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There is actually a YouTube Channel which features a lot of seniors either living from their cars, SUVs, or converted cargo trailers, etc, either due to lack of funds or choice. It is called CheapRVLiving. While some of those featured got into that lifestyle through choice (ie: desire to be nomadic), it is clear that others did it due to financial necessity.
Would you choose to poop in a bucket in a car if you could live in a studio apartment with a bathroom? The problem is lack of low income housing and low income housing assistance for seniors.
There was a reason people had large families before Social Security and then other post-WWII economic boom features became the norm for (only) two generations of Americans.
One vision I see in the future is massive house projections that house senior citizens that can no longer work a regular job & have very little funds.
It will be run by the government and feel like a big college dorm. You'll have 2-3 1 bed room apartments sharing 1 kitchen and that's how people will live.
That's called "Assisted Living" in much of the US.
Incapable of saving??? What a stupid generalization. This is the kind of bs libs throw around when they have no idea what the hell they're talking about. Boomers have turned into the sandwich generation, stuck with their aging parents and college bound kids. I'm watching a friend try to decide what's more important, helping his mother with her cancer treatment or paying kid's college tuition.
Would you choose to poop in a bucket in a car if you could live in a studio apartment with a bathroom? The problem is lack of low income housing and low income housing assistance for seniors.
I would agree with that. As the baby boomers age, there needs to be more dedicated senior Low Income Housing, but as it stands, there isn't enough.
A couple of years, the suburb I live in vetoed a Senior Low Income complex. Even though it was only going to be for seniors, the "low income" aspect got too many people up in arms.
It is laughable though- the chosen site was a complex of luxury condos that were partially built but left incomplete and never habitable due to the recession. 10 years later, and the abandoned construction site is used for police and firefighter training purposes. While that is useful too, a couple of hundred low income senior housing units would have been more useful.
Some European countries have laws which mandate the worker, and the employer to invest a percentage of the salary to a private fund, so when the worker retires, he/she will live off of that money as opposed to government SS checks.
The federal government in the US has a similar deal. It's called a Thrift Savings Plan. I'm under the old retirement system so there were no matching funds by the government and TSP was not mandated. But, I believe those who got jobs with the government after 1983 still get matching funds.
You know what one problem is, though? People who spent recklessly pre-retirement don't always change their spending habits post-retirement. Someday, watch the HGTV show "My Lottery Dream Home" to see how many people are buying $10 lottery tickets.
The "problem" is complex, but much of it has to do with more money going toward war, corporations, the top earners and everything else except for "the people"....
As we speak the Republicans are doing even more of that....LOTS more. These increases in bankruptcies started as a result of the Reagan Era and new "religion" of the country called "supply side" or "trickle down".
A more apt description is that "you don't matter anymore, only wealth and power do".
There was a reason people had large families before Social Security and then other post-WWII economic boom features became the norm for (only) two generations of Americans.
Today’s seniors are baby boomers. A generation known for living high on the hog, many did not save enough to live the way they did while working. Many also benefited from the post war boom in the respect that they had very cushy jobs with very good pensions. This however was a false sense of security as it all depended on those companies going on as successful entities. The demands of entitled workers drained many of them dry, the cow milked to death until the pensions were gone or greatly reduced. Everyone remembers the GM debacle where tax payers were asked to save the day but many other companies went thru this. Many baby boomer retirees faced these issues. As was pointed out in a previous post many of these boomers were high school only educated, many just did not have the knowledge to save properly, nor did they have the discipline.
My generation may be in a similar situation in a short period of time. gen X is deep into middle age and they say we have saved no better than boomers. This is more due to the fact that we never earned what boomers did and never will. At least we will likely still get SS, the generations after us may not. With longer lifespans retirement saving is something no one takes seriously enough. The amount one needs to have to be comfortable is truly a small fortune. Senior poverty is going to be a huge issue for this nation for decades, maybe a century to come.
I remember when I was in my 20s, and the 401K salesmen would come to the office every year to tell us how we'd have $5-6 million saved up by the time we retire if we followed their advice. Personally I have done fairly well, but the figure they gave us was pure BS. Very few retires with over $1M in 401K. Also, I know many people with $100K+salaries, who have been forced to cash out to pay for unexpected things, and now they are in late 40s and 50s with nothing saved up. Saving on your own private account which has an early cash-out option requires more discipline than many people have. That is the unfortunate truth, and those who fail will be depended on the government during retirement, or they will work into their 70s and 80s.
Last edited by Finn_Jarber; 08-06-2018 at 09:47 AM..
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