Becky Davenport
- Becky Davenport, 61, fears she may never retire and might need to move in with her children.
- High living costs and medical expenses have hindered her savings, even though she works full-time.
- Many peak boomers like Davenport struggle to save for retirement, facing financial insecurity.
Becky Davenport, 61, has worked in the medical and nonprofit fields her whole life and raised her two sons mostly as a single mom. Still, the Alaska resident fears she may never retire — and may have to move in with her children.
Davenport lives in Chugiak, a community northeast of Anchorage, where she works as a disability and education lead at a nonprofit. Even though her two sons have moved out, she struggles to secure enough to pay her bills and save for the future. She has frequent medical expenses that have hindered her ability to save, and her area's high cost of living has eaten away at her earnings.
She fears that even when she receives about $2,000 a month in Social Security payments in six years, it will not be nearly enough.
"There hasn't been a time that I felt secure because I'm always one car repair away from being in debt," Davenport said. "As a single mom for many years, I'll just be blunt: It's been horrible."
Davenport is one of many "peak boomers" who will reach retirement age in the next few years and may not be able to retire. Many in this demographic haven't been able to save much after accounting for daily expenses.
Struggling to save for retirement
Davenport was raised by an upper-class family "in the lower 48" along the East Coast, growing up in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky. After her father died when she was 13, she and her mother temporarily moved to Alaska to be closer to family. She permanently settled in Alaska around the time she was in college.
Davenport got married shortly thereafter and had a son, though she got a divorce after five years. She had another son a few years later through another relationship that didn't work out.
She got her start in nursing, though she had to leave that career after her first marriage faltered. She also went to school for an elementary education degree, after which she qualified for welfare assistance.
She stayed in the medical field for a few years, working in medical transcription and medical records — which paid her about $12 an hour when her kids were young. Eventually, she transitioned into human services and social work, finding employment at a child shelter and working with adults and children with disabilities and mental health problems.
Davenport now works as a disability and education lead at a Head Start program helping improve the quality of life for low-income rural Alaskans. She said this has been her highest-paying position so far.
"My career path has finally gotten to be decent pay, but it's not great, and I'm still single," Davenport said. "The cost of living is pretty high here, and it's just really hard to make it on your own."
Though she's worked her whole life, her income as a single parent over the last nearly four decades hasn't been enough to save for her future. She said she hasn't received much financial support from her family.
Over the years, she said she learned to pay her bills strategically so she wouldn't fall too behind on any payments.
"I usually had more money going out than coming in," Davenport said. "I was kind of a master at juggling bills. I had some credit cards that I used for emergencies and ended up defaulting on all of those. I just managed to scratch out a living and keep a roof over my kids' heads."
Just squeezing by
For much of her life, more than half of her income went toward rent, and she never had enough to purchase a house on her own. Between child support and an increase in work income, her income ended up slightly above the housing assistance cutoff when her kids were growing up. Once her kids got older and moved out, she could more comfortably afford her daily expenses for herself and her dog, though she said it's still a stretch with her medical needs and retirement savings.
Her current position pays her between $28 and $29 an hour, plus a longevity bonus, though she only works 10 months a year and doesn't get a paycheck for the summer months. She said she values the remote flexibility of her job, as there aren't many options in her area.
Her rent is $1,200 monthly for a one-bedroom apartment, though she's worried she will struggle if it increases. She's paid between $3.50 and $4.50 a gallon on gas, more than the national average, though she mostly works remotely. She keeps her food costs low by buying in bulk, making her own bread, and getting food from friends. Utility costs like electricity increase during the cold and snowy winters.
"When your sons make way more than you do, it's like, wow, I'm supposed to be making more than them," Davenport said. "It hits home a little that my choices in the field have been not so great financially."
She has good insurance through work, which gives her peace of mind since she has chronic medical problems. Still, her high deductible makes it so that she has to "play a game" of deciding what treatments to get. Treatments for her migraines can cost her about $2,000 each time, and she's had to put her chiropractic treatments on hold.
She added that due to some medical conditions, she gets ill if she breathes in fragrances or fumes, so she's limited on where she can live. She hopes her rent will stay reasonable for the next few years, though she's already nervous about going into senior housing.
Over the years, she has tried to minimize her expenses. She drives a 25-year-old car and has no car payments, though she knows it may die soon.
"I'm not exactly a spender, but I'm not exactly a saver," she said, noting she's made some withdrawals from her 401(k) to cover some emergency bills, leaving about $40,000 in her account.
She, like everyone else in the state, receives dividends from the Alaska Permanent Fund, which has typically given residents over $1,000 a year using excess oil and mining revenues. Davenport said she used the payments — $3,284 in 2022 and $1,312 in 2023 — to get new snow tires, catch up on bills, and stock up on food.
"For those of us who have had to rely on it for things that we've been needing, not just wanting, it's a godsend," Davenport said, adding she's also used the money for her dog's teeth cleaning.
Preparing for the future
Davenport plans to wait until she's 67 to claim her Social Security benefits, which she anticipates will be about $2,000. Still, she said this wouldn't be enough, and she would have to find part-time work. She's considered applying for disability benefits, though she said she wouldn't be able to live on those payments either.
"I am not physically able to have a second job right now, it's just not in the cards for me," Davenport said. "It would exhaust me too much, and I have sleep issues."
To maintain her income stream for the next decade or so, she's hoping to get trained in medical coding. However, she's considered asking one of her sons if she can move in with them until she gets back on her feet or finding a roommate to cut back on housing costs.
"It would be nice not to have to worry so much about money and the bottom line," Davenport said. "Sometimes, I get overwhelmed with trying to plan. If I really worked as hard as I need to on this, I don't think I would do anything but work and plan."
Are you worried about retirement? Reach out to this reporter at nsheidlower@businessinsider.com.