Posted on 07/28/2013 8:43:59 PM PDT by SatinDoll
Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,
If you want to frighten Baby Boomers, just show them the list of statistics in this article. The United States is headed for a retirement crisis of unprecedented magnitude, and we are woefully unprepared for it. At this point, more than 10,000 Baby Boomers are reaching the age of 65 every single day, and this will continue to happen for almost the next 20 years. The number of senior citizens in America is projected to more than double during the first half of this century, and some absolutely enormous financial promises have been made to them.
So will we be able to keep those promises to the hordes of American workers that are rapidly approaching retirement? Of course not. State and local governments are facing trillions in unfunded pension liabilities. Medicare is facing a 38 trillion dollar shortfall over the next 75 years. The Social Security system is facing a 134 trillion dollar shortfall over the next 75 years. Meanwhile, nearly half of all American workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement.
The truth is that I was being incredibly kind when I said earlier that we are "woefully unprepared" for what is coming. The biggest retirement crisis in history is rapidly approaching, and a lot of the promises that were made to the Baby Boomers are going to get broken.
The following are 35 incredibly shocking statistics that will scare just about any Baby Boomer...
1. Right now, there are somewhere around 40 million senior citizens in the United States. By 2050 that number is projected to skyrocket to 89 million.
2. According to one recent poll, 25 percent of all Americans in the 46 to 64-year-old age bracket have no retirement savings at all.
3. 26 percent of all Americans in the 46 to 64-year-old age bracket have no personal savings whatsoever.
4. One survey that covered all American workers found that 46 percent of them have less than $10,000 saved for retirement.
5. According to a survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, "60 percent of American workers said the total value of their savings and investments is less than $25,000".
6. A Pew Research survey found that half of all Baby Boomers say that their household financial situations have deteriorated over the past year.
7. 67 percent of all American workers believe that they "are a little or a lot behind schedule on saving for retirement".
8. Today, one out of every six elderly Americans lives below the federal poverty line.
9. More elderly Americans than ever are finding that they must continue working once they reach their retirement years. Between 1985 and 2010, the percentage of Americans in the 65 to 69-year-old age bracket that were still working increased from 18 percent to 32 percent.
10. Back in 1991, half of all American workers planned to retire before they reached the age of 65. Today, that number has declined to 23 percent.
11. According to one recent survey, 70 percent of all American workers expect to continue working once they are "retired".
12. According to a poll conducted by AARP, 40 percent of all Baby Boomers plan to work "until they drop".
13. A poll conducted by CESI Debt Solutions found that 56 percent of American retirees still had outstanding debts when they retired.
14. Elderly Americans tend to carry much higher balances on their credit cards than younger Americans do. The following is from a recent CNBC article...
New research from the AARP also shows that those ages 50 and over are carrying higher balances on their credit cards -- $8,278 in 2012 compared to $6,258 for the under-50 population.
15. A study by a law professor at the University of Michigan found that Americans that are 55 years of age or older now account for 20 percent of all bankruptcies in the United States. Back in 2001, they only accounted for 12 percent of all bankruptcies.
16. Between 1991 and 2007 the number of Americans between the ages of 65 and 74 that filed for bankruptcy rose by a staggering 178 percent.
17. What is causing most of these bankruptcies among the elderly? The number one cause is medical bills. According to a report published in The American Journal of Medicine, medical bills are a major factor in more than 60 percent of the personal bankruptcies in the United States. Of those bankruptcies that were caused by medical bills, approximately 75 percent of them involved individuals that actually did have health insurance.
18. In 1945, there were 42 workers for every retiree receiving Social Security benefits. Today, that number has fallen to 2.5 workers, and if you eliminate all government workers, that leaves only 1.6 private sector workers for every retiree receiving Social Security benefits.
19. Millions of elderly Americans these days are finding it very difficult to survive on just a Social Security check. The truth is that most Social Security checks simply are not that large. The following comes directly from the Social Security Administration website...
