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I think there are a variety of reasons so many boomers plan to keep on working:
1. Insecurity about the stability of the govt. and the SS system.
2. Lack of investments and savings for retirement.
3. Unwillingness to cut back living their paycheck to paycheck materialistic lifestyle.
4. Having spent all their savings on supporting children into their adult years and beyond, they are just plain broke.
So do you think Silent have more money then BB overall?
I think they may not have impressive liquid assets, but it appears from reports (and my personal observations) that they often own a home and/or property. This generation did not move around as much, paid off a home . . . may have inherited land from their parents, as well.
They were, overall, conservative w/ their spending habits, as such things as credit cards were not commonly used til the 80s. This means my parents' generation basically survived without running up debt, other than a mortgage and a car that may have been financed.
In addition, many folks saved up money for a car, and most families did not have 2 cars in post WWII America. In many cities, folks never DID own a car - as there was robust public transportation. I knew many stay-at-home moms who didn't have a car in the 50s and 60s . . . and if there was a second car by the 70s, it was often used by several family members - including teens (Boomers!) who had after school jobs or were involved in sports activities in high school.
The world was just different. One car, one TV, one telephone. No credit cards or maybe one if hubby was an exec and needed it for travel. Few "average" folks had even flown in an airplane well into the 60s! We all remember "lay-away" - a concept I learned about in the 50s, after finding out I could take my quarter weekly to the local Auto/Toy Store and pay for my first Barbie doll, after putting down the $2 I had saved up from birthday gifts, lol. <I still have that Barbie! Collectors start early, hee hee>
Sewing was considered a skill as was cooking. Restaurants? Eating out? A luxury. Most families I knew ate out no more than once a week - and often that was for a pizza or big buffet at a local mom 'n pop restaurant.
So . . . the way families purchased items, the things they considered important (a new furnace - paid for upfront! - rather than a new car!) . . . was very different.
I cannot imagine having a conversation with my mom about a new coat in the 60s. We all passed around coats - aunts, cousins, friends - altered things, made them work. It was not considered frugal to do these things - it was considered ingenious and to be admired. We looked chic on a budget. We cut each other's hair. We shared fashion magazines and copied Jackie Kennedy's hair and wardrobe, lol.
That all changed after the recession of the 70s . . . and consumerism - and the "need" for all sorts of gadgets - and use of credit - b/c a lifetsyle.
So if you were born say in 1925 . . . by 1980, at age 55, you probably had a house paid off (or nearly paid off) and very likely may have worked with the same company 25 or more years (and may be vested in a pension, even if a modest one). And probably didn't have much debt at all. What you may have saved - I am sure that varied a lot depending on many factors . . .
Having a house paid for - and reasonable property taxes - is, to me, one of the biggest factors when planning for retirement. And the Silent Generation seems to have figured that one out.
I'll be joining the ranks of the retired in six weeks and boy am I scared and excited at the same time.
Mrs. Tek is retiring the first of the year and this describes her to a tee! She is finally starting to use the word "excited" more often than "scared". I've been retired since 2009 and am really ready for her to join me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SoButCounty
It would seem, that the best gift they could have given their children would have been to teach them to be financially self reliant, and to practice the same themselves by planning for retirement so that they would be self reliant in retirement. If you don't pay yourself first and begin building that retirement fund, you'll end up being a financial burden to your children in your senior years. I'm sure that is the last thing my friends wanted to do but it would seem that living only for the here & now and not planning for the future will lead you down this road every time.
Amen to that. We both came from very poor backgrounds and neither had any teaching or training in finances. If we had our lives would be quite different financially. We are going to be fine in retirement, but with a little more understanding at a young age we would likely be filthy rich.
Mrs. Tek is retiring the first of the year and this describes her to a tee! She is finally starting to use the word "excited" more often than "scared". I've been retired since 2009 and am really ready for her to join me.
Amen to that. We both came from very poor backgrounds and neither had any teaching or training in finances. If we had our lives would be quite different financially. We are going to be fine in retirement, but with a little more understanding at a young age we would likely be filthy rich.
But would you be any happier. If you have enough to live on and a few little luxuries you are doing ok. Just enjoy your retirement do some things that don't reqire a lot of money, walking, gardening, get back to nature.
I think they may not have impressive liquid assets, but it appears from reports (and my personal observations) that they often own a home and/or property. This generation did not move around as much, paid off a home . . . may have inherited land from their parents, as well.
