3.9 million people in America now who are working over the age of 70 who need GoFundMe accounts. And that\u2019s just not a practical solution to this problem.\u2019\u201d<\/span>\n <\/p>\n The campaigns to help workers retire represent a tiny fraction of activity on GoFundMe, which has raised more than $25 billion since its 2010 launch and is a go-to for people who need help covering funeral costs, medical bills and other unexpected expenses. At least 20 GoFundMe campaigns for Walmart workers have been started over the past few months; most have fallen far short of their fundraising goal. Several have $0 in donations, a search of the site shows.\u00a0<\/p>\n More troubling, though, is the situation in the real world, where the odds of an older lower-wage worker having a well-funded retirement account are slim, experts told MarketWatch. About half the American workforce does not have access to a 401(k) retirement account at work, but working at an employer that offers one does not necessarily guarantee retirement security, said John Scott, the retirement savings project director at Pew Charitable Trusts. <\/p>\n Part-time workers may not work enough hours to qualify for a 401(k), and their earnings may be so low that it\u2019s nearly impossible to save adequately for retirement, he said. \u201cEven when they\u2019re participating, they\u2019re not accumulating as many assets as workers in better paid jobs,\u201d Scott told MarketWatch.<\/p>\n Ghilarducci, who researches the retirement crisis at the New School\u2019s Retirement Equity Lab, estimates that about 75% of U.S. workers over 70 are working because they don\u2019t have enough money to retire, and 25% are working because they want to. \u201cI figure that we have 3.9 million people in America now who are working over the age of 70 who need GoFundMe accounts,\u201d Ghilarducci said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s just not a practical solution to this problem.\u201d People working at this age and older are sometimes doing so because their Social Security payments \u2014 which average about $1,100 a month \u2014 don\u2019t go far enough, Ghilarducci said. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, any retirement savings they built up earlier in life may have been drained by a financial setback like a divorce, a medical calamity, or children in need financial help, she added. The median retirement savings for workers aged 55 to 65 is $60,000, according to her research; a June 2022 Vanguard report showed the median 401(k) account balance overall<\/a> was $35,000. \u201cWe as a nation have just not come to terms with that math,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n One positive aspect of the GoFundMe trend aimed at older workers, Ghilarducci says, is that it has put a spotlight on the types of jobs many older workers have, and runs counter to unrealistic fantasies about the rare \u201c100-year-old yoga teacher,\u201d she said. Many older workers are working as janitors, home health aides, or in Amazon warehouses, where they\u2019re often unseen by the general public (and someone who might want to start a GoFundMe account on their behalf), she noted. \u201cSome of the older workers most in need are in low-paid jobs that are invisible to us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n One of the Walmart workers hoping for a GoFundMe-financed retirement is Gail Neal, a nearly 72-year-old who lives in White House, Tenn. She\u2019s lost two toes to diabetes, but still climbs ladders to stock shelves at the Walmart where she\u2019s worked for about 15 years, her daughter, Donna Stroud, told MarketWatch. The family recently posted<\/a> a TikTok video showing Neal at work with the hope of attracting more donations. Their campaign had raised $775 toward its $20,000 goal as of Jan 25. Neal has health insurance through her job, but does not have a 401(k) account. (Walmart offers a 401(k) plan to employees, with an up-to-6% match that kicks in after one year and one month of employment, according to its employee benefits website<\/a>.) Stroud said she wasn\u2019t sure how much her mom makes at her Walmart job. The company announced this week that it\u2019s raising the minimum wage <\/a>for store jobs to $14 an hour starting in March. Neal continues to work in part because she needs to pay off about $11,000 she owes on a car loan, and to pay off a personal loan she took out to cover medical bills, Stroud said. Despite her health problems, Neal says she can\u2019t take time off to go to doctor\u2019s appointments because she doesn\u2019t have enough paid time off, Stroud said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m in constant worry,\u201d Stroud said of her mom\u2019s declining health. She described her mother as a hard worker who isn\u2019t planning on a luxurious retirement. \u201cShe\u2019s at a point now where medically, she needs to stop working,\u201d Stroud said.<\/p>\n Some policy changes could help improve the retirement situation for older low-wage workers, and some are already under way. About a dozen states now offer state-sponsored retirement accounts<\/a> that can help fill in the gaps in retirement savings, Scott said, and a Saver\u2019s Credit in recently passed retirement legislation<\/a> should help lower-wage workers accumulate more savings.<\/p>\n For Walmart employees in particular, raising their wages to $25 an hour would be a key step toward helping them build retirement savings, said Bianca Agustin, corporate accountability director at United for Respect, a nonprofit group that advocates for retail workers. \u201cWith the present wages, it\u2019s hard for them to plan for the future when they\u2019re trying to survive today,\u201d Agustin said.<\/p>\n Another step that could help all workers build savings would be for companies to offer a \u201csafe harbor\u201d 401(k) plan, which essentially means that companies automatically contribute to workers\u2019 retirement accounts, said Ellen G. Frank-Miller, founder and CEO of the Workforce & Organizational Research Center, a social enterprise that works to improve the quality of low-wage jobs and company outcomes. These plans are more expensive for companies to offer, but they help companies\u2019 bottom lines in the long run, because that sort of useful benefit leads to higher employee satisfaction, which leads to less turnover, Frank-Miller said.<\/p>\n She called the fundraisers to help older workers retire \u201cincredibly sad,\u201d but noted, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to be this way. It\u2019s the result of intentional policy choices, both public policy and employer policies. Who is getting hurt the most? It\u2019s lower level workers in lower level jobs who are mostly women and people of color and that\u2019s not the society we want to live in.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n WMT,
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\n workers have appeared on GoFundMe over the years, but they started popping up more frequently last summer and gained momentum during the holidays, a GoFundMe spokeswoman told MarketWatch. The campaigns are typically started by someone who has either seen a baby-boomer-or-older employee working at their local Walmart, or someone who has an older loved one working at the store. The appeals usually feature a photo of the worker in their store vest and name tag. Some describe situations where people in their 80s and 90s are working because they need to pay off medical bills. Others simply say they\u2019re trying to give an older person who\u2019s been working most of their life some peace of mind and relaxation. (Walmart did not respond to requests for comment for this story.)<\/p>\n
\n \u2014 Teresa Ghilarducci, a labor economist focused on retirement security<\/span>
\n <\/small><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\u2018We as a nation have not come to terms with that math\u2019<\/h6>\n
\n <\/div>
Gail Neal, left, and her granddaughter, Kelsey Fry. Neal, who is almost 72, has worked at a Walmart for about 15 years. Her family started a GoFundMe account to raise money to help her retire. Despite declining health, Neal continues to work in part because she owes about $11,000 on a car loan and has medical debt.<\/h4>\n
\n Courtesy of Donna Stroud
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\u2018I\u2019m in constant worry\u2019<\/h6>\n
\u2018It doesn\u2019t have to be this way\u2019<\/h6>\n