60% of Boomers Too Broke to Retire

[marmar]

http://uspoverty.change.org/blog/view/60_of_boomers_too_broke_to_retire



Next year the first of the Baby Boomers will turn 65. In total, 36 million Americans will hit 65 over the next decade, plus another 45 million in the following decade. Some of them won't be retiring for quite some time, though, if they can help it. New estimates say that three in five Boomers are financially unprepared for retirement.

It appears they haven't saved enough ... and their homes have lost value ... and continuing to work is difficult in a recession-ravaged job market flooded with recent grads ... and so on. We're not even mentioning the slightly-valid question of whether Social Security will continue to provide at the same levels, which currently account for about 40 percent of senior income. So much for the Golden Years.

The Wall Street Journal is more worried about the effect of all this on the economy than on the seniors, since their penny-pinching days in retirement will mean considerably less spending — about 12 percent less — from a large portion of the population. For now, let's focus on the human beings at risk. There's been talk of raising the retirement age to help offset the cost of government entitlement programs. Heck, senior citizens already outnumber teenagers in the workforce for the first time, but not because they want to or because they're looking out for the Social Security trust fund.

According to Bundle, the financial website, people in the 50-65 age group have an average of $400,000 in assets. Sounds like a lot, until you consider that that's assets, not cash, and that more people than ever are living to be 100. Will $400,000 be enough to supplement Social Security for another 35 years? Not comfortably. It's an extreme example, but do you care to test it on your grandma? Your mom? Yourself? What's worse is that most Baby Boomers also carry debt — an average of $5,000 on their credit cards and $80,000 in loans.

Baby Boomers, folks who, by definition, were born between 1946 and 1964, obviously won't retire all at once. As people live longer and work longer, they won't even all retire over the course of that 18-year span. Counting folks who made it big and retired young, and those who find it necessary or enjoyable to serve as Walmart greeters til they're 90, the actual retirement curve of Boomers will span 50 years or so. Surely we can figure something out in a half century, can't we?

[whoneedstickets]

1. Mandatory retirement with decent pensions makes way for new workers..

I wonder how many 20 somethings might trade slightly higher taxes for more job openings. I think the French have this one right.

[maryf]

53. and the French also protest

the government trying to raise the retirement age to 62! Vive la France!

[Kolesar]

2. Grow your own food ... eom

[End Of The Road]

3. not quite sure what to make of the article, but a few observations...

1) I know that I'll have to work until I drop. I'm a boomer.

2) About not having "saved enough" -- true, but many of us started out our careers with a defined benefit plan, saw that go away for 401(k)s, and then lost a bundle on those. Our lack of adequate savings is not always due to lack of planning.

3) Social Security is not an entitlement program.

[Fire1]

4. Ditto! n/t

[eridani]

7. Can we take back that "entitlement" word, please?

Since we paid into Social Security for all our working lives, we are fucking well ENTITLED to a retirement payout.

[kevinbgoode]

18. Me too. . and it isn't because I didn't try to plan

All these cycles of layoffs and revalued "investments" takes its toll over 2-3 decades.

[tularetom]

5. My kids are boomers and they're gonna be in deep doo doo

Well, at least my daughter is, born in 1963. She was hoping to retire at 55 from her job as a purchasing agent with a school district but her husband can't find steady work and she is beginning to realize she will need to be the family bread winner for the next 15 years at least. And the two of them are poster children for rampant consumerism, financed by a series of refi's on their home. We're talking boats, cars, trucks, motorcycles, vacations, you name it - everything but putting something aside for the future. We've even made a couple of small "loans" to them which we never had any hope of getting repaid, they're going get half of whatever is left when we go anyway. They're now refinanced to the hilt (or maybe even under water) and their ATM has dried up. Reality is beginning to hit home with them and it isn't pretty.

From talking to people I don't think their situation is exactly unique. I believe we'll be looking at big time social disruption over the next 25 years or so.

[EFerrari]

14. Most people didn't start using credit to be irresponsible.

They started using it because their wages weren't keeping up.

[DebJ]

24. Divorce also has reeked some havoc in the finances of

the boomers. Especially women, I bet (like me). Not all of us divorced out of reckless or immoral behaviors...turned out my ex-husband became increasingly abusive as mental illness progressed. I ended up raising our two children alone, with one of them also mentally ill (but thankfully diagnosed and treated with great results considering...). Like most women who get custody, my standard of living plummeted (no phone, utilities off and on, etc) while his went up. It took every dime I could make (at two jobs as often and long as I could bear) just to see the kids to adulthood, then I started over in my late forties, and remarried just before 50 to a wonderful gentleman with a similar previous story (ie, no resources).