They were, overall, conservative w/ their spending habits, as such things as credit cards were not commonly used til the 80s. This means my parents' generation basically survived without running up debt, other than a mortgage and a car that may have been financed.
In addition, many folks saved up money for a car, and most families did not have 2 cars in post WWII America. In many cities, folks never DID own a car - as there was robust public transportation. I knew many stay-at-home moms who didn't have a car in the 50s and 60s . . . and if there was a second car by the 70s, it was often used by several family members - including teens (Boomers!) who had after school jobs or were involved in sports activities in high school.
The world was just different. One car, one TV, one telephone. No credit cards or maybe one if hubby was an exec and needed it for travel. Few "average" folks had even flown in an airplane well into the 60s! We all remember "lay-away" - a concept I learned about in the 50s, after finding out I could take my quarter weekly to the local Auto/Toy Store and pay for my first Barbie doll, after putting down the $2 I had saved up from birthday gifts, lol. <I still have that Barbie! Collectors start early, hee hee>
Sewing was considered a skill as was cooking. Restaurants? Eating out? A luxury. Most families I knew ate out no more than once a week - and often that was for a pizza or big buffet at a local mom 'n pop restaurant.
So . . . the way families purchased items, the things they considered important (a new furnace - paid for upfront! - rather than a new car!) . . . was very different.
I cannot imagine having a conversation with my mom about a new coat in the 60s. We all passed around coats - aunts, cousins, friends - altered things, made them work. It was not considered frugal to do these things - it was considered ingenious and to be admired. We looked chic on a budget. We cut each other's hair. We shared fashion magazines and copied Jackie Kennedy's hair and wardrobe, lol.
That all changed after the recession of the 70s . . . and consumerism - and the "need" for all sorts of gadgets - and use of credit - b/c a lifetsyle.
So if you were born say in 1925 . . . by 1980, at age 55, you probably had a house paid off (or nearly paid off) and very likely may have worked with the same company 25 or more years (and may be vested in a pension, even if a modest one). And probably didn't have much debt at all. What you may have saved - I am sure that varied a lot depending on many factors . . .
Having a house paid for - and reasonable property taxes - is, to me, one of the biggest factors when planning for retirement. And the Silent Generation seems to have figured that one out.
As they say "those were the days" people want too much these days and really can't afford it, it is so easy to be caught up into buying "things" on credit just for the sake of having them.
I think they may not have impressive liquid assets, but it appears from reports (and my personal observations) that they often own a home and/or property. This generation did not move around as much, paid off a home . . . may have inherited land from their parents, as well.
They were, overall, conservative w/ their spending habits, as such things as credit cards were not commonly used til the 80s. This means my parents' generation basically survived without running up debt, other than a mortgage and a car that may have been financed.
In addition, many folks saved up money for a car, and most families did not have 2 cars in post WWII America. In many cities, folks never DID own a car - as there was robust public transportation. I knew many stay-at-home moms who didn't have a car in the 50s and 60s . . . and if there was a second car by the 70s, it was often used by several family members - including teens (Boomers!) who had after school jobs or were involved in sports activities in high school.
The world was just different. One car, one TV, one telephone. No credit cards or maybe one if hubby was an exec and needed it for travel. Few "average" folks had even flown in an airplane well into the 60s! We all remember "lay-away" - a concept I learned about in the 50s, after finding out I could take my quarter weekly to the local Auto/Toy Store and pay for my first Barbie doll, after putting down the $2 I had saved up from birthday gifts, lol. <I still have that Barbie! Collectors start early, hee hee>
Sewing was considered a skill as was cooking. Restaurants? Eating out? A luxury. Most families I knew ate out no more than once a week - and often that was for a pizza or big buffet at a local mom 'n pop restaurant.
So . . . the way families purchased items, the things they considered important (a new furnace - paid for upfront! - rather than a new car!) . . . was very different.
I cannot imagine having a conversation with my mom about a new coat in the 60s. We all passed around coats - aunts, cousins, friends - altered things, made them work. It was not considered frugal to do these things - it was considered ingenious and to be admired. We looked chic on a budget. We cut each other's hair. We shared fashion magazines and copied Jackie Kennedy's hair and wardrobe, lol.
That all changed after the recession of the 70s . . . and consumerism - and the "need" for all sorts of gadgets - and use of credit - b/c a lifetsyle.
