And lucky us Generation X & Y’ers that are responsible enough to save for a rainy day or two that get to support them!
Retired and a baby boomer. Avoid interest, save and work hard.
Even if you are in debt now, most like in five to seven years you can be debt free. It is not easy. Things you think you must have you must do without.
Baby boomers wrote their fate more than anybody else. They thought that big government was a great thing.
Now I am living high on the hog and life it getting better and better. A lot of this because Saint Ronnie and his IRAs and 401Ks empowered me.
I still work, but I see it as more of a hobby.
I am one of those. I was hired full time at 64 after being under contract. Now my full time job is my retirement plan. Work 3 days a week from home and 2 on site. My salary close to 6 figures. I’m now 66 and couldn’t be happier.
I am a baby boomer and will retire at age 63 because I saved enough to do so.
I worked like a dog for 40 years and were very frugal with the intent we would not need government assistance in retirement. That’s how I was raised. Self sufficient.
But my government had other ideas for me, primarily, ObamaCare. We are unable to plan for our costs and are paying nearly 40% of our net income (pensions, social security etc) for healthcare and deductibles rather than enjoying the freedom of the “golden years”.
The way I look at it, when I’m done with my day job (or they get tired of me) I’ll still have a budding career as a greeter at Wally-World ;’}
Got debt free 5 years ago (never had much, home/auto/bike, zero Credit card debt) retired at 61 (for the 3rd time - Army @ 37 / State @ 60 - hoping it takes this time), loving it. Best job I never had.
Baby Boomers voted for what is going on in 2016.
They’re victims of their own stupidity and greed.
Well I hit the big 6 Oh this year and still work full time. Its a mixed bag of blessings but if the job went bye bye I should have enough to live on. No debt mortgage paid and I saved invested. Wish I started in my 20’s I’m sorry that some morons of the BB era have no angst about the debt we are leaving the younger ones. Its a disgrace
The baby boomers who think they can live off Social Security are going to have a rude awakening. They’ll end up moving back in with their millennial kids and there will be a plethora of multigenerational households just like there used to be. Only it used to be that the most generations in one household was three. Now with people commonly living into their 90’s there could be four or five. Gonna need a bigger house.
Pushing 65, divorced in ‘89. I was able to save more and spend less when I run off my ex.
I work because I love my job and I can’t believe they pay me this much to have this much fun. I don’t need to work.
And many don’t really want to.
We’ll both be out by 55. been planning it for 15 years.
My wife and I bought a house that met our needs instead of extending ourselves and we didn't do a ,lot of extravagant vacations along the way to retirement. Too many folks never get started thinking about it until they're in their mid 50's and end up living the "simple" life due to no other options.
While the economy sucks, all it really takes is to stay steadily employed and to sock some away every payday before splurging - self discipline is an archaic concept these days.
And usually when you look at your margins, you will find the 20% is your best, most profitable business. The 80% keeps the doors open.
For me the big one was getting the house and the car paid off, and banking the money I used to dedicate to those purposes to savings. Mortgages being what they are, that doesn't usually happen until a little later in life, so pontificating to the twenty-somethings about it is not really all that useful. Two years into a thirty-year mortgage and the pit looks bottomless, but it really isn't.
The biggest problem people planning retirement at the moment have is the churn in healthcare costs caused by politicians more eager for votes than for benefiting the public and who are exempt from the consequences of their meddling. Coverage that cost $200 a month ten years ago now runs $900 and the deductibles are higher. Could be more a year from now, could be less, and nobody can tell you. That's an awfully nebulous target to try to hit with planning. And no, Medicare won't cover it any more than Social Security will cover retirement.
Even with the best of planning, the government can still screw it up by "haircutting" savings, converting private 401(K)'s to government bonds, or over- or under-regulating pension funds. Anyone retired is in danger of being forced into dependency even despite the best of planning by fools with an ulterior motive. Welcome to old age.