but i was running the ship. reporter: it was a lesson that wasn t lost on her son chad. is this a new suit? it is not a new suit. what did your mom teach you that you really took away? the importance of saving, but also more importantly the importance of making sure that you have a safeguard in place in the event something emerges, like the most recent great recession. reporter: but marilyn doesn t think that frugality should only be taught at home. she believes retirement savings should be supported by employers and schools. when you re hiring young people, start off with workshops on retiring. some decisions that you make when you first start your career you would not have made it or waited for it. reporter: you think we need more education early on? yes, i would like to see it in high school, really, about retirement. reporter: but with so many seniors living longer, surviving on a fixed income can be a challenge. marilyn s secret, identify what
reporter: marilyn lassiter takes great pride in her work at this philadelphia library. did my book come in yet, dear? reporter: at 70 years old, she swears she s living the good life. it is amazing the freedom of not having to be some place at a certain time. reporter: marilyn retired back in 2007, right before the economy soured and millions found themselves out of work. despite living on a fixed income, she was able to buy a new house and she travels extensively. i live on $3500 a month. reporter: is it tight? is money tight or no problem covering your bills, plenty to spend? no problem. no problem. i don t spend. at a certain time in your life, there is nothing that you should need. reporter: did you pass down your theory on the importance of saving to your kids? yes, i did. when they were little guys i would give them 50 cent a week when they were young. they had to save a quarter and they could not understand that.
major disaster on our hands and to prevent more rising. i want to go to look at the river which is half a mile wide, and now in downtown memphis, it is three miles across. so tell me where you are standing david mattingly, and how deep it is right there. well, brooke, this is an interesting location. this is river front drive, and back behind me is where it intersects beale street, that famous street for entertainment in memphis, and fortunately all of the bars and the clubs are on the hillside, but down here where it meets the river, you can see the water coming in. we are almost to the crest. we are just inches away from this river reaching its highest point here in memphis. it will be short of a record, but this is historic flooding. no one here has seen anything like this in generations. strangely enough, while we see this massive amount of water along the waterfront and along the mississippi, the problems around memphis have been on the tributary, and those are the riv