Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Many older Americans are living a desperate, nomadic life
MarketWatch ^ | 4Feb18 | Richard Eisenberg

Posted on 02/04/2018 8:54:17 AM PST by qaz123

The “workamper” jobs range from helping harvest sugar beets to flipping burgers at baseball spring training games to Amazon’s AMZN, +2.87% “CamperForce,” seasonal employees who can walk the equivalent of 15 miles a day during Christmas season pulling items off warehouse shelves and then returning to frigid campgrounds at night. Living on less than $1,000 a month, in certain cases, some have no hot showers. As Bruder writes, these are “people who never imagined being nomads.” Many saw their savings wiped out during the Great Recession or were foreclosure victims and, writes Bruder, “felt they’d spent too long losing a rigged game.” Some were laid off from high-paying professional jobs. Few have chosen this life. Few think they can find a way out of it. They’re downwardly mobile older Americans in mobile homes

(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: boomers; economy; jobs; nomads; olderamericans; parttimejobs; seniors
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 161-165 next last
To: Sequoyah101

And whose fault is that?


41 posted on 02/04/2018 10:09:22 AM PST by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: TADSLOS

So true.

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


42 posted on 02/04/2018 10:12:08 AM PST by ASOC (Having humility really means one is rarely humiliated)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: Sequoyah101

“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.


43 posted on 02/04/2018 10:12:16 AM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Sequoyah101

>>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.


44 posted on 02/04/2018 10:15:23 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Sequoyah101

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.


45 posted on 02/04/2018 10:15:51 AM PST by Dilbert San Diego
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: HamiltonJay

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.


46 posted on 02/04/2018 10:16:39 AM PST by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again,")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Mariner

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


47 posted on 02/04/2018 10:17:53 AM PST by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator; All
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.

48 posted on 02/04/2018 10:18:01 AM PST by TADSLOS (Alex Jones isnÂ’t quite the wing nut now, all things considered.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: fireman15
they had nearly all of their retirement savings in General Motors bonds which they believed were a very safe investment.

Lesson: diversify your investments.

49 posted on 02/04/2018 10:18:10 AM PST by T Ruth (Mohammedanism shall be defeated.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: qaz123

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.


50 posted on 02/04/2018 10:18:59 AM PST by TianaHighrider (Deplorable me)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: Mariner

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


51 posted on 02/04/2018 10:19:22 AM PST by tiki
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: FreedomPoster

That’s why liberals are pushing euthanasia now.


52 posted on 02/04/2018 10:20:57 AM PST by tbw2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: 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.


53 posted on 02/04/2018 10:23:04 AM PST by tflabo (I f)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Dilbert San Diego
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.

54 posted on 02/04/2018 10:23:10 AM PST by CaptainK
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

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


55 posted on 02/04/2018 10:26:55 AM PST by Sequoyah101 (It feels like we have exchanged our dreams for survival. We just have a few days that don't suck.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: qaz123

The obama legacy.


56 posted on 02/04/2018 10:26:58 AM PST by Pilated (.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mariner

Well good luck.


57 posted on 02/04/2018 10:27:27 AM PST by Sequoyah101 (It feels like we have exchanged our dreams for survival. We just have a few days that don't suck.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Dilbert San Diego

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.


58 posted on 02/04/2018 10:28:51 AM PST by Sequoyah101 (It feels like we have exchanged our dreams for survival. We just have a few days that don't suck.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator
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.

59 posted on 02/04/2018 10:32:43 AM PST by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: 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.”

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.


60 posted on 02/04/2018 10:33:22 AM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 161-165 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson