Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I was chatting with some of my friends (we are all in our mid to late 40's) and it's interesting to hear about people starting over financially or having some minor financial crises in their 40's due to all kinds of set backs. Personally, we are doing ok but our kids having serious medical issues at young ages definitely affected our financial goals.
I've recently heard stories of folks in this midlife time really struggling because of divorce, aging parents medical issues, relocating issues. Etc.
How common do you think financial upsets are during midlife? I'm not talking about mismanaged things, I'm taking about serious medical issues (cancer treatments, etc.), divorces, COL increases if you have to move for a job.
Yes, but not necessarily as severely in some categories.
People are living to an older age than most/all? prior generations, so taking care of aging parents can go on for a lot longer, and cost a lot more.
Divorce is also a lot more common and a lot more expensive than most prior generations had to deal with.
I think the biggest problem most people have today is that they live AT their means, rather than below them, and if the means increase, so does the lifestyle. So if some form of catastrophe does strike, they are completely unprepared. I don't know that that was so much different in the past, though.
Of course they did. Life's never been easy for any generation.
I guess I see a slight difference in the generations from personal experiences. My parents and my husband's parents have pretty healthy pension funds. They didn't worry as much about saving for retirement in their day to day financial equation so they did other things with their money, maybe bigger emergency savings. But that's just what I've seen.
Divorce is also a lot more common and a lot more expensive than most prior generations had to deal with.
Errr... No.
The divorce rate peaked in 1980. It's the same now as it was in 1970. Back then, divorce law assumed a stay-at-home wife so alimony for life was the norm. Divorce was far more costly then than now when it's assumed that most couples are dual income.
I guess I see a slight difference in the generations from personal experiences. My parents and my husband's parents have pretty healthy pension funds. They didn't worry as much about saving for retirement in their day to day financial equation so they did other things with their money, maybe bigger emergency savings. But that's just what I've seen.
Only two generations, the Greatest and the Silent, had significant access to pension funds - and only about 50% of workers in those generations even had pensions. Pensions and a secure retirement were a historical anomaly. People also used to assume their kids would take care of them in their old age, which isn't an assumption most people can safely make today.
Honestly, people need to take a longer view and look at the average person's life prior to WW ll, not just life during the latter half of the 20th Century. Life has never been easy for ordinary people (financially or otherwise).
Only two generations, the Greatest and the Silent, had significant access to pension funds - and only about 50% of workers in those generations even had pensions. .............
I would modify that statement slightly to add the older Boomers as having had access to fairly good pensions. Since the decline of pensions in the private sector was a gradual thing - not all companies and not all industries did away with them at the same time or even all at once - it's difficult to pin it down to a precise decade, even.
Only now - last ten years or so - are the public sector pensions being dialed back.
It if fairly common I think. One guy I worked with drained his 401k in an (unsuccessful) attempt to save his wife from cancer. He was around 40 y.o. at the time. Know several who were set back by divorce. Yet others got burned out by the corporate grind and just quit to do something not so stressful.
Could be worse. Two co-workers died in their 30s, one from lymphoma and another from a heart attack. Several more that were in their 50s. Got to enjoy life a bit too as you never know...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
