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Guest Post: 10 Things Baby Boomers Won't Tell You
Authored by Catey Hall, via Jim Quinn's Burning Platform blog,
The aging 'me' generation is still putting itself first...
1. “Paws off, Junior. This cash is mine.”
Children of boomer parents shouldn’t expect a big inheritance, even if their parents are rich. Only about half of high-net-worth baby boomers — those with more than $3 million in investible assets — say they consider leaving money to their kids a priority, according to a 2012 U.S. Trust Survey. In contrast, nearly three-quarters of people older than boomers say it’s important to them.
Even boomers — typically defined by demographers as those born between 1946 and 1964 — who do plan to leave an inheritance may do so with strings attached. Indeed, nearly seven in 10 high-net-worth boomers surveyed by U.S. Trust said they were not fully confident that their children could handle an inheritance.
“More often than not, clients leave inheritances in trusts,” says John Olivieri, a partner at New York law firm White & Case who works with a lot of boomer clients. With a trust, a third party manages the money and doles it out at intervals that the parent has specified. “Some parents have concerns about how their kids would invest and spend the money,” Olivieri says.
2. “Make room, kids. We’ll be living with you when we’re old…”
Boomers are expected to live longer than any previous generation. At the same time, many haven’t saved nearly enough for retirement. More than 44% of early boomers (whom the Employee Benefit Research Institute defines as those born between 1948 and 1954) and 43% of late boomers (born between 1955 and 1964) may not be able to afford basic living expenses in retirement, according to a 2012 analysis by EBRI. The result? Kids could be supporting mom and dad well into their 80s and 90s.
One of the biggest drains on boomer retirement savings will be health-care expenses. Medicare pays for only about 60% of the cost of health services the typical retiree will face, estimates EBRI. A couple that is 65 today might need nearly $300,000 to cover health costs. “People who haven’t saved enough for health-care costs may deplete their assets,” says Michael Markiewicz, a partner at New York-based Fogel Neale Partners. “A lot of them may have to live with their kids or depend on them for money and care.”
If parents do move in, their kids should expect to spend an extra $6,000 to $10,000 annually on food, clothing and other basics, says Andy Cohen, CEO of Caring.com, a website that provides resources for caregivers. Add thousands more for big-ticket items like wheelchair ramps or home health-care aids. Expensive as that sounds, it’s still often less than what it would cost to move a parent into an assisted living community, about $42,600 per year, on average, according to 2012 data from the MetLife Mature Market Institute.
3. “…and we blame you for that.”
Nearly one in six people ages 45 to 64 say that paying for their kid’s college tuition got in the way of saving for their own retirement, compared with just one in 20 who say that buying a home did, according to a 2012 study from Capital One ShareBuilder.
That’s not surprising, given that the typical middle-income family will spend more than $230,000 to raise a child from birth to age 18, up 23% (in today’s dollars) since 1960, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. When you add paying for college to the mix — for tuition, fees and room and board as of the 2012-2013 school year, you’d pay an average of $17,860 per year for a four-year in-state public school, $30,911 per year for a four-year public out-of-state school or $39,518 per year for a private four-year school, according to the College Board — you could easily spend upwards of $100,000 on the basic’s for your child’s education. This means that retirement savings can really take a hit. “A lot of parents prioritized saving for their kids’ college over saving for retirement,” says Dan Greenshields, the president of CapitalOne ShareBuilder.
The reason? “Parents often equate paying for college with helping their child become successful in life,” says Deborah Fox, the founder of Fox College Funding, a San Diego-based college-funding consulting firm. That’s something they feel they have a duty to do, whether or not they can afford it, she adds.
4. “We can’t face reality.”
What boomers think retirement will be like and what it actually is like are two very different things. A case in point: The forever-young generation just can’t deal with the idea of growing old. Only 13% of pre-retirees (people over 50 who have not yet retired) think their health will be significantly worse in retirement than it is now, while 39% of retirees report that it actually is worse, according to 2011 research by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health.
Boomers are a little fuzzy on the financial realities as well. While only 22% of pre-retirees think their financial situation will be worse in retirement, roughly one-third of retirees say that it is worse. Along those same lines, only 14% of pre-retirees predict that life overall will be worse when they retire, but a quarter of retirees report that it actually is worse. “There’s a real disconnect because your life pre-retirement is much different than your life post-retirement,” says Hal Hershfield, a professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business who conducts research on judgment, decision-making and social psychology with an emphasis on how thinking about time can alter decisions and emotions.
5. “ ‘Til death do us part’ doesn’t apply to us.”
Boomers are untying the knot at a record pace. The divorce rate for people over 50 has doubled in the past 20 years, says the National Center for Family and Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University, compared with a slight decrease in divorce overall. More than 600,000 individuals over 50 divorced in 2009, and if the rate continues to grow at the current pace, that number will hit more than 800,000 by 2030.