Furthermore, women in my position also lost/lose income and credits to Social Security retirement when child care type issues arise, when we were denied promotions and job opportunities because we were women, etc. Being a woman, I frequently got paid less than my male peers (fought that successfully one time within the company ranks, but not other times). On the lower pay, I bore the majority of expenses for the children........couldn't save a dime; had to file bankruptcy when I lost a job. The down-sizing, benefit-reducing bonanza Reagan began made matters worse, as mid-management jobs were consolidated and eliminated to increase the CEO's pay. Things weren't that peachy before that either; I graduated in 1973, in a recession, and it took me 18 months to find a minimum wage office job then. Being born near the end of the boomers made the frequent 'mild' recessions harder; there were always so many older boomers with more experience in those tight job markets.

It was close to one in five children in poverty when I raised mine (80s-90s), and most of those in single family, female head of households. That is to say, millions of baby-boomer women in a same/similar condition, even though I worked til I literally dropped one day.

Just saying, it's not all about wild and crazy, irresponsible spending. Most years of my life, 'vacation' meant an opportunity to work the second job full-time; my children and I had zero vacations their entire lives. Most years there were no Christmas gifts, and never was there a birthday party other than my daughter's first. My cars were either 10 year old clunkers given to me for free or for a few hundred dollars. To this day, my personal possessions fit very easily in one 8x10 room I use as an office. That and my children are all I will have to show for working 60+ hours a week for over 40 years to date.

There is a difference between the American Dream and the American reality.

There are millions of responsible, hard-working, strongly-ethical Americans who just got screwed by the times, and by the big corporations, and are getting screwed worse all of the time.

Guess instead of retiring, I'll be 'pulling myself up by my bootstraps'.

It makes me sick when people presume that we're in this position because we had it good all the years before and lived high.
Hell, I couldn't even afford a book for myself for most of my life....not that I had time to read anyway. This kind of presumption that people can't afford things because they are lazy or reckless with money or lived high on the hog falls right in line with the Welfare Queen stories: you take a few bad apple examples, and then broad brush everyone, and this keeps the public believing in the American Dream, believing gee, anyone can make it, and gives the big corps the freedom they need because we bash each other instead of the real problem...them.

[Dappleganger]

41. Your post is dead-on...

:hug:

[Overseas]

47. K&R! //nt

[raccoon]

63. Amen to that! Your post deserves its own thread. nt

[tularetom]

50. Actually they didn't start out that way either

He was a cop for a few years then went into construction. They made big bucks for ten or 15 years and could afford the toys but when the new home bubble burst he was left high and dry. He burned a lot of bridges at the PD and besides he's probably too old to be hired there anyway (51).

Their biggest problem is that in spite of what we kept telling them, they were utterly blindsided by the crash. Other than her pension and SS, they have virtually no savings.

Daughter looks very stressed these days because he still wants to keep up with the Joneses and the entire burden is on her.

[EFerrari]

55. Oh, no. I'm sorry to hear that.

It's hard enough to be in a tight spot without adding being on different pages.

[Imagevision]

6. They won't retire and they won't be getting jobs either...

[RagAss]

8. GREED !!!!!

[L0oniX]

9. IMO there's going to be a huge pile on of retirement at 62 because of the threat...

of SS being fucked around with. I plan on collecting SS at 62 yo.

[Curmudgeoness]

10. No shit? "So much for the Golden Years" is an understatement.

And we were promised a better life than our parents. Then they took away our defined pensions. And we lost value on anything we have of value, if anything. Then they took our jobs before it was time to retire so we had to use what little we had to live.

Life is going to be grand. But like I always tell myself, there are many people who are in worse shape than I am.

[Kat45]

23. Exactly. I had a decent job for 16 years that was outsourced 10 years ago.

I was always a saver rather than a spender so I had money in the bank. Had a 401K. I did everything right. Since I was laid off, I have been either unemployed or underemployed. It's a good thing I was always a saver because I've had to use my savings to supplement my meager income over the past 10 years. I've never had another job with which to build up my 401K, which of course lost a lot of value anyway. At this point, I'll be lucky to find another good job; heck, I'll be lucky to find any job. I am not married so I don't have a spouse's income--or retirement benefits in the future--to help me. I've always had a fairly low income, which means I'll likely be getting the minimum in social security benefits, if of course they don't fuck things up and take that away from us too. As I said, I did everything right. And I'm terrified for the future.

