Face Of The Day #88: Senior Incomes Improve Over Decades (VIDEO)

Older Americans are better off. The median inflation-adjusted income for senior Americans has more than doubled since 1962.

Fifty years ago the median income for those 65 and over was $8,027 for singles; in 2010 it was $17,845. For couples, the '62 median was $20,424; in 2010 it was up to $43,114.

One reason seniors were, on average, better off financially is monthly Social Security payments, which have risen faster than inflation and in 2010 averaged more than $1,200 per retiree. Another reason: more than three times as many seniors got private pension payments in 2009 compared to 1962. Those getting government pensions increased by nearly 50 percent.

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