What’s fueling this trend? Empty nesters find they are a lot less compatible when the kids aren’t around is one phenomenon, says Toronto-based psychologist Tami Kulbatski. Another might be that boomers are more likely to have married young (boomers were far more likely to be married when they were between the ages of 18 and 30, than were members of Generation X, according to research from the Pew Research Center for People & the Press). Now, a lot of boomers are in their second, third or even fourth marriage, and these marriages are more likely to end in divorce, says Krista Kay Payne, a researcher at the center.
Divorce will likely take a chunk out of the average boomer’s already inadequate retirement funds. Lawyers’ fees alone can range from a couple of thousand to tens of thousands of dollars or more, says attorney Jeff Landers, author of “Divorce: Think Financially, Not Emotionally: What Women Need to Know About Securing Their Financial Future Before, During and After Divorce.” Add to that things like alimony and having to split up assets, and boomers’ financial picture gets even murkier.
6. “We’re unhappy …”
Boomers are the least happy of all age groups, according to a 2008 study published in the American Sociological Review journal. “The generation as a group was so large, and their expectations were so great,” Yang Yang, the author of the study, told the American Sociological Association, “not everyone in the group could get what he or she wanted due to competition for opportunities.“
Another report from the Pew Research Center came to a similar conclusion: On a scale of one to 10, boomers, on average, rate their lives a 6.2, compared with a 6.7 for older adults and 6.5 for younger adults. That may not look like much of a difference, but this pattern has held steady for the past two decades. In other words, the boomers — even when they were younger — have been consistently less happy than other generations for the past 20 years.
7. “… and we eat our feelings.”
Nearly 40% of people ages 60 and up and nearly 37% of people 40 to 59 are now considered obese, according to a 2012 report from the Centers for Disease Control, compared with less than one in three for people age 20 to 39. What’s more, baby boomers are fatter than their parents’ generation, according to a study released this year by JAMA Internal Medicine, with nearly 40% of boomers reportedly obese, versus 29% of the previous generation.
Obesity can lead to serious health problems, including diabetes and heart disease. A 65-year-old person who has been obese since age 45 personally incurs roughly $50,000 more in Medicare costs over the course of his or her lifetime than a “normal weight” 65-year-old does, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Medicare and Medicaid end up paying for roughly half of the cost of obesity, which accounts for $190 billion in medical spending annually, according to a 2012 study published in the Journal of Health Economics.
8. “And we’re addicts.”
Maybe it’s because so many grew up in the ’60s, but whatever the excuse, boomers are drinking and drugging their way into old age at a rate much higher than their parents’ generation. The number of people 50 and over who were admitted to substance abuse treatment programs increased 136% between 1992 and 2010, according to the latest data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Alcohol is the most common reason that boomers seek treatment, but the proportion of admissions of people over 50 for heroin abuse nearly doubled and for cocaine use more than tripled over that period. “Because of the magnitude of these changes and their potential impact, it is increasingly important to understand and plan for the health care needs, including the substance use prevention and treatment needs, of this population,” the administration writes.
Treatment doesn’t come cheap. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the mean cost per admission for outpatient substance abuse treatment is more than $1,400 without methadone (a synthetic opioid used to treat heroin and morphine addictions) or $7,415 with it; prices can run into the tens of thousands for inpatient treatment. What’s more, Medicare will only pay about 65% of an outpatient treatment program, and it will pay for inpatient treatment only if a doctor deems it “medically necessary” and the care is in a hospital. (Medicare doesn’t fund treatment at those designer “rehab spas.” Sorry, boomers.)
9. “We will bury you in debt.”
We’re a nation in record debt — an estimated $16 trillion — and the sheer number of boomers is expected to significantly add to that in the coming years, as more begin to receive Social Security and Medicare benefits. (Social Security and Medicare spending represented 38% of federal expenditures in fiscal year 2012, and “both programs will experience cost growth substantially in excess of GDP growth through the mid-2030s,” according to the Social Security Administration.)
But in many ways, boomers have been less willing than other demographic groups to support policy changes that could trim the debt. Fully 68% of boomers oppose eliminating the tax deduction for interest paid on home mortgages, compared with just 56% of all adults, according to the Pew Research Center. Furthermore, 80% of boomers (vs. 72% of all adults) oppose taxing employer health insurance benefits and 63% of boomers (vs. 58% of all adults) oppose increasing the age one qualifies for full Social Security benefits, the study shows.
Many boomers are more opposed to these plans because “they would feel the impact more than other groups,” says Kim Parker, the associate director of the Pew Research Center’s Social and Demographic Trends Project. But without some sort of deficit reduction, future generations will be left with the dire economic consequences a massive deficit can cause, she says.