[Curmudgeoness]

56. I feel for you, I understand the feeling of terror for the future.

I am also single with no retirement benefits. The only thing is that I am still working and doing ok, for now. Of course, I have ulcers over whether that will end at any time, either because the company goes under or they find someone else to do the job cheaper or I have a serious health problem that would keep me from being able to work. I have always said that me worst fear is to be a baglady in my older years, and it is not as much a joke as I let on.

We just plug away all the time to keep our heads above water. Keep swimming.

[Art_from_Ark]

67. And of course, that money that's still in the bank

isn't earning zippidee-doo-dah in interest.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

11. seems like some basics in family finance should have been

taught and absorbed... my parents both boomers... both public school teachers... just retired... have $0 in debts... own their home... own their two cars... dad has a job because he was bored... they have more money than they know what to do with right now... why? how? they lived below their means in the 70's 80's 90's and 00's. nearly 40 years of hard work at low pay...and living within or below their means all those decades...and now they can relax... and if they could do it... most of these boomers could do it too... but they didn't...

sP

[EFerrari]

13. What union did they belong to?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

17. they belonged to PAGE...which is not so much a union

as an association.

sP

[Hannah Bell]

15. wait until they defund public employees' jobs -- & not enough people working at good wages to fund

public pensions.

happened to union workers, public workers may be next...

too early to pat your parents on the back & criticise others.

also in poor taste.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

16. they are not living on their pensions...

they are living on money that they put away on their own over the years by not living in a huge house...not driving new cars every three years...not going on extravagant vacations that had to be put on credit cards...by not using the the equity in their home for 'lifestyle support'...i will toot their horn! they did a hell of a job. and along the way...taught me to live the same way. they will not need their pensions...they will not need Soc Sec...it will only make their lives MORE comfortable and more worry free. they could not be in a better place.

sP

[Hannah Bell]

20. yes, they're wonderful, everyone else is just stupid. kudos to your clever & morally superior

parents.

[Desertrose]

26. Not all that clever or morally superior if they have a kid with his attitude.

Just sayin'.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

30. just stating facts...

people make good and bad decisions and people here act like it is all luck of the draw. i simply think that is bullshit. people who put their trust in others to take care of them in their retirement/golden years made bad decisions.

but hey, you and hannah keep on thinking that it is all about good or bad luck and that someone will be there to take care of you when you squander the money you make over your lifetime...

sP

[Desertrose]

54. Of course its not all luck of the draw, but...

making "good" decisions alone is just bullshit.

You don't take into account that life happens...illness, accidents, divorce, death...things that can affect a lifetime of "good " decisions.

What about the ones whose decisions are not what you would call "good. Do they deserve to suffer? "Squander money"...are you the one who decides that? Really?


Hate to tell you but we really are here to help each other...not judge and condemn.

[Snotcicles]

19. Maybe they can take some of that money they scrimped and by their son a humility transplant. nt

[Hannah Bell]

25. sonny boy is nearly enough to make me wish they both get hit by trains. not quite, but almost.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

31. ah...the old tried and true technique...

nice...but nothing i would put past you... good on ya! staying true to form...

sP

[Hannah Bell]

51. i am rubber, you are glue.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

58. that one is even better...

glad you recognize the level of your own discourse...

sP

[Hannah Bell]

66. nyah nyah nyah: glue.

[Bryn]

21. Some people aren't lucky...

My stepfather and my mother were like your parents. They really had it good & on their own. He built a lovely house in OK on 5 acres. Then they decided to move to Arkansas and sold their house they built in OK by owner financing. The couple who bought their house ended up not paying for 3 years so my parents took them to court. Parents won. Then that couple counter-sued my parents and WON the case causing my parents to lose nearly everything they had worked for! Some legal system is unfair. Stepfather was bitter and ended up dying of cancer shortly after that lawsuit. Now my mother is living with me and is dependent on me. All she has is her monthly SS. Good thing for SS and medicare! But there is a problem ... stepbrother is suing my mother for Life Estate. I am her POA and got an attorney to fight on her behalf. Mom has dementia. Her house is close to my place. She wants to keep it as long as she is alive so I'd bring her to her house for her to enjoy. And also her other children come to see her from other states, they stay at that house. Stepbrother is wealthy himself and really doesn't need that small house, but he wants it now. How he got that house? Stepfather bought that house by cash. He and mom lost that house in that lawsuit so stepbrother brought it back and gave them Life Estate. That's why he is the real owner of that house, but Mom has Life Estate by the agreement/will.

