84-Year-Old Uber Driver Reveals Why She Still Can't Afford to Retire and Her Warning to Younger Americans

Sharon Albrecht is 84 years old, and she spends most of her working week behind the wheel of a Mazda 6, picking up passengers for Uber to cover bills that her monthly Social Security payment no longer meets.

She retired from hospital nursing in 2010, but Social Security fell well short of what her life cost, and in 2016 she signed up to drive. 'Uber driving is the quickest way of getting extra income to cover my bills,' she said. Her weekly target is a set figure. 'I try to make at least $250 a week,' she said, worth roughly £185 at current exchange rates.

Albrecht was one of nearly 200 older Americans interviewed by Business Insider for a project on people still working into their 80s. She has almost nothing to fall back on.

Why She Still Cannot Afford to Retire

Albrecht describes how she reached this point. 'I do not have any retirement savings,' she said. For most of her life, she did not set money aside. 'I always felt that I was too young to think about retirement,' she said. 'I was a hippie, and I was all about living in the here and now.'

Her working life spanned a wider change in how Americans fund old age. Employers moved away from guaranteed pensions and towards 401(k) plans, which placed the job of saving, and the risk attached to it, on individual workers. Those who did not or could not pay in were left exposed. The Social Security Administration has long said its benefits were never intended to replace a person's full pre-retirement income.

She is not alone. Nearly 550,000 Americans aged 80 and over remain in the workforce, according to a data analysis by United For ALICE. An AARP survey carried out in January 2025 found that roughly a fifth of Americans over 50 who have not yet retired hold no retirement savings. The number of people working at older ages is rising as well. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has projected that the labour force participation rate for those aged 75 and over would pass 10% by 2026.

Her Warning to Younger Americans

Albrecht has a piece of advice for younger workers. 'As soon as you start working, plan for retirement,' she said. She continues to drive in her ninth decade.

What she wants, and no longer expects for herself, is a way to stop swapping time for money. 'I just wish I had enough passive income that I could do whatever I wanted without trading hours for dollars,' she said.

Life Behind the Wheel

Albrecht drives a Mazda 6, the largest vehicle she has owned, and she points to her record on the road. 'I have not had a speeding ticket for three years, which I'm very proud of,' she said. She has also come to rely on newer safety features, noting that 'backup cameras are such a blessing.' Passengers leave her five-star ratings and praise her conversation.

The driving is not the whole of it. Alongside her shifts, Albrecht takes on coaching and advisory work with clients, and she treats the daily contact with passengers as part of her routine rather than a chore. Without the extra income, she says, the bills do not get paid.

Her circumstances come as a growing number of older adults turn to gig platforms to bridge the gap between a fixed retirement income and the rising cost of living.

Employment specialists note that app-based driving offers flexibility but few of the protections of a salaried job, and that running costs can eat into earnings.

Older Americans have returned to work for a mix of reasons, among them insufficient savings, rising living costs, and longer lifespans.

Albrecht keeps driving, and she continues to urge younger workers to plan for retirement earlier than she did.