10. “We’re obsessed with (not) aging.”
Sagging skin, crows’ feet, a dull complexion — these used to be the inevitable signs of aging. But if the boomers have anything to say about it, that’s going to change. Revenue for so-called cosmeceutical companies — which manufacture cosmetics with pharmaceutical capabilities, some of the most popular being wrinkle-reducing moisturizers and creams that even skin tone — is expected to hit $5 billion this year and is expected to grow 7.5% each year through 2018, according to data from market research firm IbisWorld; people over 50 account for more of cosmeceutical companies’ consumers than any other age group.
And it’s not just lotions and serums that they’re into. People 51 and up had 24% of all surgical cosmetic procedures, like face-lifts and tummy tucks, and 30% of all cosmetic “minimally invasive” procedures like cellulite treatments, Botox injections and laser hair removals, in 2012.
It also appears that boomer men are one of the fastest-growing segments of the population going under the knife. While overall cosmetic procedures in men increased just 9% in 2012 compared with 2011, face lifts, which are typically performed on the over-50 set, increased 21%, according to data from the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. And this will become more popular, says Jack Fisher, the president of the society, as many boomers want to look and feel young.
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Does anyone remember the movie "Logan's Run?"
As a Floridian living outside Naples, I can tell you the old fogies over here rule everything. You don't see many middle aged couples out at the bar or restaurants...they re too busy mowing yards, serving pizza and grooming the army of small dogs owned by the elite...dogs that eat better than a lot of kids in this country.
Whenever I sit at one of the local watering holes around here and talk to locals 99% of the time it goes like this:
1. Anyone who is currently in the work force says the economy absolutely sucks
2. Anyone over 60 says the economy is doing great or definately "improving"
It is mind numbing how different the view is from up on the bluffs.
I joke with my father in law who lives in a gated community down here that when the Sh** hits the fan, the $8.00 an hr rent a cop he's counting on to guard the gate will be the first one letting in the looters or grabbing a TV for himself.
Keep paying in boys...these guys need that extra SS check for their refrigerated dog food and green fees.
What in the hell do you expect in Florida?
Well yea, the dogs the only one that gives us unconditional love and greens fees are a better return on investment (exercise and vitamin d, you know) than the 14% of my earnings for ss over 50 years, that the govt. stole from me.
Heh, most retirees that I know use golf carts to get around the course. Some exercise.
" Inventor, entrepreneur and visionary Ray Kurzweil explains in abundant, grounded detail why, by the 2020s, we will have reverse-engineered the human brain and nanobots will be operating your consciousness.
Ray Kurzweil is an engineer who has radically advanced the fields of speech, text, and audio technology. He's also one of our finest thinkers, revered for his dizzying -- yet convincing -- writing on the advance of technology, the limits of biology, and the future of the human species. Full bio » " ted
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Ray Kurzweil: The accelerating power of technology
Filmed Feb 2005 • Posted Nov 2006 •
http://www.ted.com/talks/ray_kurzweil_on_how_technology_will_transform_u...
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comment: there it is, the master plan for the sheeple, it is not a secret.
hard fate perhaps?
.
another thing they won't tell you is that they will invest in anything with
yield even if it means millions become zombies or dead. it is the nut of
the bad math embedded in the Ponzi money system that everyone is required
to worship by the dictate of the central federal bankers laws (or evil priestly
whims). not to worry cause death can be heavenly for the good and zombification
comes with super powers and none of the human foibles, concerns, qualms etc.
technology will save us from ourselves! there a weird, illogical and hypocritical thought.
Yea, he should know. He is a GOOGLE director, working hand in hand with the govt. secret police on invading our privacy and basically turning us into solyent green. Being a boomer, like me, I'm sure he's comfortable with that. Hey, we had it all, wasted it all, screwed it up for future all, It's what we deserve. However, I will not go gently, into the nite.
Maybe I should embrace the new communist norm so we take take back what the bommer asshole stole from the world
This looks like more divide and conquer nonsense from the NWO. It is an age old tactic and it always works. All of the comments I read are debating the merits of the article like there is some reality to it.
To the indolent, spoiled, pampered young I offer the 3 F's. I know how you Feel, I Felt the same way till I Found out.
Yes it's greedy pensioners and near pensioners, if only they would all die then we would be back in the picture of pure happiness that existed before their birth....
Fight amongst yourselves plebs, the rich boys are getting bored of your existences. We get future money direct from the state now and your old jobs are held by slaves in the third world, ubasate is still popular in Japan isn't it? Why don't you try that for starters?
