Elderly 'silent victims' of recession

The elderly are the silent victims of the recession, says a Taranaki support group.

After a lifetime of paying taxes, many retirees have watched their nest-eggs shrink at a stage in life when they have little chance of recovering the losses.

Positive Ageing New Plymouth chairman John Cunningham said that many retirees had been dealt a double blow.

A lot of older people had lost money invested in failed finance companies and were now also feeling the pinch of low interest rates which meant returns on bank term deposits had been halved, Mr Cunningham said.

"As a Justice of the Peace, I had to see an older person this afternoon. And she had an investment and out of the $40,000, she's getting $7000 back," he said.

Mr Cunningham said most people aged over 70 were inclined to invest with banks, because that was what they understood and where they felt safest, but their income had been negatively affected by interest rates.

Older people were often very private and tended to try and quietly cope on their own and looked for help as a last resort, he said.

"They don't want handouts, they don't ask for help, they don't go down to the Winz office."

The cold winter had not helped and many elderly had been staying in bed longer, just to keep their power bills down, Mr Cunningham said.

There had been some positive effects of the recession with some people realising they could live on less. "People have become interested in gardening and different ways of operating," said Mr Cunningham.

There are about 15,500 people receiving New Zealand Superannuation in the Taranaki province. Elderly who are suffering hardship should contact Work and Income on the superannuation freephone number 0800 552 002.

* Leanne Richards is a Witt journalism student.

- © Fairfax NZ News