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I have little sympathy for people currently aged 45-65 who by all accounts had incredible opportunities which are simply not available for those under 30. The decade and a half in the middle there seems to be somewhat of a grey area.
No savings? HOW? It's not my fault that so many boomers simply failed to plan for the future. I know lots of young people who ARE in fact saving because we were just coming of age and entering adulthood during the last crash. While not as bad as the Great Depression that molded the Greatest Generation into who they were, some of us have taken note and realize if we're going to make it we need to save for rainy days.
Housing costs were reasonable throughout most of your lives. A 1br apartment in a seedy area costs upwards of $1k per month near any major employment center in the country. The costs only go up in places like DC, NY, SF, LA, etc. Today if you're under 30 (or even 35) and can manage to get a loan to buy a house it'll likely be a structure that's at least 60 years old and outdated in every way possible from energy efficiency to size to room layouts.
Employment: It was darn near impossible not to find it when boomers were growing up and wages always went up, not only in nominal terms, but in real inflation adjusted terms. Quality of life in this country hit it's peak during your time, and probably before I hit adulthood. If you're upper middle age now you pretty much had to do something to sabotage yourself to end up unemployed for long (which lets admit, a lot of tatted up and pierced young people are in fact doing to themselves).
Energy was cheaper for you starting out.
Schools were far better and you didn't have so much federal government nonsense gunking up the system. I have to worry about making enough to send the kids that I don't even have yet to private school because pretty much anywhere where housing is affordable has schools that are less than stellar. And when it comes to college it's not like I could work part time and then pay for the education. Had to drive around the desert in my case, and even without the debt I'm looking at a lower standard of living than the previous generation.
Overall Quality of Life seems better in any previous generation. I wish "Leave it to Beaver" could be found in this day and age. We have less free time, everything seems dirtier and there's trash all over. People are less friendly and far less respectful of others, in general.
My apologies if this comes off as pessimistic, it certainly is, but to reverberate my main point: I don't have sympathy for boomers who complain about money or who are not in a position to retire. Those who blew it did it to themselves in the vast majority of cases.
Darn! I misplaced my littlest violin!
Took me a long time to save up for it, too. Minimum wage when I started working was a whopping $1.65 an hour!
And out of that wage I had to pay my parent's mortgage of $80/month, buy my own clothing and shoes, pay for the public transportation to get to work, and feed myself.
I will say, it is shocking to me that the minimum wage today is only $7.25. That just does not compute.
Took me a long time to save up for it, too. Minimum wage when I started working was a whopping $1.65 an hour!
And out of that wage I had to pay my parent's mortgage of $80/month, buy my own clothing and shoes, pay for the public transportation to get to work, and feed myself.
I will say, it is shocking to me that the minimum wage today is only $7.25. That just does not compute.
I have little sympathy for people currently aged 45-65 who by all accounts had incredible opportunities which are simply not available for those under 30. The decade and a half in the middle there seems to be somewhat of a grey area.
No savings? HOW? It's not my fault that so many boomers simply failed to plan for the future. I know lots of young people who ARE in fact saving because we were just coming of age and entering adulthood during the last crash. While not as bad as the Great Depression that molded the Greatest Generation into who they were, some of us have taken note and realize if we're going to make it we need to save for rainy days.
Housing costs were reasonable throughout most of your lives. A 1br apartment in a seedy area costs upwards of $1k per month near any major employment center in the country. The costs only go up in places like DC, NY, SF, LA, etc. Today if you're under 30 (or even 35) and can manage to get a loan to buy a house it'll likely be a structure that's at least 60 years old and outdated in every way possible from energy efficiency to size to room layouts.
Employment: It was darn near impossible not to find it when boomers were growing up and wages always went up, not only in nominal terms, but in real inflation adjusted terms. Quality of life in this country hit it's peak during your time, and probably before I hit adulthood. If you're upper middle age now you pretty much had to do something to sabotage yourself to end up unemployed for long (which lets admit, a lot of tatted up and pierced young people are in fact doing to themselves).
Energy was cheaper for you starting out.