The biggest thing really is this though. Those born around 1975 and later will/would and have never gotten to enjoy inflation which was the primary driving factor in enabling the boomer generation. College education and health care and energy have inflated to the unafordable where the boomer generation enjoyed very low prices there. Housing is never going to go back up and boomers are still looking at a 500-1000% net gain on the real estate that they own. Wages are never going to go up either. I remember my parents complaining about inflation, not realizing at the time that the 30K house they bought in a few short years would be about 20% of what they made in a year. That would be like me buying a $200K house and 15-20 years later making $1,000,0000 a year and my house inflating to $2,000,000.
This one is my favorite: 3. “…and we blame you for that.”
So, a completely broken system designed by boomers, fostered by boomers, whom the only beneficiaries are of the boomer age group ($500k dean salaries; $1m ++ football coach salaries), with a Fed Reserve chairman (boomer) whom is intent on further stuffing this debt down the throats of kids......a system of which the boomers in charge have done nothing to fix nor change nor consider anything other than endless government (taxpayer) funding for the pigs eating at the college education trough.
"We blame you for that"
Good one. This system won't be getting my coin.
the meme of inter-generational antagonism and bitching is simply another MSM ploy to
keep the peeps attention from the real wrongs,ie,central banking money printing,endless war all to
perpetuate the big ponzi lie.
Don't buy it. and certainly don't buy emotional generalisation such as this post presents.,
Tyler, you might have added that over 70% of Americans are on at least one prescription drug. The two most over-prescribed drugs are pain killers and anti-depressants. In other words, the increasingly obese and hopelessly self-centered Americans are largely mentally ill cry babies. We could probably eliminate 80% of our national healthcare bill were people to just eat sensibly, get modest daily exercise and face their problems like responsible adults. Instead of taking responsibility, we medicate.
Aldous Huxley pointed out in 1949 what the playbook could be and it appears to have come to fruition.
"I believe within the next generation that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience."
While the governments waged a "War on Drugs" at the front door they lifted up the back gate and let Big Pharma sneak in and push anti depressants as easily as chewing gum. While the government now wages it's "War on prescription drug abuse" they allow Big Pharma to advertise on TV furthering the self diagnosis and hypochondria of America. You go to a doctor today and it's nothing for an antibiotic or antidepressant to be pushed on you even if resist.
In typical fashion I believe the government is pissing on us while telling us it's raining.
I am part of this generation although just barely at 1963. We were responsible for a lot of change in the way we do things and in policy. I think there was a lot of good to this while everyone was supporting the system but now that this large demographical group is drawing off the system with no significant large group to back them it is a cancerous plague for future generations. I do not wish to be a burdon onmy children or anyone else. I am very healthy and because I accept my decisions around my actions as "my own" (hint Boomers you need to start doing this as NO one esle is responsible) I intend to stay this way until my death. The boomers gave themselves all these nonsensical perks. I call it free loading. Someone has to pay for it. Yes we contributed but not nearly enough. The statistics were based on demographics 40 years ago which have now changed a lot especially where I am in Canada which is more like Japan than the US.
Although I like being a boomer I find that we take all the good jobs. We did not save enough and so now are choking the young out of their jobs because we work more than one "good paying job". We are the reason why unemployment is so high amoung youth. This by itself is obviously not good. How do you get people out of the work force to make room when they have been accustomed to extravagant life styles that they refuse to give up. Good question?
At 50 years old let me give you some answers Boomers
1) Get in decent shape. Only you can control this and yes you can control this.
2) Give up the dream of retiring with lots of wealth. It isn't going to happen unless you destroy the next generations opportunites. This pip dream that was and is fed to you by the governments of the western world is exactly that. Your pursuit of this 1 million in the bank goal is unrealistic and has led to much or your present unhappiness and poor health by over work and poor life style.
3) Learn how to make a little cash on the internet. I am not saying this is easy to do because it takes time and patience. However it can be done. Stay away from the "it is easy to make 2K a month" and realize that working online is no different than working offline. You still have to build the business and work hard at first. However working at home does have it's benefits. Competition is tough but if you have mastered a skill (over 10,000 hours of study) then see if others want to access it.
4) Stop relying on the government and future generations. YOU are in charge of your future. Just like your parents. They did it without social safety nets by being strong and lean. You can do it too. It is not too late. YOU ARE NOT ENTITLED OK! It is your childrens future that is at stake here. So stop beingn so f---ing selfish ok. You had no business awarding yourself all these perks.
5) Live in another country where your cost of living is much cheaper. That way 1K a month will sustain you. You will be able to live comfortably there. Not extravagantly but comfortably as long as the governments don't have a problem with you spending their money in another coutry. They might if enough of you do it and in this case I would side with the government. Why would you give someone money so that they can spend it in Ecuador? I wouldn't. It doesn't help anyone at home does it. Pros and cons here but doable.
