After a lifetime of work, D-FW retirees struggle to stay afloat

In 2014, when Diane Shields turned 65, she retired from her well-paying job at a bank in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and withdrew a portion of her 401(k) to prepare for the next phase. 

“I used my savings to fix up my house, my car and to just make sure everything was in good working order for my retirement,” she said. 

In the decade that followed, inflation jumped 40% – nearly double the growth rate from 2005 to 2015. She burned through her savings sooner than expected. 

Now, 12 years later, the 77-year-old D-FW resident needs to take on new home repairs. After paying to have a bedroom ceiling redone, the roof started to cave in. But with a fixed income and little savings, Shields is picking her battles.

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"That's something I can't afford to pay someone to do," she said, "and I don't know how to do it."

On top of the financial strain, Shields is in hospice. Realistically, she said, "I'm just trying to get my home to live as long as I do." 

Her daughter helps, she added. “But I try not to ask her for help unless I have to.”

Shields is among many older adults in North Texas who are struggling to maintain a basic standard of living amid an accelerated rise in costs, according to responses to a survey by The Dallas Morning News. The survey followed a report on the notable rise in D-FW's older adults living in poverty, according to the latest available census data. Some retirees who reported a financially secure position also share growing anxiety as price increases weigh on their fixed incomes. 

A collective concern

A rapid rise in the cost of living has left seniors on fixed incomes in a precarious position across the U.S., according to the Elder Index, produced by researchers at the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston. 

When older residents are pushed out or impoverished to the point that they cannot participate in the community, it not only harms their mental and social wellbeing. It also strains their families. 

“At a community level, by not caring about older adults, you are essentially passing that cost – financial or otherwise – on to the families that are connected to those older people,” said Caitlin Coyle, director of the Center for Social & Demographic Research on Aging at the Gerontology Institute.

Working adults may be forced to reduce their work hours to provide care for their older relatives or help them financially, which may leave them with less for their own children, she said.

A conservative estimate

On average, older adults in Dallas, Collin and Tarrant counties must have access to about $40,000 a year to meet the costs of living independently if they have a mortgage and are in relatively good health, according to researchers of the Elder Index. The Index measures the income that adults over 65 would need to live independently with economic security, based on the cost of living across the U.S. 

In North Texas, this estimated income has risen by more than $10,000 since 2015 and varies by health conditions and mortgage costs. Meanwhile, an older adult who is renting needs a basic annual income of over $36,000, up 67% from a decade ago. 

By contrast, the average Social Security benefit for retired workers in 2026 is about $2,000 a month or roughly $24,000 a year, according to data from the Social Security Administration. 

That’s a considerable gap for elderly residents living predominantly on Social Security, Coyle said.

Coyle calls the Elder Index a bare-bones budget. “So if you add on any additional expenses — a healthcare event, a weather event or anything else that involves costs — it's going to be really hard for older adults to economically respond to those sort of unexpected needs,” she said.

Life happens anyway

When Bonita Robertson and her husband first retired, they traveled around the U.S. before settling in Plano, closer to home and family. “We were probably above middle-class income,” she said. “Then he had one serious medical issue that changed our world.” 

Mounting health bills included her husband’s fatal cancer diagnosis. Their investment manager handled their savings poorly. All of that strained the 82-year-old widow’s retirement income. 

In 2017, struggling with the upkeep alone, Robertson sold their Plano home and moved into a smaller apartment in the area. In July 2025, rising costs drove her to relocate to a low-income senior living apartment in Dallas. 

“At least I can breathe now for as long as [the low rent prices] last,” she said, reminiscing about her Plano apartment. “I was happier there, it was comfortable. And that’s saying a lot after being in a home with my husband for so long, but it just got too expensive.”

Many older residents like Robertson are moving out of their homes to cheaper locations farther away to cope with higher prices. “My life changed from pretty comfortable and thinking things were in place to gradually getting more difficult,” she said, recalling the circumstances beyond her control despite planning as best they could. 

“Life happens while you're planning,” she said, “And then it happens anyway.”

Before Peggy Valenta, 73, retired in 2023, she sold her house in Plano, downsizing to a small home farther north in Denison. To maximize the Social Security income she receives, the former specialized banker chose to retire later at age 70. Today, despite “significantly higher” Social Security benefits and a lower mortgage, Valenta remains vigilant about her spending in retirement.

When her car broke down in 2025, Valenta pulled out funds from her retirement savings account to buy a used car and avoid a car loan. “Now I worry about having enough 401(k) to last throughout my retirement,” she said. “We'll deal with that when the time comes.” 

Valenta frequently shops for discounts and coupons. “I do have to be very frugal,” she said, explaining how current grocery and insurance prices eat into her fixed monthly income. 

Coping with the strain

Many older adults are also returning to work post retirement to cope with rising costs. For instance, Scott Wheeler, 62, who failed to find another job after getting pushed into retirement, began working food delivery jobs such as DoorDash in August 2025. He uses a secondhand 2003 Nissan Frontier pickup truck he bought with his retirement savings. Some days he earns about $100. Other days, not more than $50. 

Wheeler grew up in Collin County where he lived and worked for 50 years. Despite limited computer skills, he ultimately became a personal assistant to a high level business executive in the D-FW. 

In 2024, a week before his 60th birthday, Wheeler had to retire early from his full time job of 25 years, when the executive he worked for left the company. 

“It comes with the territory,” he said. “Just hope tomorrow will be better.”

This February, when Wheeler’s driver’s license expired on his birthday, he was plunged into a crisis. The winter storm had left him with little pay and he couldn't DoorDash without a valid license. He was now certain he would turn homeless. The strain sent him into a devastating spiral: 

“I texted my friends, ‘Oh, my God, I can't believe this. I'm going to be with zero money for the next two weeks,’” he said. “The possibility of turning homeless hit me like a 911 emergency. I was telling people I can't live through this crap any longer… or words to that effect.”

Sensing the distress, an old friend sent some money allowing him to avert eviction.

Still, Wheeler knows it is only a matter of time before he's forced to leave behind his old apartment building -- and its $675-a-month rent -- near the tollway in Dallas.

“I’m riding that out until they sell the building,” he said. “Because if I have to find another apartment at this moment, I ain't gonna get $675. I'm gonna get maybe $875 at rock bottom.”

This April, Wheeler received his first Social Security check, more than half of which went to rent and the rest to auto insurance. He still needs to work food delivery to cover gas and food and even then, he falls short (by nearly $3,000) of the bare minimum needed to get by in Dallas, per the Elder Index. 

“I worry constantly about what the future holds for anyone with limited income,” said Robertson, “Politicians need to remember that seniors have something to contribute.”

This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.