The average monthly Social Security benefit for a retired worker was about $1,230 at the beginning of 2012. This amount changes monthly based upon the total amount of all benefits paid and the total number of people receiving benefits.
Could you live on about 300 dollars a week?
20. Social Security benefits are not going to stretch as far in future years. The following is from an article on the AARP website...
Social Security benefits won't go as far, either. In 2002, benefits replaced 39 percent of the average retirees salary, and that will decline to 28 percent in 2030, when the youngest boomers reach full retirement age, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
21. In the United States today, more than 61 million Americans receive some form of Social Security benefits. By 2035, that number is projected to soar to a whopping 91 million.
22. Overall, the Social Security system is facing a 134 trillion dollar shortfall over the next 75 years.
23. As I wrote about in a previous article, the number of Americans on Medicare is expected to grow from 50.7 million in 2012 to 73.2 million in 2025.
24. Medicare is facing unfunded liabilities of more than 38 trillion dollars over the next 75 years. That comes to approximately $328,404 for each and every household in the United States.
25. Today, only 10 percent of private companies in the U.S. provide guaranteed lifelong pensions for their employees.
26. Verizon's pension plan is underfunded by 3.4 billion dollars.
27. In California, the Orange County Employees Retirement System is estimated to have a 10 billion dollar unfunded pension liability.
28. The state of Illinois has accumulated unfunded pension liabilities of more than 77 billion dollars.
29. Pension consultant Girard Miller told California's Little Hoover Commission that state and local government bodies in the state of California have 325 billion dollars in combined unfunded pension liabilities.
30. According to Northwestern University Professor John Rauh, the latest estimate of the total amount of unfunded pension and healthcare obligations for retirees that state and local governments across the United States have accumulated is 4.4 trillion dollars.
31. In 2010, 28 percent of all American workers with a 401(k) had taken money out of it at some point.
32. Back in 2004, American workers were taking about 30 billion dollars in early withdrawals out of their 401(k) accounts every single year. Right now, American workers are pulling about 70 billion dollars in early withdrawals out of their 401(k) accounts every single year.
33. Today, 49 percent of all American workers are not covered by an employment-based pension plan at all.
34. According to a recent survey conducted by Americans for Secure Retirement, 88 percent of all Americans are worried about "maintaining a comfortable standard of living in retirement".
35. A study conducted by Boston College's Center for Retirement Research found that American workers are $6.6 trillion short of what they need to retire comfortably.
So what is the solution? Well, one influential organization of business executives says that the solution is to make Americans wait longer for retirement. The following is from a recent CBS News article...
An influential group of business CEOs is pushing a plan to gradually increase the full retirement age to 70 for both Social Security and Medicare and to partially privatize the health insurance program for older Americans.
The Business Roundtable's plan would protect those 55 and older from cuts but younger workers would face significant changes. The plan unveiled Wednesday would result in smaller annual benefit increases for all Social Security recipients. Initial benefits for wealthy retirees would also be smaller.
But considering the fact that there aren't nearly enough jobs for all Americans already, perhaps that is not such a great idea. If we expect Americans to work longer, then we are going to need our economy to start producing a lot more good jobs than it is producing right now.
Of course the status quo is not going to work either. There is no way that we are going to be able to meet the financial obligations that are coming due.
The federal government, our state governments and our local governments are already drowning in debt and we are already spending far more money than we bring in each year. How in the world are we going to make ends meet as our obligations to retirees absolutely skyrocket in the years ahead?
What is going on in Detroit right now is a perfect example of what will soon be happening all over the nation. Many city workers stuck with their jobs for decades because of the promise of a nice pension at the end of the rainbow. But now those promises are going up in smoke. There has even been talk that retirees will only end up getting about 10 cents for every dollar that they were promised.
Don't want or need crap from the government, ain't my way.
I know that, Slick. You’re preaching to the choir.
Xer Ping
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.
Most illegals who can get it, will get every penny they can. And most Seniors will continue to vote Democrat and tolerate illegals.
The people behind Romney are the same people behind Obama. They are Globalists.