So if you were born say in 1925 . . . by 1980, at age 55, you probably had a house paid off (or nearly paid off) and very likely may have worked with the same company 25 or more years (and may be vested in a pension, even if a modest one). And probably didn't have much debt at all. What you may have saved - I am sure that varied a lot depending on many factors . . . Having a house paid for - and reasonable property taxes - is, to me, one of the biggest factors when planning for retirement. And the Silent Generation seems to have figured that one out.
That is an excellent summary. I was born in 1944, and I remember very well the things you described. One car for a family of four (dad, mom, my sister and I) until I was about 16. A two-bedroom, one bath house until I was 14, then three bedrooms and one and a half baths thereafter. Mother and sister made some, but not all, of their clothing at home. Exterior of house needed painting? My father and I did it. And so on, and so on. This was the middle class lifestyle in the 1950's and up into the 1960's to some extent.
That is an excellent summary. I was born in 1944, and I remember very well the things you described. One car for a family of four (dad, mom, my sister and I) until I was about 16. A two-bedroom, one bath house until I was 14, then three bedrooms and one and a half baths thereafter. Mother and sister made some, but not all, of their clothing at home. Exterior of house needed painting? My father and I did it. And so on, and so on. This was the middle class lifestyle in the 1950's and up into the 1960's to some extent.
Yep. Dad got the "second" car when I was 17.
If someone had to "run an errand back to town" any time during the week, it was common that phone calls would be made to nearby neighbors and/or the elderly (especially "shut-ins") - to see if anyone needed something "picked up from town." I was taught that it wasn't just the gas (as gas was cheap back in those days! Not even 25cents a gallon!) but it was putting mileage on the car itself and wear and tear on the tires.
People just didn't spend money w/ offhanded abandon as is common now. I think part of that is a reaction to growing up in an atmosphere of "every penny counts." I think it is common to "rebel" against that sort of upbringing.
I have never been a mindless spender, but I gotta say . . . I remember clearly one day back in the mid-70s when I was washing off a piece of aluminum foil and drying it, and folding it back up to re-use . . . when I suddenly thought - "dear lord. I am stuck in my parent's Depression Era Mentality" - and I crumpled the aluminum foil up and tossed it in the trash can. I had a big wave of guilt overtake me, for wasting "perfectly good" used aluminum foil, lol.
But I vowed I wasn't gonna live like that, saving cottage cheese cartons to use as freezer containers and washing off aluminum foil.
It didn't take but maybe a year or two til I realized: I don't LIKE wasting anything. I reverted to my old habits, only I called it "recycling" and now I call it "re-purposing."
I think for many Boomers - it was a blessed relief not to count out the pennies, wait for the savings account to reach a certain level b/f paying cash . . . we felt a sense of relief not having to "live like our parents did."
I believe our parents were wise to use it up or wear it out. Lots of dollars wasted on the "latest and greatest" the last 30 years.
I was born in 1959 in wayne, PA and some of this was the same. We had new coats from altmans and went in to Philadelphia to see the Mikkado at Christmas. My parents were both children of the depression but my mother knew the ways of thrift. She would squeeze all the slivers of soaps together to use in the laundry room..ha, ha-I admired her so much. Our snack was "sugar bread" which was white bread with oleo smeared on it and sprinkled with sugar.
My parents saved my mom's salary for 2 years so that they could move from their apt on chestnut street in philadelphia out the paoli local line to wayne. We only had one car and we would walk with my mom to the A&P and carry the groceries home. by the time I was 7 I could ride my bike all over town. My mom gave us notes to go to Komack's store and get her cigarettes.
I'm saying that I thought my parents were very aware and frugal in their spending-but I think my kids see us that way too.
Mrs. Tek is retiring the first of the year and this describes her to a tee! She is finally starting to use the word "excited" more often than "scared". I've been retired since 2009 and am really ready for her to join me.
Amen to that. We both came from very poor backgrounds and neither had any teaching or training in finances. If we had our lives would be quite different financially. We are going to be fine in retirement, but with a little more understanding at a young age we would likely be filthy rich.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cushla
But would you be any happier. If you have enough to live on and a few little luxuries you are doing ok. Just enjoy your retirement do some things that don't reqire a lot of money, walking, gardening, get back to nature.
I've been gardening my entire life and I'm finished in retirement. I have found it to have become a chore after all these years (my mother is turning over in her grave) and plan on living where someone else does it all. That way we can travel when and where we want without worrying about it.
That was my first thought, and I live here in the foothills. I guess great minds think alike.
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<I still have that Barbie! Collectors start early, hee hee>
Excellent summary