Schools were far better and you didn't have so much federal government nonsense gunking up the system. I have to worry about making enough to send the kids that I don't even have yet to private school because pretty much anywhere where housing is affordable has schools that are less than stellar. And when it comes to college it's not like I could work part time and then pay for the education. Had to drive around the desert in my case, and even without the debt I'm looking at a lower standard of living than the previous generation.
Overall Quality of Life seems better in any previous generation. I wish "Leave it to Beaver" could be found in this day and age. We have less free time, everything seems dirtier and there's trash all over. People are less friendly and far less respectful of others, in general.
My apologies if this comes off as pessimistic, it certainly is, but to reverberate my main point: I don't have sympathy for boomers who complain about money or who are not in a position to retire. Those who blew it did it to themselves in the vast majority of cases.
The most I have ever earned in a year is $17K ($8.50 per hour). I have always paid market rent and have never owned a home. How much did you expect me to save and invest?
InchingWest left something off the list. The one thing that has served me as well or better than the other items on the list.
Luck. I have done better than most of my peers (colleagues from previous jobs) mostly because i happened to land the current job I have held for several years. Way above average pay and no gaps. Some of my peers have been through layoffs and took a while to find the next job. Some have had serious health problems. Most have done okay but not spectacularly (except one who retired a millionaire in the late 90s). Some people are headed toward retirement with little or nothing through no fault of their own. So I do have sympathy for some. I still think the majority of people could be doing better with what they have had but I would not use such a broad brush for a whole generation. Line workers have pretty much been screwed since Reagan; their buying power has not increased like it has for tech, professional and management. Wishing people would pay more attention doesn't mean I think it is completely their fault in all cases.
Some of us who collect early (i.e. Me) do so because the early social security payment plus what I have managed to save/invest provides enough money to live on comfortably.
This is our situation. We worked our tails off and lived frugally the past seven years and saved half our income during that time. We have very median incomes but because I worked for the state, my pension kicked in at 61 (two months ago). That along with SS at 62 for both of us and savings is more than enough. Paid health insurance is part of my pension and only $250 a a month to add DH when he leaves his job in August. We plan to sell our house, move and pay cash or rent so no mortgage. We live simply and like it that way. Taking SS early was part of our plan all along as we never know how much more time we have and neither one of us had enjoyable professional careers that we wanted to continue working at.
This is our situation. We worked our tails off and lived frugally the past seven years and saved half our income during that time. We have very median incomes but because I worked for the state, my pension kicked in at 61 (two months ago). That along with SS at 62 for both of us and savings is more than enough. Paid health insurance is part of my pension and only $250 a a month to add DH when he leaves his job in August. We plan to sell our house, move and pay cash or rent so no mortgage. We live simply and like it that way. Taking SS early was part of our plan all along as we never know how much more time we have and neither one of us had enjoyable professional careers that we wanted to continue working at.
So, just curious, have you actually seen a financial advisor (fee or free) and compared living off your savings and pension in order to delay SS for a larger check, taxed at a lower rate, later? And I don't mean deplete you savings, rather, trade a portion now, for higher stress free income later with a higher SS check, so you would not need your savings to live, so it could recover and grow. Your savings are not inflation adjusted like SS is, are at risk to market conditions and your larger check only compounds larger as you get older. As you said, you don't know how much time you have left, so isn't it smarter to plan for living older, rather than dying younger?
I understand that and some of us certainly could do exactly that and never feel the effects.
According to this snapshot the average retired worker receives $1,344.70 while the spouse receives $693.64 for a total combined benefit of $2,038.38 as a couple.
This is what social security calls an "average" but I would like to know what the median is.
This is indeed an average (mean) since they just divide the total dollar benefit amount by the number of beneficiaries. I'm glad I don't have to live on it.
I am also curious what the median is, and I am even more curious how they are going to pay me and my wife the $62,000 a year that they'll owe us when I turn 70.
The most I have ever earned in a year is $17K ($8.50 per hour). I have always paid market rent and have never owned a home. How much did you expect me to save and invest?
we don't expect you to save a thing . what we would have expected is over the last few decades , that you got a grown up job with real grown up pay that you could save from . others have done it , why not you but for your loads of excuses . . you were the man in the drivers seat all these years , no one else despite the fact you try to shift the blame to everyone else .
Last edited by mathjak107; 04-01-2016 at 04:54 AM..
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