The costs of aging in place
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Tune in and subscribe to Threat Vector wherever you get your podcasts. They haven't gotten to the big Senate vote yet on cutting taxes and cutting programs.

I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. The Senate is coming off an all-nighter with one vote after another on amendments ahead of a big decision on spending and taxing. But before that is this voterama. Here's an update from Marketplace's Nancy Marshall-Genzer. Senators are voting on a series of amendments to the massive bill, some aimed at making it less expensive.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the bill will add more than $3 trillion to the budget deficit over the next decade. Senate Republicans have a very narrow margin for error here. They can only lose three votes. The House already passed its version, but if the Senate makes changes, the House will have to come back into session to approve the Senate version before the legislation can make its way to President Trump's desk. I'm Nancy Marshall-Genzer for Marketplace.

Now to an economist who's focused on the way the tax-cutting, federal program-cutting, and debt-increasing bill plays out in the economy. Longer-term effects are one thing, but so is the short-term, assuming a version of this passes into law. David Kelly is chief global strategist at JPMorgan Funds.

I think the biggest thing that people are missing here is that a lot of these tax cuts kick in from the start of this year, not next year. And what that means is we're going to get a bumper income tax refund season early next year. So right now we've got an economy that's slowing down, to be honest, but I think it's going to pick up a lot early next year just because of those income tax refunds, and then perhaps begin to slow down again after some of that money's been spent.

And your big assumption here is that this does get passed somehow in the coming days. Oh, yes, I think so. I mean, I think there's a lot of grumbling about it both ways, but something has to get passed because we have to increase the debt ceiling. And I think from a political perspective, it's just a matter of counting the votes. I think they have the votes and they will get this thing passed. All right. David Kelly, chief global strategist, JPMorgan Funds. Thank you very much. Anytime.

Now, a countervailing force if such a tax stimulus hits is whatever tariff policy we have later this year.

It was a remarkable rebound for stocks in the March to June quarter that just ended. The S&P 500 index went up 10.6 percent. The Nasdaq went up 17.7 percent, despite tariffs and other policy swings. Tesla stock was down 6 percent in early trading on this Tuesday, with CEO Elon Musk throwing mud at the mega bill in Congress and the president throwing mud back at the federal subsidies Musk companies get.

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Surveys consistently show people want to age in their current home, yet owning a home is expensive, especially if there's still a mortgage. Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies calculates that more than one in four homeowners 65 years and older are stretched thin financially as part of his Seniors in Debt project. Here's Marketplace's Chris Farrell. Anthony, age 77, lives in the Twin Cities area. He has owned his home for 29 years. Like a lot of seniors.

We want to stay in our own homes. He was in law enforcement and a security guard. But Anthony is now physically disabled. It just seems better being here than better being in a nursing home. And you just feel better. That feeling better makes you more healthier. Anthony nearly lost his home during the pandemic. He went in for knee replacement surgery, and an assessment was made that he would be better off in a nursing home.

Thanks to the combination of Anthony's determination and help from mid-Minnesota legal aid, another assessment eventually found he could return home safely. Gordon Solo, his legal aid lawyer, says the process took more than a year. A big part of it was his hard work and advocacy to get the kind of personal training, physical therapy available.

that he needed so that he could be returned home safely. Anthony lives off Social Security and a small pension. He is on Medicare, and he gets the care he needs at home through a state-run care program. Money is tight, but he's making ends meet, including paying his mortgage, utilities, and other household expenses. It is tight and somewhat stressful, but the program that I'm on, it helps me a great deal.

I have what you call a personal care attendant that comes in and helps me with medical and helps me out with dinner.

so forth. The financial strain faced by disabled older homeowners on modest means is widespread. The common desire among the disabled to age in their home often depends on successfully navigating a complex multitude of government programs. More broadly, making ends meet is hard for increasing numbers of homeowners.

When you look at the overall level of mortgage debt, you're not looking at, oh, this is debt people use to purchase a home. It could be debt for many other purposes that they rolled into a mortgage at a later point in time. So we are seeing a lot of people carrying mortgage debt into their retirement years more so than ever before. Lori Twensky is Senior Director, Finance and Employment at AARP.

Despite living in their homes for decades, older homeowners who took out classic 30-year mortgages often don't have any equity to tap in their elder years. It takes a long time to accumulate equity if you finance over a 30-year period. And if you refinance at some point and also roll into a 30-year loan, you're just perpetuating that debt.

The costs of homeownership are up too, including property taxes, insurance premiums, and home maintenance expenses. I'm concerned about the trend because most people carry a lot more than just mortgage debt. AARP did a survey a couple of years ago, and we found most people carry several types of debt. These debt payments limit the financial flexibility of older homeowners. The

The desire to age in their home is powerful, but debt means they're at risk to an unexpected large expense, the need for long-term care, a drop in income, and other potential setbacks. I'm Chris Farrell for Marketplace. Our Buy Now, Pay Later project is in partnership with NextAvenue, a nonprofit news platform for older adults produced by Twin Cities PBS. This is the Marketplace Morning Report from APM, American Public Media.

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