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I live in an area with a lot of retirees. Here in Northern Arizona they claim they boost the economy in the following ways-
1) Spend money on housing (many of the retirees in Northern AZ are California / East Coast transplants downsizing and paying cash).
2) Eating out, spending on services.
3) Spending money on the medical system.
In reality I've noticed-
1) The up the housing cost and drive locals out. A few realtors love it, locals don't.
2) Though retiree communities do provide a few service type jobs (waiters, some more landscapers) I've noticed the local labor pool starting to tap into the retiree labor force so younger people are further driven out of work. At the near by Trader Joes, Costco, and other places I've began to notice less younger and middle aged people working at these places and more and more part time quasi retirees. I've also noticed that yes retirees spend money but it mostly goes to big box stores which suck most of the money out of the area anyway. The restaurants might become more numerous, but their quality declines.
3) Local medical systems are negatively impacted by the retirering grey hordes. Weight times increase to get into general practice doctors as well as specialist. Areas also have a hard time retaining doctors as the demographics in smaller towns that are "retirement communities" skew older and older. Young doctors can work in other areas where they don't have to babysit spoiled Californians.
4) They increase traffic times and "grey out" services. Good luck filling a prescription or going to the post office at certain times.
I'm not anti-retiree but I am strongly against the attitude that everyone should be grateful for the presence as that demographic bubble pops and produces hordes of older people looking for "their perfect place" to retire. The impacts on those places are often negative and most retirees are either oblivious or don't care.
Yeah, you sound anti-retiree.
I read you moved to Prescott because of a financial disaster to be near family but even so, you knew the area was 30% over age 65, right?
It's even been called the number one place to retiree in the past.
I don't even understand your statement about doctors not wanting to "babysit".
LOL you have 70% people NOT seniors so it's not THEM causing all your traffic and "greying out" your services. Who even GOES to a post office anymore? LOL
I don't feel like researching how much you spend on welfare for children out there but I just read last week the the largest demographic "low income" in the state of Washington or Oregon is COLLEGE STUDENTS.
HOW does THAT work?
Last edited by runswithscissors; 09-25-2016 at 03:59 PM..
I read you moved to Prescott because of a financial disaster to be near family but even so, you knew the area was 30% over age 65, right?
It's even been called the number one place to retiree in the past.
I don't even understand your statement about doctors not wanting to "babysit".
LOL you have 70% people NOT seniors so it's not THEM causing all your traffic and "greying out" your services. Who even GOES to a post office anymore? LOL
I don't feel like researching how much you spend on welfare for children out there but I just read last week the the largest demographic "low income" in the state of Washington or Oregon is COLLEGE STUDENTS.
HOW does THAT work?
I moved to Prescott because it was a nice area. Prescott has always had a large retiree population and when I first moved here I enjoyed talking with the WWII vets I'd bump into. Most of the retirees in the area are decent people. It is the privileged high maintenance "boomers" that are retiring en masse now (and you are correct they just love Prescott) that are throwing things out of whack. Since I've been here the rental market has been destroyed by retirees coming here. Many other things have been affected negatively for the under retire population that is migrating here. If you don't understand my comment about doctor's babysitting retirees, ask a local doctor or someone who works in a family health clinic. Or don't, you might not get the answer you were looking for. Better yet look at the current doctor shortage and the trouble local health systems have in retaining doctors in the area. I'll borrow one of your meaningless LOL 's and tack it on...is that for emphasis?
I don't know where you think I like welfare spending on those who don't need it or shouldn't have it came from, and if you think that is a that is amusing to me. Here is one of your LOL 's as if it adds anything of credibility or intellect to your post. If it was a slam on my financial crisis (which did suck) it was a little too indirect to really be effective, (again LOL!). BTW my wife and I never took welfare and paid out of our crisis and together we make in the low three figures, not wealthy but we make enough to save for retirement so we will not have to rely on all the government resources that proceeding generations will drain dry by the time we need them, LOL!
As to who goes to the post office anymore (LOL again...makes a statement doesn't it) check one out about 3 PM during a week day. You might even bump into some people you know...
Also thank you for taking the time to web stalk me and read my other post. I hope they were informative! Glad I could help fill your day
Pretty staggering number and I expect this the rate will go up as more Boomers reach retirement.
It would seem that we retirees whether we have pensions or not are an economic force.
Interesting points on pensions (Defined Benefits).
Yes the pensions are weighted heavily on state and local pensions there has been a large and getting larger movement towards contributed plans like 401k plans. It is getting easier and easier for those plans to be set up and states now have the ability to put 401k plans out for small businesses to join in. Competition among plan managers is becoming fierce and rates are low. The new laws enacted recently will hopefully keep the ball rolling.
This is going to flow demographically. Boomers, especially 1st wave Aquarians, will result in much outbound cash flow. 2nd wave Discos will constitute a diminishing flow. X will be a downward cliff and the low outbound flow will continue with the leading edge Millennials. Jury is still out on the later cohort Millennials, they still have time to recover prior to retirement.
What I don't get is countries that make it difficult for foreigners who can show proof of financial means to acquire long term visas. I'm looking at you Thailand.
People who (usually) don't get into much trouble and spend their cash boosting the economy, while not stealing jobs from locals. What's not to like about that? I would think Thailand would want as many Chinese/American/Russian/Brit expats as possible. Even Vietnam has figured things out, they now offer a one year multi-entry visa to Americans.
It's not about jobs in the case of TH. It's about protecting supposed cultural purity and preventing outsiders from owning land.
Retirees and the elderly disproportionately drive certain parts of the economy.
Someone who is 70 and has a long history of medical conditions for many years is going to "contribute" more to the health care sector than a healthy thirty year old.
In certain areas, I would say home repairs, landscaping services, and any sort of manual type work may be disproportionately driven by the elderly who either have the means or are unable to do this kind of work.
The notion that retirees keep the economy moving is an interesting one but I wonder if the 10 million or so of mostly already retired folks who are facing serious pension cuts in their defined benefit plans will change that.
From an article published in the International Business Times on Dec 11, 2014.
"The debate over the bill's pension language centers around multiemployer retirement plans -- the large, union-backed funds created in the explosion of labor unions after the Great Depression. The government-insured plans cover an estimated 10 million Americans from the private sector workforce. Many of those funds now face unfunded liabilities."
I recently received a letter from my fund that my benefits will be cut as of July 2017. What they haven't said yet is how deep the cuts will be. They are only required to pay a minimum of 10% over what a retiree would get if the plan defaulted and benefits had to be paid by the Pension Benefit Guarantee Co. I could be facing a cut down to just 16.2% of what I currently receive.
The article continues:
"While Congress responded to the 2008 financial crisis by rescuing the banking industry with an $700 billion bailout, there's no rescue on the way for retirees. Lawmakers are offering no bailout to close multiemployer plans’ aggregate $42 billion deficit. Instead, sponsors of the legislation want to empower pension trustees to make pension funds whole exclusively by cutting promised retirement benefits. Retirees and members would lose their right to contest such cuts in court."
From the moment that I first learned about this change in the law (on C-D) I cut my discretionary spending to the bone and worked hard to cut down my must have expenses. I didn't have cable or dish TV or any kind of cell phone so those were not something I could cut. I continue to drive my 1996 Suburban with 200,000 miles on it but I am quite the homebody so I only rack up about 5,000 a year.
I do have a mortgage on the house I bought 10 years ago, one year after retiring and my COL here in rural VA is far less than it would be had I chosen to stay in Oakland, CA. Turning 65 a few years ago meant that my cost for health insurance went from $1,535 a month down to just a couple of hundred.
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