Many older Americans are living a desperate, nomadic life

MarketWatch ^ | 4Feb18 | Richard Eisenberg

[dfwgator]

And whose fault is that?

[ASOC]

So true.

Used to be - If it bleeds, it leads - nowadays seems like that motto is - If it leads , it’s just BS.

[Mariner]

“you need to salt away at least 25% of your before tax gross at 6% to be able to afford to retire”

That’s absurd. In fact total bullshit.

[FreedomPoster]

>>We will see a huge indigent geriatric population in the hear future. They will be a pitiful burden to society or they will die terribly.

The other issue with an aging population is the increasing rate of Alzheimer’s and dementia. We really need serious research money on a cure or the country will be really messed over by this by the mid part of this century.

[Dilbert San Diego]

How many kids understand that you save for cars and houses and you invest for retirement?

---

I guess I was lucky, in that, my parents educated us about these subjects.

And in my high school, we had a couple of classes in consumer math, which was a math class, but we dealt with real world math issues, such as how credit cards work, how mortgages work, how the stock market works, etc.

So I think I had a decent education in that as I began my working life. sadly too many apparently don’t.

I think my classes in school helped me a lot, and think it would be good to require such classes in high school. To the extent that we expect schools to help prepare students for the real world they will live in, classes in consumer finance would be good to require in my opinion.

[fella]

The left vs. Right thing is not a linear thing. It’s a circle at the top where they meet is a good thing. But if you follow them out to where they meet again there is pure evil. At the present the Democrats are somewhere between 9 and 8 o’clock and trending towards 8. While the Republicans are at about 1:30 and wobbling back and forth.

[dfwgator]

“Watch the Police and the taxman miss me...I’m Mobile!”

[TADSLOS]

The secret is start saving in your 20s and you’ll have a hell of a lot more money for retirement. But that means putting off some big purchases. But the difference in terms of money you’ll have for retirement will be astounding.

THIS.

[T Ruth]

they had nearly all of their retirement savings in General Motors bonds which they believed were a very safe investment.

Lesson: diversify your investments.

[TianaHighrider]

The scenario you gave is exactly what several classes I attended were teaching as ‘success’. They concentrated on making a lot of money for an individual and moving on with no care of the business or workers success. It sickened me. I was not a quiet student in those classes and still passed them even though I disagreed ‘strongly’ with the teachers idea of a successful career. This is what is being taught in college. And we wonder why businesses make such bad decisions. And our Government folks too. That was in both business and public administration.

[tiki]

We have a nice camp trailer and are looking forward to using it for out of the way places.

[tbw2]

That’s why liberals are pushing euthanasia now.

[tflabo]

When it comes to retirement savings or living arrangements in the senior years there’s really no one size fits all solution however those who plan well ahead with a disciplined approach in general will fare better overall — all things considered.

[CaptainK]

My only point is that, hearing such stories, should be a wake up call, to live below your means, save money, avoid credit card debt, avoid risky investments, etc.

That's how I live my life and what I preach to my son. He works for a bankruptcy law firm, which only reinforced what I taught him.

[Sequoyah101]

I don’t know. You seem to think you know the answer so clue us in.

[Pilated]

The obama legacy.

[Sequoyah101]

Well good luck.

[Sequoyah101]

You were fortunate. Most Boomers didn’t get that education and most people from working class families didn’t have any mentors that knew how either.

[dragnet2]

Isn't it nice, the boomers parents for the most part, didn't have to worry about 401k's because most of them had pensions from work and 401ks were all but nonexistent. Most of the boomer's parents worked 25 or 30 years, for the SAME stable employer and then retired. Back then there was little or no talk about, "Will you have enough money to survive in retirement". Things were reasonable and affordable back then and you could buy a home and raise a family on ONE income. Just try that today.

Wrap your head around this. The price what many boomer parents paid for the total cost of their homes in the early 1960s, equates to just 4 or 5 monthly mortgage payments today. Their dollar beame worth less and less while things like housing skyrocket, leaving private sector wages in the dust, especially in states with bigger economies like CA.

[Mariner]

“When it comes to retirement savings or living arrangements in the senior years there’s really no one size fits all solution however those who plan well ahead with a disciplined approach in general will fare better overall — all things considered.”

True that.

But only a paid financial planner would suggest it takes 25% of pre-tax income to be saved/invested...over an entire lifetime...to “be able to retire”.

Sure, had I don’t that and not had to cash it out for ex’s, I would have well over $20mil now.

And NOBODY needs $20mil to retire.

And, there’s a whole nuther industry around how to GET RID of all your money/savings before you end up in the old folks home. They take a percentage of your egg for that too.