6) If you are going to live with your children then supplement their lives and make their lives easier by picking up the slack in baby sitting, put your pay check and savings towards their lives to help them along and make yourself productive inevery way possible so that they can save money and make more for themselves. No you don't have the right to be unproductive and free load. I'll say it again, "get in shape and look after yourself". Better to die fighting then to lay down and spend the last few years free loading and feeling as if you missed the rich boat that passed you by. Unless you were part of all these ponzi schemes over the years it passed you by too. The biggest ponzi is social security. So don't be part of it. You children are going to hate you all (and rightly so) if you do.
7) You mornons that are wealthy and thinking of NOT leaving it to your family. Are you that stupid. Have your ever heard the expression "You get out of life what you put into it?" The same goes for your children. If you let them free load and you taught them nothing about finances and how to preserve your wealth then that is the teachers fault not the students. I suspect that most of you inherited your wealth too from the saver generation. Your parents in other words. I wonder if they took the same attitude where you would be. Some of you are self-made and that is great but you still have an obligation to teach these skills to your children. If they are rich, spoiled and pampered-imbecilic, ambie pambies, then that is your fault ok. You did them no favors in life. Ever have the stomach to watch the Kardasians or Paris Hilton. I rest my case.
8) Tell your children to avoid the bloated, sloth of a montrosity called our educational insitutions. They will learn nothing there other than social skills that they hopefully got in high school. All you are doing is supporting the same non-productive system that took everything and gave nothing in return but a 1.3 trillon dollar debt. Frat houses and all that other bullshit are a thing of the past. I have shown my own children that YOU are responsible for your path in this world. If you are in the hard sciences and are gifted then you may wish to invest in becoming an engineer or a scientist. Perhaps even a doctor although their worth is aguable too as you are your own best doctor in how you make decisions around your health. Get a trade, become a farmer, or develop a new usable product that solves a problem of the world. Produce something and fail. Fail over and over again. It is a great teacher.
9) Give back to your community in every way that you can. Gone are the days of "me" and my own importance are all that matters. Helping each other and sharing is the way of the future. Do it. You'll feel better. Do it all for free. You still have good skills. Use them.
10) Learn to share your wealth with the rest of the world. It will come back to you. Trust me. We have been spoiled far too long. Let others have a little of what we had. There is plenty to go around. It may not seem like it but we still have lots compared to most of the rest of the world. Globalization is here to stay. Learn a new language, network, and help as many people lead better lives as you can before you pass. It will come back to you.
Here is your new ten points to live by. I thought I would help rather than curse.
“10 Things Baby Boomers Won't Tell You,” the latest ridiculous Republican talking point.
Boomers were the ones that drove the 70% consumer supported GDP. We are entering post-consumerism now and will never return. We must depend upon the world to be our new consumers so we must export, export, and more export (other than bills/bonds)to survive. Boomers are only adjusting to the new situation.
Say, sorry about that involuntary thing. Your mom must have been a christian, white, republican that had a job. You could however do some light reading you know, for just knowledge sake, you know, about US trade deficits. The world is exporting to us now and we ain't buying.You might learn that us boomers didn't chase the jones', we bought used and/or fixed what we have. You're right about entering post consumerism. Us boomers have all we need, based on 50 or so years of earning wages, sometimes at 2 or more jobs, saving what we could while the worth of our money steadily eroded by the policies of elitist cabals. Good luck in the world, it's gonna get tougher.
I began toiling the fields when I was 12, but at the exact time I entered the working world full time as an adult, Paul Volcker began raising interest rates to defeat inflation. If you look at a chart of interest rates on one axis and total federal, personal and corporate debt on the other, you will notice that interest rates dropped and debt rose my entire adult life. It has been a good ride, but now there is that darned old "zero bound". Pay(ing) back is a bitch.
Late boomer here.....late 1954 birth....
First off...fuck this "story"...WTF was it for? The writer under some sort of fucked up cathartic moment????
Secondly, to place blame squarely on the "Boomer" generation smacks of asinine thinking - myopic....when there is so much blame to go around - with ALL GENERATIONS guilty.
Lastly.....again...fuck this posting.....I want my 2 minutes back (of which I read this shit..then stopped, out of sheer ......fuck this-is)
Git some, Beetle. The mendacity of the boomer dissers is equaled only by their inferior education, their greed, and their lack of knowledge. They have "drunk" the cool aide and should all be given tickets to Gyuanna.