It is all about money, power, and who will eventually wield both; either the communists, or American business.
Globalism can have at least two different and opposing meanings. One is the attitude or policy of placing the interests of the entire world above those of individual nations, something the communists claim for themselves. You know, they’re doing it for the children!
The Second is viewing the entire world as a proper sphere for non-governmental organizations to project political influence for an egalitarian purpose. In this case, the United States military is used to maintain global stability and peace, using the projection of military strength to establish global-wide security and protect international businesses. This has been supported by both conservative and liberal politicians, both Democrats and Republicans have been involved over the past decades.
The above two groups are struggling to see who controls the U.S. government because it is in the way of establishing a New World Order. What that NWO will finally look like, fascist or Marxist/Islamic, is still up in the air.
Unfortunately, that military is paid for by the tax revenue paid by U.S. citizens and staffed by their sons and daughters; many of those citizens no longer have jobs, as those have all been moved offshore by the “world citizens”.
Neither group gives a damn about the rights of individuals. The common man, or woman, on the street is just a “unit” to be taxed or obliterated, it matters not to them.
The last thing that either group wants is for conservatives with Bibles and guns asserting their God-given rights and demanding that Washington, D.C., changes how it does business.
I will turn 65 this year. I am blessed and not penniless. Neither is my 92 years young Mom, nor my beloved wife. But what the three of us agree on is the impermanence of worldly things and the eternal nature of our Lord and Savior, Who gives us the most precious of all gifts, our immortality through His salvation.
But while this life still lasts, a good supply of guns & ammo helps, too. Nothing like having the Bible in one hand and a .45 automatic in the other. The best of both worlds.
Well said.
They’re all in it together and know how to play their game very well.
I’m with you on that!
Because I'll go hungry before I take charity or welfare.
Thank you.
:)
When the going gets tough — you’re on your own (YOYO).
Military?? Todays military?? Great place for gay’s to find partners with DADT ending, now they can check them out close quarters.
The kids who supported Obama on that can afford to pay for our SS and Medicare. Why should I work a single extra day to help them?
McCain and Grahamnesty and Bush types want amnesty to get cluelss recruits to invade Muslim countries to bring them 'Democracy' . Forget it. I have had it with that too.
Invest in cat food producers. Goes good on crackers.
I have “donated” around $300,000 to Social Security and Medicare during my working career.
I found out at age 52 that I have Leukemia and was told my life expectancy was anywhere from 62 to 67, with the caveat that you never know what Medical advances might increase my expected expiration date. So far, so good, I made it to 60.
I will collect my first Social Security payment in 24 months time at age 62 if I live that long. I will end up getting a morsel of the “contributions” I made and the lost investment income that money would have generated being invested for the past 40 + years.
P.S. I love Big Pharma. Without them I wouldn’t have lived long enough to see the first Communist President.
I’m 56. I hope to work while God gives me the strength, though in practical terms at least 70. Watching all the upheavals in the job force, however, I feel like my world is imploding.
Like you, I raise extra money on the side (hoping to sell a few more things). In addition to company pension I have supplementary retirement savings (which Oprah Winfrey once called the “bag lady fund”).
One thing in life I have learned — never get complacent. Hope & pray for the best, plan for the worst — my motto. Hopefully Detroit should be a wake-up call for everyone.
It was very telling when GHW Bush, Mr. New World Order, visited the White House and kissed up to Obama last week. For him to pay homage to an avowed Marxo-Muslim, America hating man who is doing his best to destroy this country is beyond disgusting and unforgivable.
I’m not advising everyone to reject SS.
My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1979. She beat it.
In 1995 she was diagnosed with lung cancer. She beat it to a draw but was never the same vibrant person as before that cancer. By 2000 she was an invalid.
In 2005 more cancer; tumors near her spine. Radiation zapped that away but by then her immune system had been compromised.
She succumbed to a simple lung infection when antibiotics were not effective.
None of the above medical care could have been done without Medicare or Big Pharma.
It is there for those who must have it - that’s just IMHO.
:)
Thanks-
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