Posted on 11/13/2005 5:45:33 PM PST by RWR8189
SAN DIEGO -- People are busy talking about what this country is going to look like in a few years when a cohort of 78 million Americans acquire a title they never wanted: senior citizen. Hippies who turned into yuppies are about to turn into golden oldies. Just what I wanted to hear: more about the baby boomers.
USA Today recently wrapped up a series on aging in America that touched on everything from life expectancy to saving for retirement to long-term health care issues.
The newspaper insists that by the year 2046 -- when those Americans who were born from 1946 to 1964 are between 82 and 100 years old -- it'll be a boomer's world. As far as boomers are concerned, the future promises to be, well, to use one of their words, groovy.
The way the article paints it: ``Thanks to lifestyle habits and medical advances, they probably will be the healthiest group of elderly in history. Thanks to extended employment spans, they will be the wealthiest. Thanks to their huge voting bloc, they will be the most powerful.'' So basically the boomers will have their health, plenty of cash, and lots of political clout to get their way.
And the point is? That's how it is now. Americans can't make it through a presidential election without rehashing the Vietnam War. The phenomenon began when the nation's first boomer president, Bill Clinton, was accused by some of dodging the draft to avoid going to Vietnam. The phenomenon reached ridiculous new heights in the 2004 election with the emphasis on Swift boat veterans and George W. Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard.
And when Bush started talking up the need to reform Social Security, he framed the issue as a system in crisis because the program wouldn't be there for boomers when they retire. He also tried to head off any criticism from boomers by assuring them that any changes wouldn't affect those who were 55 and older.
Nobody seemed to care much about the financial burden that will almost certainly befall the two generations that follow the boomers -- Generation X (now in its 30s and early 40s) and Generation Y (in its 20s and teens) -- just to keep Social Security afloat. Certainly not the boomers. What they care about is what the future holds for them. And why should that surprise us?
This generation has never been plagued with low self-esteem or the sense that the world didn't revolve around them. This is, after all, the generation that helped deliver on the promise of civil rights for blacks and Hispanics and equal rights for women, that fought and helped end the war in Vietnam, and that helped drive a corrupt president from office. You could stop there, and already have enough to say grace over. Not boomers.
Listen to how Newsweek put it in a cover story this week on the boomers turning 60: ``They and their siblings invented not just the epiphenomena of youth culture -- blue jeans and rock music, sexual permissiveness and political alienation -- but the very idea of youth as a separate realm of experience and knowledge.''
That's a heck of thing to have on your resume, or to break the ice at cocktail parties. ``That's Fred over there. He's a baby boomer. He invented youth. Good for you, Fred!''
But even the egotistical baby boomers can't escape Father Time. And so, the latest product being pitched is retirement planning. Financial services companies are running commercials that rely on lava lamps and images from the 1960s to convince boomers that they really are getting older and approaching retirement age, and that it's time to plan their exit from the work force.
Good luck with that. Boomers don't seem to be in any hurry to leave. This is the generation that doesn't think the rules apply to them, and that includes rules about getting old and retiring. The Newsweek article mentions a retirement survey conducted by Merrill Lynch that found that 81 percent of boomers plan to work past the age of 65.
Expect many boomers to work from home, perhaps log shorter days and weeks, but to keep on working as long as their minds and bodies hold up.
These folks aren't going anywhere. But you knew that.
© 2005, The San Diego Union-Tribune
I believe all things Happen For a Reason, Baby Boomers were suppose to do what they did to set the tone for the future and now we are seeing this all played out in a finality with Gen Xer's..
Ah! heard that regarding the destruction of Great Planet Earth!
Yep.
And, since the sanctimonious children might read this....
WHY have THEY not stopped abortion????
Well, younger generations will be working past 65 as well due to the cost of living, health care, and the fact that social security isn't much of a security anymore.
"How many are really depending on Social Secrity? Pensions, Real Property, 401K's inheritances are proably more doable to retire with than a Social Security check you will get from the government...Although I sure pay a great amount to good ol'FICA..."