The author is probably just some spoiled brat who was supported all of her life by some baby boomer who has told her she has to get a job now. I worked like hell most weekends of my entire life. Why don't you kids quit whining on the internet, get off your ass right now, borrow a lawnmower and go make a couple of bucks.
the boomer gen went from anti-material, secular humanism (antiwar, peace and love) to conspicious wealth and evangelical born again christianity (the sky pilot Billy Graham blessed the first war in Iraq)
Kerry threw his medals over the fence, now he promotes wars far worse than Vietnam from inside. we were conned ducklings. but you turn to any page in the history book and there is some rat fucker trying to turn peoples best instincts against them (peace and love) they make a living off of strife and conflict, and their buddies sell the insurance.
and we all love JFK and James Dean because they never got old and fat and foolish, they never had a chance to sell us out. we're coming to the place in history where all the masks come off, as Buffet says the tide goes out you see who is swimming naked. time is just about here.
Hey, it appears you are generationally, historically, and mathematically challenged. Every one of your boomer examples, ain't a boomer. Which is par for the course for the miscreants dissing us boomers. Dis away you dildos, I got mine bitchez, I got 00 to defend it, I got "grey power" to keep your clean, smooth, unused to real work, pansy hands, off of it.
See ya from the trenches or my front yard it ya got the cojones, pendajoes.
and you sir are no JFK
Generational warfare starting right now: why does the government tax us to death?
Just follow the money...
Rant on,
There is more than one of you fucking bitchez need to stand and look in the mirror a touch. You think the 'Boomers' are guilty of the way things are? You think anyone of those fuckers going to work, paying the bills, and looking after thier famlies have brought us to where we are? You think way back when they had access to the information we have at our finger tips? You think anyone of them folks who voted a long time ago, when the same plan was in progess had any say, or any idea we as a collective would go down this road without the critical information to tell them otherwise, like we have?
Any of you lot remember 'Endownment Mortgages'? I do, so do my parents, and so do many, many of my customers today, not one of whom was paid out enough to pay off thier mortgage. Yet another scam of the 1%. You see, they take great pains, and great pleasure to part you and your families with fucking scams that the vast majority dont understand, just to make that extra buck.
The fucking scum, which in all honesty, is all the 1% are want it all, they want everything, they even want the fucking kitchen sink you lot wash your dishes at, and with articles like this, and people that believe them, they will get it.
For the fucking last time, we are being 'Fucking Played Like A Cheap Violin'. Its called divide and rule for a reason.
The 'Boomers' are as much to blame in this fucking shit show as a new born child. Who bailed the fucking banks out? Who gave these fucking grifters the means to fleece us fuckers twice? Who over see's the distribution of that wedge? Who still does so while grinding us fuckers into the ground? And more importantly, who would do this to a fellow man?
Wind your fucking necks in and look at the fucking cabal who want the lot without working for a penny of it. Look at them and direct your anger, and take it from a bloke 36 years young, that no, what ever you may think, we are the 'Information Age Folk', its what the bastard internet allows, that no, the 'Boomers didnt cause this shit, they lived through it, just like we will.
But this time round, thanks to the fucking internet, facefuck, twitter and the likes, our anger will be a bit more directed.
And grow the fuck up, we have been played as fucking fools, and with bullshit like this article, they will try and do it again.
We can, and are worth ten times the shit they throw at us, so fucking start acting like it bitchez.
Rant off.
Well, this boomer would be proud to say of and to you, "He could be my son".
Tortuga.
I would be fucking privileged for that honour.
No matter who you are, or where you are, Inthemix has your back friend. You and I are not the problem my friend.
Its about time the partisan realised this, and fucked off the rhetoric.
I mean this, all the very best to you and yours.
96
Completely agree. I'm 34 (late Gen X). My dad (b. 1945) got shafted... er... drafted and sent to Vietnam, because he was inbetween classes, working on a road crew to pay for college. There he had the privilege of seeing things no one should ever see. Did Dad pay for my college? The last year, but he wanted me to earn the rest, and I thank him for that. Did Dad save for retirement? Yep and he's doing just fine--almost 70 years old and working 5 acres of land. Will I receive an inheritance? I don't know, nor do I care; I told Dad to spend the money.
Statistics are like opinions and assholes--everyone's got 'em. Here's mine:
I think the author maybe has a late Silent or early Boomer father and, perhaps, has a "bad relationship" with them. So did I, but then I grew up and realized the shit that Dad was telling me about the world was true. We get along great, now. Yeah, the way he went about it was a little tough—sometimes with the back of a hand or a fist—but he felt he needed to get the point across, so I would avoid some of the mistakes he made. Some of that was a side effect of Vietnam—you never really get over something like he experienced. Thanks, Dad.
Anyway, now we have the Millennials (born after Reagan took office), who are really wading in the shit that's stacked up over the last 50 years. Many of them had late Boomer or early Xer parents. I wonder what they'll do about it? They seem to have a work-together mentality—at least the ones I manage, do—especially the core of the generation (b. 1990 +/- 5). My sister has a couple... They're good kids. A lot of 'em seem to need constant guidance and encouragement, though. A bit troubling. I often want to tell some of my employees to "just figure it out" but then I have to realize the generational divide between us. Xers are self-directed, Millennials not so much. I've had to grow quite a bit working with them; they've forced me to look at group methodology and really study the subject of "generation theory."
