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You start making choices when you are young that will impact the number of choices you have when you are older. I call it the Rule of Dwindling Choices. Your goal in life should be to maximize your choices in life so you don't put your self in the corner.
Great post - you have captured what I believe are the major reasons many people are now unprepared to retired comfortably. When I hear stories like the one Ani gave us, I immediately want to help him in some way. When I hear "woe is me" from people on your list I just think - and now it's time to pay the piper.
The OP is definitely over simplified. Disaster strikes at all ages. Life is not at all like the story of the Grasshopper and the Ant. I for one believe in helping those who did at least try and help themselves and others along the way. Those that squandered and were self centered can starve. Sometimes we make our own beds and sometimes uncontrollable events make them for us. Natural disaster, severe illness not habit induced, etc play a large part of our golden years that may turn out to be pot metal years.
Nursing home and Assisted Living costs will come down as the resources to pay for indigent people dries up. We will see excess capacity and that will lower cost. It is like student loans when you enable young people easy access to capital to throw at colleges tuition prices go up. As that dries up so will tuition costs as excess seats will lower demand and colleges will need to compete just for bodies. The same with nursing homes etc. As Medicaid becomes unsustainable and empty beds become more common, market forces will lower prices to find a lower cost equilibrium. Both set of costs increases are being driven by public policy and that will probably change and perhaps very soon in some states within the next couple of years.
Let's desconstruct this. First, no poor person can pay for assisted living, it is not among their options. So there are not going to be a lot of "vacancies" on their account, either in assisted living or in the better nursing homes. Poor people go into the lowest level facilities from day one.
Second, the number of wealthy paying customers is still big, even though a relative minority in society. And that big segment is still driving the market. The demand is, and will be huge coming up over the hill. The demand coupled with inherent cost is going to drive up overall cost for facilities even beyond the reach of those who today can afford such facilities. That is what I've been reading and it makes sense.
Let's desconstruct this. First, no poor person can pay for assisted living, it is not among their options. So there are not going to be a lot of "vacancies" on their account, either in assisted living or in the better nursing homes. Poor people go into the lowest level facilities from day one.
Second, the number of wealthy paying customers is still big, even though a relative minority in society. And that big segment is still driving the market. The demand is, and will be huge coming up over the hill. The demand coupled with inherent cost is going to drive up overall cost for facilities even beyond the reach of those who today can afford such facilities. That is what I've been reading and it makes sense.
Inherent in your thinking are assumptions that while valid now may not be moving forward. Changes in family structure, wealth distribution and preparedness for basic retirement is changing as are many demographics. Many of our brethren have seen their capacity to absorb economic shock seriously derailed. Perhaps most importantly is the question of whether there is the capacity to legitimately generate the financial resources within society to fill the gaps and perhaps most importantly is there the desire. We already know from the Affordable Care act some of the thinking on that.
Another dimension to the OP life boat scenario is to consider the following. As the main ship is sinking there are fifty life boats. Each identified in varying ideological stages. Some labeled as a ten saying survival is your responsibility and others a one that you will have a collective responsibility to share and maintain an equal chance of survival in the boat. The fifty boats are a mixed bag on that scale of 1-10. Do you think life in the different boats will be comparable? If allowed to pick your bat what do you think will happen? Which boat would each of us choose? A one, ten, perhaps a five? Anyone care to share?
I think in the near future there will be a program to "dispose" of persons whose earning potential or value to society is less than the cost of their upkeep.
This is becoming such a whining forum....guess that comes with getting older. If you expected to have the same standard of living in retirement as you did when working, then you would have prepared for it. It is not the government's or anyone else's responsibility to take care of the elderly. If you worked, you are entitled to Social Security, if you didn't, you aren't. The economy has affected every walk of life....if you invested with the likes of a Bernie Madoff....well, shame on all of us if we did that. How about being grateful for what you do have and not always whining about the state of things no one can control.
This is becoming such a whining forum....guess that comes with getting older. If you expected to have the same standard of living in retirement as you did when working, then you would have prepared for it. It is not the government's or anyone else's responsibility to take care of the elderly. If you worked, you are entitled to Social Security, if you didn't, you aren't. The economy has affected every walk of life....if you invested with the likes of a Bernie Madoff....well, shame on all of us if we did that. How about being grateful for what you do have and not always whining about the state of things no one can control.
No one else is whining but maybe you are whining. We were discussing average people of retirement age--people who did the right thing, usually went to college, worked. Some had bad things happen to them and some didn't. That's about all.
Another dimension to the OP life boat scenario is to consider the following. As the main ship is sinking there are fifty life boats. Each identified in varying ideological stages. Some labeled as a ten saying survival is your responsibility and others a one that you will have a collective responsibility to share and maintain an equal chance of survival in the boat. The fifty boats are a mixed bag on that scale of 1-10. Do you think life in the different boats will be comparable? If allowed to pick your bat what do you think will happen? Which boat would each of us choose? A one, ten, perhaps a five? Anyone care to share?
Oh no, Ayn Rand again....
and she had to rely on the collective boat in the end.
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