Your parents are lucky, but some other people weren't.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

29. my parents were NOT lucky...they worked hard and were smart

and your folks weren't unlucky...they made a bad decision to 'owner finance' with a couple that did not pay and then managed to do something wrong enough to lose a lawsuit that cost them big bucks. that is not luck. why call it luck (good or bad)? and it sounds like your stepbrother is a real piece of shit...but that isn't luck either.

stop calling good and bad decisions luck.

sP

[Lyric]

34. Well aren't you just a self-righteous little bootstrapper?

You just go on with your bad little self! Poor people aren't victims of exploitation and misfortune--they're just lazy/stupid/irresponsible people who made "bad decisions" and DESERVE what they get! Thank you SO MUCH for this shocking revelation! We've never, ever heard this brilliant bit of reasoning before!

Oh wait...



:eyes:

[Starry Messenger]

43. Seriously.

I didn't know my dad had an account here.

[HughBeaumont]

37. Sorry, you need to read this thread and LEARN.

Many are indeed finding out that you DO need to be perfect and untouched by error in this day and age.

What a bunch of sad-assed deluded "bootstrapper" BULLSHIT. It's very possible for people to do everything right and it still wouldn't be enough. Bad luck DOES happen. Unforseen circumstances DO happen. Layoffs DO happen. The WWII generation will be the last to retire comfortably. Job security went the way of the dodo, along with the assumption of any risk by corporations and the upper 5% that run them.

[raccoon]

64. And your parents were also lucky if they didn't get a disability which caused

then to have to quit what they were doing.

Disability can screw up your life plans big time, no matter how careful or prudent or thrifty or superior you are.

[northernlights]

32. bull fucking shit

All the savings in the world, living below my means for decades, did not save me from 10 years of robbery interspersed with unemployment and now low wages.

I was driven out of my low cost, fully paid for, shitty little condo by the registered sex offender who moved in next door and who was protected by condo management and the police.

I bought my first home at age 48 for cash. Did everything right...but was de-frauded anyway, with the help of the state of Maine. At least I'm not alone. A lot of people up here -- not enough, or too dispersed though, to have political or legal power -- but a lot were defrauded the same way. Ever hear the phrase "Maine acres?" followed by peales of laughter?

My identity was stolen, complete with social security number, former and current addresses, employment and education history, were stolen by insiders at HP and Fidelity Investments.

I told a string of lies -- first lies of omission that couldn't be check and then blatant outright lies -- by a university "advisor" and as a result it's taking a year longer and costing me 3 times what it should have to get retrained for a job in healthcare. There goes another chunk of my "savings."

What's left of my "savings" is my paid for home. Which is losing value every day. I suppose *that's* my fault too, for not having basics in finance?


But you're so superior, you arrogant little snot, you think that if you follow the rules you'll be spared from the corporate robber-barons that now run things?

Your parents were able to save because they were in what was once a protected industry and got out in the nick of time. Try reading some of the threads on what's going on in education these days? If your parents had been born a decade later, they'd be getting dumped now too. :eyes:

[Dappleganger]

42. The old rule of working hard and saving for a rainy day...

no longer applies. Your parents are LUCKY they were able to do so.

We played by the rules but got played in the process.

[bettyellen]

44. two teachers? two pensions. that makes all the difference.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

59. read the rest...

they are not living on their pensions...at all. but hey...believe what you want.

sP

[bettyellen]

62. they ain't giving them away either kid. it gives them a nice cushion just in case their incredibly

good luck (and don't kid yourself that's a big part of this equation, as is their tenure benefits package and pensions as teachers) runs out.

[galileoreloaded]

46. They'll come for them too friend.....just a matter of time.

The riskiest funds on the planet are PERA and CalPers.