Who bailed the fucking banks out?
“…probably $400-500 billion a year is being transferred as a fiscal maneuver by the Fed from savers to the banks. They are collecting the spread, they've then booked the profits, they've rebuilt their book net worth, and they paid back the TARP basically out of what was thieved from the savers of America.” – David Stockman, courtesy Winston Smith 2009 above.
Savers, a.k.a. baby boomers.
"Savers, a.k.a. baby boomers." and everyone else that is saving money.
This article is a load of shit. Wah, wahwah. Daddy's not leaving me money, mommy's leaving me money but putting it in a trust fund because I'm a waste of genetic material etc.
1. If a boomer pays for his or her kids college, they are fools unless they have too much money laying around. I saw some moron single mother throw away her retirement money to fund two loser kids in waste time/get high college. Now they don't have degrees and are unemployed, she has zero savings and is 59.
2. Parents move in with kids? Every single example I know of this case has the PARENTS forking over cash to the low wage kids for the "privledge" of living there.
3. Take care of yourself first. Don't look for relatives to give you money. You want an inheritance? Pay the premiums for your mom or dad's life insurance. I cancelled my life insurance when my last kid passed 21. Why WOULD boomers be interested in LEAVING money to their children? Is that the purpose of life? Enrich your spoiled brat kids?
I have more than enough to bury me in cash. They can have my old clothes and cars etc if my wife doesn't want them. I won't need them.
Par for the course from Quinn. It's all your fault you piece of shit? Don't be hiding at your desk at Wharton, you piece of shit.
Kick those bastard Boomers to the curb...
But keep in mind that there's roughly 77 million of us compared to 82 million of Millennials.
I hope the Millennial's kids grow up to be just like Gen X & Y themselves...and not want to pay in to the Ponzi.
Bummer.
Year zero anyone?
I'm not a boomer, and not blaming boomers, and you're not fuckin' blaming me. Political class and banking elite believing service economy, military industrial congressional complex constantly pissing away war funding post 1950. Offshoring of jobs. Special interest/business legislative capture via lobby. Look at these first.
One List You Don't Need to Read
Could such article be even published in EU. It's hate speech!
Catey Hall, the author of this piece, is probably some 60 year old male fellow at some right-wing Think Tank or yet another incarnation of Quinn.
Nothing in this post matters. According to the dofd there is ONLY 18 mos of oil supply left for 7 billion people.
opps, double clicked!
RE: #5 ~ "Marriage" is a piece of paper by the time you are a senior. What many young folk do not realize is we are the "TWO working parents" generation also... Come time to retire and you get who ever had the "highest" paid into SS, and the other spouse gets the minimum, not matter who much was paid in... Get a divorice and both get to draw what they earned and put into SS. I know LOTS of people who divorice for that reason alone, and still live together. Another reason for late divorices: college tuition for low income families.... he or she who makes the LEAST gets legal custody....
I was born in the last year of the Boomers, and for me, your list is pretty much a complete pile of dogshit........
But I just did retire last week at age 48..........which is kinda "me"......but what the fuck, I worked for 32 years and went to night school for 13 years.......so fuck it!
What would you have in common with someone born in 1946? You should be more accurately classified as a child of a baby boomer if your parents were born anywhere in the 1940's. How would you know what it would have been like to face going to Vietnam, much less protest? This is where I take issue with this whole Baby Boomer generation definition. I would have to agree with you, at your age this list would be ridiculous.
Excellent point. These broad-swath generalizations regarding "generations" are silly. Am surprised these Pew-ish polls and Ivy designations are consumed without salt. Strong convictions evinced by # of comments here, many blurbs legitimizing the Post.
Big problem here. Applying large data sets from many* sources (*sarc) to define what will become junk-fodder. Crappy metrics used by individual(s) (un)informing perspective to be lazy whey of "knowin' stuffs bout 'cha".
As notadouche points out "...What would...someone born in 1946...have in common [with someone born on 1964]..."?
What a clunky way to "I has understanding" of the economic-}^€#}! mess.
Hallmark comments (the overused ones) are effective in counter-arguing a point, even where points are mushy. The underlying structure is usually the same and applicable all over.
Smart guy: There is no inflation.
Regular Guy /w memetic/hallmark: You ever go to store and buy food?
Smart Guy: Points to study/metric of choice, backed up by MSM/idiots; looks stupid.
Regular Guy: "..."
The article has many regular guys going smart guy and vice versa.
"A boomer ate my baby!"
(Peanut Gallery smarts ensue)
Regular Regular Guy: "?" Go to store and buy something.