Depending on who estimates, 35%-50% are saving enough money to maintain their standard of living outside of Social Security--that includes 401Ks and pensions. The rest are depending on Social Security or are planning on some source that doesn't involve saving money (perhaps tapping home equity or working). I think tapping equity and expecting inheritances to blow on yourself are pretty poor ways to save for retirement, but betting on anything more fiscally responsible from Boomers generally would be like tossing your money into a fire.
FICA is just tax to Gen X & Y. We'll never see any of it back.
Set...Game...Match!!! Nail hit smack dab on the old head again, Gramma! :)
*snicker*
In all seriousness....while I've been having fun here, tonight....
GOD is in control. Always has been, always will be.
:)
I think you are *Dead Wrong here, the beiigest investment most have is Real Property, it ensures that you DO have something that enables yourself a large Chunk of cash when needed. Can you imagine being 65 and still renting? living off some small pension?
I live in California, REAL ESTATE is the key in regards to retirement...
I know He is, but dang! The attacks just keep getting more blatant, with so many willing followers. I do become very discouraged...
"I think you are *Dead Wrong here, the beiigest investment most have is Real Property, it ensures that you DO have something that enables yourself a large Chunk of cash when needed. Can you imagine being 65 and still renting? living off some small pension? I live in California, REAL ESTATE is the key in regards to retirement..."
Who's talking about renting? But land rich and cash poor is what I grew up watching in Florida. A lot of farmers went bust that way. Sure, if you're going to put money into something besides cash, ground is a solid investment. But we're not talking land as investment to avoid paying rent--we're talking cashing out the house in a reverse mortgage or home equity loan. That's something prior generations would have considered to be "spending the kids' inheritance." Now it's just standard practice. I think that's a shame. So much for family values, and leaving your kids better off than you. So much for guaranteeing an income without gambling your equity won't run out before you do.
I know....honest, I do.
It's just sad that a whole group of conservatives have chosen to blame other conservatives for things out of BOTH of their control(s). !
Anyway....I've gotta get going. My boy's comin' home for Thanksgiving and I have a TON of stuff to do....
I'll check in from time to time. :) Have fun!!!
One thing I will give you is grandparents of Gen Xers are also investing in there grandchildrens' future...
Yes, by taking out a reverse mortgage on it. Bush's Medicare drug plan will leave those kids paying off Grandma and Grandpa for years. I only hope my kids aren't hit by the confiscatory taxes that will be necessary to break even eventually. I know there won't be spending cuts except as a last resort, since nobody in DC wants that, as the $54 billion bill and the Coburn Amendment demonstrate.
I've sworn I won't let my kids go into the hole with me. I might be bowed down by taxes and unable to avoid working the rest of my life because of them, but my kids won't be unable to retire.
I was born in 1971. In my Social Security Statement, after my estimated benefits parte, there is a foot note: "The law governing benefit amounts may change becasue, by 2042, the payroll taxes collected will be enough to pay only about 73 percent of scheduled benefits". So I'd better have other savings for when I retire.
It bothers me very much that I am trapped, and my generation in general. We will have to pay the boomers retirements and our retirements. I guess the following generation will have it easier. For sure I won't retire at 65 either.
Stop whining. My husband's (within months) of 65 and has NO intention of quitting anytime soon.
He doesn't wanna grow old too fast. :)
Go out and FIX the system!!! Sheesh, you kids on this forum. I'm SO happy MY Gen X kids aren't like you guys.
*shakes head*
As a demographic assessment, I would agree with that. It will be an interesting test of wills, as the Boomers I know are determined to slather themselves in government entitlements no matter who has to pay for it and the Genx-ers I know do not want to be any part of paying for that gravy train. GenX does not want to be squeezed to fund the entitlements the Boomers have bequeathed on themselves from future generations, and I really do not see GenX bending on this issue. They would much rather kill the entitlements where they stand and cut their losses than perpetuate systems that rob them of life and property.
I sincerely hope GenX wins. It would be a great thing for the future of this country.
We're workin' on it.
Please extend a "Thank you for your service" from an early GenXer to your husband and the rest of your family.
Thank you very much...I'm doing the same on this end.
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