Elizabeth White was once a woman in trouble. Despite her highly educated background and wealth of executive experience, she found herself out of work and out of money. She was in her 50s. White was not alone: After a personal essay went viral, she found herself the unlikely spokesperson for Baby Boomers everywhere who were facing unexpected financial hardship with no retirement to fall back on. She learned and then shared her practical knowledge and her emotional fortitude with those in similar positions.

America is at a crossroads, and elder poverty is a serious issue, with the highest rates since the Great Depression. 40% of older workers and their spouses will be downwardly mobile, falling into poverty (or near-poverty) in old age. And even good news, such as the number of jobs held by older workers has increased by 6.6 million over the last decade, is only part of the truth. In fact over half of those jobs—52 percent or over 3.4 million—paid full-time workers less than $15,000 a year. Women and especially women of color are the worst off. This crisis not only effects Baby Boomers though: Millennials don’t have retirement savings either as they face down education debt, flat wages, uncertain work, plus escalating costs in housing and healthcare.

White self-published her book 55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal; Simon & Schuster has now published the book under their imprint.A perfect way to bring her message to a larger audience. This is an important issue and White brings hard data and a comforting shoulder.

Read it!