Regular-Smart has issues Guy: "I" (insert words ME/YOU/MY/THEM, followed by a string of aggro-pity complaints. General truths revealed,, fears and all.
I grew up with brothers who were boomers born in the early 50s. I was born in 61. I don't feel remotely apart of that generation - we had completely different experiences. I don't know when the cut off should be but 1964 seems wrong.
So the tired meme of how the boomer generation is so self directed and selfish is trotted out once again. As opposed to the selfless and non-selfabsorbed Gen X, for instance? Catey Hall is a whining brat. I left home at age 19. I expected fucking nothing from parents and that's what I was bequeathed. I'll leave the same for my children. Hall, you are simply an under-powered bitch who has angst because you aren't being handed enough free pie. Continue bone smoking Yobama.
I dislike the Beatles. Overrated.
The Stones on the other hand.,.,.
Stones are over played too.
I recommend Rubber soul to any Beatles dislikers. Its just so damn good
Many posts on this topic, implying great ire over it.
I'll add my rant:
Too many baby boomers along with generations before and after had children they simply could not afford, or teach how to fish, and now the rest of us are paying for them.
I chose not to have kids because I knew I could not afford them; I ended up in the sacrifice paying for other people's kids, debts, irresponsible behaviors. I am sick of it, and many others are too. Keep voting for someone to steal for you and you'll find out how that ends. Those with values and productive capacity won't take it any longer and will first commit civil disobedience, and then whatever comes after that.
Add to this the immoral and unethical lot of people who want to steal even more from the middle class to redistribute to the lazy poor or corrupt wealthy. This spans generations, but the boomers have had their mark at the voting booth in putting the most corrupt crony socialistic statist regime in power, complete with unending financial repression. When and how will it end?
Only half a story this bit should be also considered.
A youth borrows money, fantastically leveraged the baby boomer with assets does not necessarily need to do this. The borrowed money and all governments are trying to make these loans happen creates the QE in an invisible way, raising inflation so the baby boomers then need more as they get old.
If a baby boomers is worth a million today with all the newly created money in a few short years their worth falls even if they try to live within their means. The rate the system is inflating is already too high and set to get far higher I feel.
At that point the baby boomers will need every penny they have.
If you're unemployed at one-third or one-half the time of the time of your total unemployment benefits, you should be in a Republican politician's office conducting your job search. Let the politican go whine to his banker pals.
Nice 400+ comments. Almost 4x from TBP. I have alwys enjoyed the juvenile self-absorbed crowd here at ZH, but I won't even bother with originality, nor will I bother with reading all the comments. Hatred and jealosy are bad enough, and they leave me with the feeling of needing to shower, but being an unwitting mouthpiece for the 1% is inexcusble, so I will simply quote TheCynic and his comment on TBP thread....
Nailed it !!!
Slowly but surely SmokeyQuinn is being exposed as a TOOL and a MORONIC Mouthpiece of Fascism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21pPpYw_axQ
Some of these things are true.
I treat alot of patients like this...they are obese, old, rude, and dependent on welfare, and yet think that some viagra and testosterone will turn them into a 22 year old adonis. It's sort of pathetic.
The author forgot to mention what a bunch of sociopath criminals Baby Boomers are. They have no conscience or regard for anybody but themsleves. They are the reason everything is so fucked up right now.
A total bunch of hateful prejudicial nonsense. Doesn't belong here. Judging millions of people is incredibly blind and stupid. The writer should be smart enough to know better.
"43% of late boomers (born between 1955 and 1964) may not be able to afford basic living expenses in retirement"
Not surprising when 70% of the economy is consumption. Not surprising when real wages have been falling for a long time. Not surprising when a recent survey said that 76% of everybody is living from pay check to pay check. Not surprising, considering the massive Wall Street financial fraud on investors.
Is anyone's retirement fund safe? NO. That being the case, it doesn't matter how much money one saved up for retirement, it won't be there when needed.
"While only 22% of pre-retirees think their financial situation will be worse in retirement, roughly one-third of retirees say that it is worse."
What retirement?
Do you sad fucking victims truly not understand that your lives are easier than 99.999% of the people who have gone before you? You whining crybabies are actually part of "the 1%" when compared to everyone who has ever lived.
I'm sure the tripling in cocaine use has nothing to do with the loss of retirement funds.
LOL
So now we have a group of fat divorced people living on SNAP cards .....what's new ?
Hey...That's my Mom and Dad your talking about! Keep it up and I'll have to come up from the basement and drive over to your house in Dad's oldsmobile and make you take that shit back! "Hey Mom! Can I borrow 5 bucks? I need to go buy some stamps (beer). Yes, I have been looking for a job. No. No one's called back yet. Yes I can take out the trash on my way out. No, don't get me anything. 40th birthdays are really not a big deal."