When you get older you're less able to support yourself, this is why you need to start saving when you're young, strong and healthy. You can plan to put away 5%-10% of your savings for later use. It's not hard to do but when you rely on $800 a month, it's not going to help. You should start as early as possible and even invest in Real Estate or stocks to gain some additional earnings for later use.

You will run into lots of problems and therefore you will need to learn about the options that are available to help the elderly. Believe it or not there are some elderly that go homeless because they don't know where to go to get the resources that they need to help themselves. The government took in your tax dollars and that's why you will get retirement benefits. The government has many different types of assistance programs out there to help you. I feel that the elderly population is the one that is most prone to risk because they're old and weak and can't drive sometimes. I have know many elderly that can't do anything for themselves because they are limited in some ways: they don't drive, speak English, have money to get around. It's harder for the senior population.

The types of benefits available to the elderly are social security, spouse social security benefit, disability, Medicare, housing, financial assistance and community assistant. I have seen some elderly go homeless or renting because they don't know that they can get free housing. Yes, there is free housing for the elderly. You have to apply and wait to be accepted into the program though. It's unfortunate that some seniors don't have any help at all. When you're over 65 years of age you will get social security benefits if you have worked during your younger years. If you're still qualified then you should get it. Some people don't qualify anymore because they could have some fraud issue in the earlier years or if they have a felony criminal record. A felony will prevent you from some benefit later on in life. If you're 65 and older you will also get medical and Medicare.

This will help out big time because you will get a chance to visit the doctor for less. When you're older you're most likely going to run into health problems. You do get some financial assistance too if you're qualified. Some programs offer financing for your daily needs like foods and transportation. There are community programs out there that are built to help the elderly. You have to get to know the different resources that are available for you. You can get help from local communities program for senior citizens if you don't drive. The local charity program are there to advise you and to help you with things that you can't do like driving here and there or help you to apply for certain programs. It's unfortunate that the senior population is suffering because they're old and lack the financial resources. I have seen a lot of them suffer so much because they don't have children helping them out. If you're old you should find a buddy system to help you out.

Source: www.cdc.gov/senior