Over 1 T in public employee pension underfunding as has been reported in numerous outlets. Search Bloomberg>Public Employee Pensions.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

60. READ READ READ

they are NOT living on their pensions. they have everything paid off. did it before they retired. they are living entirely on money that they have saved and that they earn now. they are STILL saving money. the money from their retirement accounts goes straight into an account that just grows and grows and grows. that money will likely come to my kids. they have a 900 sq ft house on the beach...two old but good cars...basic cable...dial up free internet...a little garden...a nice front porch and a hammock. and they did it on two teacher salaries.

and people think it is luck...right.

sP

[county worker]

65. Before you can live below your means you have to have excess cash.

Most people make enough to get buy on. They don't have the ability to live below their means. We all have different circumstances. You can't say everyone should have lived like your post. It isn't realistic.

[mopinko]

12. i don't think it is necessary to raise the ss retirement age-

boomers will work longer. the healthcare miracles that are common these days will keep a lot of people that might otherwise be disabled on their feet and working.

[dawgman]

22. Huzzah! Can I work until I am dead to?

No fucking message.

[mopinko]

39. no, my point is that you don't need to MAKE everybody

work till they are 70 or whatever, that people are going to anyway. the actuaries are assuming that people are all going to retire as soon as they can. but i don't think that many of them even will.

[Roon]

27. My aunt can't afford to retire..

she maintains two households. One for her and my uncle and another one for my alcoholic cousin who doesn't work or pay rent.

I have no idea what she is going to do, but she can't retire anytime soon. She can't afford it.

[Skidmore]

28. Oh, we saved. In mandatory retirement programs for years.

We saved when our wages stayed the same then went down when the const of living climbed exponentially. And we watched retirement programs be converted to mandatory investment in the stock market. Remember the market crashing. How many of us who had savings lost portions, if not all, of our retirement monies? Now lets blame the Boomers for everything. Forget Wall Street and hedge fund managers. And real estate high jinx in the finance industry. Forget jobs shipped overseas. Forget union busting. Shall I go on?

[quaker bill]

33. I am right now

but have 10 years to get there.

[Wounded Bear]

35. That would be me.....nt

[NNN0LHI]

36. Rugged individualism doesn't pay off sometimes

Better to be part of a union. And support other union workers too. Otherwise we all get screwed.

Don

[ThomWV]

38. I'm a Boomer, and I retired years ago.

Saving, it works.

[RedCloud]

40. Provided you don't get divorced and lose all or devaluations...

My butt got devoured twice.

[Livluvgrow]

45. retirement

I would rather be old and broke than live like I am dead at 40. I am experiencing life cause you never know when it will end. I will worry about then then. For now National Parks, bluegrass festivals, the beach, healthy food, My Banjo, long road trips, New Years Eves, holidays with family, my cabin in the mountains if I could hold on it will be a great ride if I cant well it will have been a great ride for quite some time. Why deprive myself now so that maybe in the future I could possibly have a bit of fun? That is what really seems irresponsible.

[End Of The Road]

49. I did the same

and am very glad I did. Hubby and I sort of "lived" our retirement before we were too old (or ill, or dead), rather than putting it off.

But we were very lucky that we were able to do this, and we didn't have children to put through college, or elderly parents to take care of, or any of the hundreds of other things that could have prevented it.

Still, I think it's good advice to create your good memories while you can, because you don't know what shit is coming down the pike.

But many here would say that's irresponsible.

[laughingliberal]

48. ...or wind up in bankruptcy from medical expenses in your 30's & then lose everything in a flood

in your 40's & lose your job in the worst economic crash since the great depression while your home value and 401k plummets and eats up any assets you thought you had in your 50's. Yep. All that saving I did really paid off. I will say our savings did keep us from starving the first 2 years our income was gone.

People who have done well never think luck had anything to do with their good fortune. They never look at the catastrophes others often face and realize that luck had a lot to do with it.

[DebJ]

57. Yes, that attitude is called 'rugged individualism'....the well-off

need to believe that crap can never happen to them, and that their lives have been the result only of their own unique brilliance and of course, superior ethics, of which hubris is a part.

[DailyGrind51]

52. I'm one of them!

[old mark]

61. Evidently people envy Boomers, but we have been targets of every moneymaking scam

that could possibly be devised, and our retirement was to be the biggest transfer of cash in history - from retirement plans and pensions and savings to our money to live on for the remainder of our lives. This was to be the biggest money making opportunity for the scammers in all of history, and I am sure many of them are still out there sharpening their knives for whatever money might be left to steal.
We were told by all the salesmen over the last 50 years that we were golden, but it dosen't seem to be working out that way for many of us.

You know, it certainly should not be a surprise that we Boomers are starting to retire - why does it seem the government is just figuring this out?

Are they really so delusional - or stupid?

mark