Retirement Crisis Closes In on Baby Boomers

[Peacetrain]

Just last week the right was coming out with this blather on how retired people have 47 times the wealth of 35 year olds.. well folks, that was true even when I was 35.. houses bought for 40,000 30 years ago are worth 120,000 or more now, and just telling someone to go sell their house to reduce their wealth ratio begs the question.. you think I can go and find a 40,000 house now?

As John says.. they take the averages of the top 1% who have nearly all the wealth and then spread it over the rest of us in an average and yell see..see..

Sigh.. the one group we all are bound to be a part of is that older generation, and it sneaks up much faster than you would ever begin to realize.
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"Baby boomers are members of the first generation since the 1930s who will be worse off in their older years than their parents, says Teresa Ghilarducci, a retirement specialist and economics professor at the New School of Social Research in New York.

"According to our projections, it looks like most middle-class workers, not just low-income workers but most middle-class workers, will be living at or near the poverty level in their old age," Ghilarducci said in an interview.

"This is the first time since the Great Depression we are looking at poverty rates increasing among the elderly."


http://finance.yahoo.com/focus-retiremen..._to_retire

[jaxx]

I retired in June....with no wealth. I call it survival, but doable.

[Peacetrain]

(11-12-2011 10:18 AM)jaxx Wrote:  I retired in June....with no wealth. I call it survival, but doable.

I know I took early retirement last year because of an offer I just could not pass up.. on covering my health care.. Thank GOD John is still working or that would not have happened!

John and I both about dropped the oatmeal last week when we were hearing this chatter about how retirees have 47 times the wealth of 35 year olds.. and all the baby boomers we know, and we are pretty close to the beginning of the baby boom are all working and anything but .. they have broken 401 K's and are up to their ears in debt in parental loans to get the last of their brood through college.

Divide and conquer is what we are about to see.. just like they did with the unions.. some union top shot may make 70,000 a year, but the right then uses that to try and take away benefits from the 99%

They are going to use those same kinds of lies and bending facts to break SS which has nothing to do with the crisis, except in their greedy heads.

[azmouse]

I didn't see this figure in scanning the article you posted but I read recently that the medium dollar amount a 65 yo has for retirement is $170,000 and that includes the value of a house they may own. That frightens me for the baby boomers who are starting to retire.
I don't want to get into personal specific numbers here, but I am so thankful that even during this downturn my husband has always kept his very well-paying job, and we already have enough saved for a very secure retirement... that is, if the Repubicans don't absolutely send this country down the drain in their never-ending hatred of all things Obama. One can never be too sure of that.

[Peacetrain]

(11-12-2011 12:51 PM)azmouse Wrote:  I didn't see this figure in scanning the article you posted but I read recently that the medium dollar amount a 65 yo has for retirement is $170,000 and that includes the value of a house they may own. That frightens me for the baby boomers who are starting to retire.
I don't want to get into personal specific numbers here, but I am so thankful that even during this downturn my husband has always kept his very well-paying job, and we already have enough saved for a very secure retirement... that is, if the Repubicans don't absolutely send this country down the drain in their never-ending hatred of all things Obama. One can never be too sure of that.

____________________________________________________________________
Politico did the original story that I heard

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/67731.html

and it was from a PEW study

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2124/age-gap...wealth-gap

an excerpt:
As a result of these divergent trends, in 2009 the typical household headed by the older adult had $170,494 in net worth, compared with just $3,662 for the typical household headed by the younger adult. People generally accumulate wealth as they age, so it is not unusual to find large age-based gaps on this measure. However, the current gap is unprecedented. In 1984, the age-based wealth gap had been 10:1. By 2009, it had ballooned to 47:1.

Problematic with all if it.. is what gives the older adult the seemingly off the charts wealth is the fact their home increased in value.. so we tell them to sell their houses and go buy a house or rent, house values have dropped since 2007.. and they have to pay the same amount as they got out.. it is a nonsensical comparison.

Most 35 year olds have not owned a home for 30 years to have that equity. When I was 35 I think I had 500 equity in our home we had owned a couple of years..

But our friends on Fox etc are now pushing this meme to cut SS.

It is an old tried and true tactic, they have been doing it to unions, firefighters, police teacher, road crews etc..

Its like saying I have an apple.. the apple is red.. all things red are apples..

[azmouse]

(11-12-2011 01:21 PM)Peacetrain Wrote:  But our friends on Fox etc are now pushing this meme to cut SS.

It is an old tried and true tactic, they have been doing it to unions, firefighters, police teacher, road crews etc..

Its like saying I have an apple.. the apple is red.. all things red are apples..

Ah yes... good ol' Faux news and the 'greedy elderly' meme. Always have their hands out for another free goody including getting back some of the money they paid in SS taxes so they can eat something more than scraps. The RW never gives up in portraying the working people as undeserving of anything good. But they love to show how put upon the uber wealthy (also known as 'job creators', everyone bow down and worship them ) are to pay even the teeny tiny bit of taxes they owe.
I don't know which is worse, the people that spew this horseshit or the RWers who believe it.