Tell me if you want on.
Posted on 03/08/2006 3:32:46 PM PST by Choose Ye This Day
I've had a couple of bad experiences recently that sharpened my worry about what life will be like for retirees in the future -- I fear that a catastrophe of declining standards of life is heading our way.
I'm thinking about how bad it has gotten in terms of how customers are treated. A few days ago, I called the saleswoman at an auto dealer who sold me my last car a few years ago. I asked her to come over and show me the newest model of my car and told her if I liked it, I would buy it on the spot.
"Sorry," she said. "Too busy."
"Really? Are you selling that many Cadillacs?"
"Well, I'm not really selling any, but a lot of people are looking and wasting my time," she said.
"But you know I'm a qualified buyer who has bought from you before," I protested.
"Maybe I'll fax you some stats," she said helpfully. I never got them.
How Much Worse for the Masses?
Today, I was supposed to have a nice comfy seat on United Airlines. Full-fare first class. When I got to the gate, the agent said my seat had been changed to one up against the bulkhead, and there was no way she could move me. No apology, not even looking me in the eyes.
On the plane, no flight attendant would help until an older one, from the days when United actually had some self-respect, asked a young man to change with me. He did, and I was happy. But meanwhile, the flight attendant who did help me told me I was the only full-fare first-class passenger in the cabin, and still no one had wanted to help me until she came along.
My point is how terrible service is -- even at the higher end in 2006 -- and then to add this chilling thought: If this is how bad it is at the high end now, can you imagine how awful it'll be for everyone in 2020? When all vestiges of service are gone? When no one speaks English? When all customers are just ciphers?
Look at it this way: Think of the most crowded freeway you're on every day. Imagine what it'll be like in 10 years. That's what hospitals will be like -- if they're not that way right now.
Retiree Vulnerability
To make the situation worse, retirees and those who will soon retire are far from financial safety (see "Living Hand to Mouth -- and Barely Getting By"). I recently calculated that the Baby Boomers need to have saved -- on average -- $400,000 per household to even start to come up with what they need to live on. Instead, they have saved about $50,000 per household if they have a rental home and about $110,000 if they own their home.
So, what will they do when they retire? What will it be like to cut pills in half, to have to sell your home and move into a trailer, to be faced with unaffordable repairs for your car?
Try this experiment: Imagine you have to slash your spending by half. What goes first? Restaurant meals -- fine. Vacations -- fine. New clothes -- fine. But that won't even come close to cutting spending in half for most people.
The sad fact is that retirees will suffer. And for the leading edge of the Boomers is: It's too late. Many of them cannot escape a drastic ratcheting down in income and lifestyle. A crisis akin to the Great Depression is racing our way: A ruinous drop in standards of life.
Shoring Up Your Retirement Savings
What will it be like to live in the horrible new dog-eat-dog world, with no one caring whether you live or die -- and have no money? What will it be like on that crowded freeway? You don't want to find out.
How do we get to high ground? I suggest -- unless you're already on track to have 15 times what you need to live on at retirement socked away by age 65 -- taking 20 percent of your paycheck if you possibly can, putting it in the Fidelity Fund (FFIDX) or the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSMX) until you're 55, then putting half of it into the Fidelity Total Bond Fund (FTBFX) or Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund (VBMFX).
Maybe if you have a few bucks extra, buy the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF (EEM) or the iShares Russell 2000 Value Index ETF (IWN) for developing market or small-cap exposure. But for heaven's sake, do it now.
When you get to 65, put half of it into a fixed or variable annuity -- chosen so you know what every dime in expenses goes for and without buying anything you don't need or understand -- and then know you won't totally run out of money ever (see "A Retirement Portfolio With Staying Power"). Or do something else with a reputable financial planner.
But be very scared -- and start doing something about it now. Tomorrow is too late. Do it now.
Jesse Jackson has advocated a tax on IRA's and other investment accounts for "community development" for a long time.
Yeah sadly the masses will most likely vote themselves a portion of our REAL personal retirement savings (IRA/401k as opposed to the illusory Social Security "Trust Fund" the AARP is always talking about) I suppose moving to some other country for retirement might be a way out of it, but I'm not about to do that.
I don't have a job. I'm self employed. I'll be late for my funeral because I'll have a deadline for a project to make.
Both ends of the airplane get to the airport at the same time; a taxi will gladly be sent to your house and chauffer you as long as you want; one can live on beans and dream of lobster without paying someone else to remind one when to buy more beans; one's wife can never have too much life insurance.
That doesn't mean that you won't retire. And unless you have capable employees, you might not get to pick your retirement date.
Save as much as you can - and more.
"I never vote to raise taxes and I pay for my own diapers, paid for my kid's diapers and for my mom's too. You seem to be quite a selfish generation to me. Your parents are in the way, so kill em off. Never mind they paid for your diapers, food, education and probably loaned you money to buy a house and gave you your first car. They are useless now, just sucking money from the economy and besides, they may leave you some life insurance proceeds or other property you could use, so kill em off, right? You are right, our mistake was not taking you to church."
Well I was joking about actually killing you guys off to make the point that your generation did a horrible job at instilling morals into our generation. We agree, I'm just poking fun that your mistakes might bite you in the ass.
I love my parents, I wouldn't dream of killing them, or putting them in a nursing home. They raised me well, they had me working at 12 (if you call umpiring little league) to get me to pay my own way. I never received allowance. However they are paying more a large part of my education and for that I am very grateful.
The day they even consider taxing retirement savings, take your investments and put them into a Swiss account where our government can't touch them. Its not like income where the money has to come from the country.
So, have you been a Freeper since age 12? Or are you using someone else's account?
His concern and question where service has gone is IMO disingenuous.
He's a free marketer. The Free Market is the never ending journey for the lowest cost/price etc.
Great! But when companies cut back on service to fuel the demand for the lowest price, why play stupid. Great, I got a DVD Recorder at the best price. Now I'll call JVC/Panasonic/Pioneer etc and try to figure out how to utilize it. I'll get someone in another country reading off a script. But I got a great deal!
I see it everyday in my business. We take good care of our customers, help them make educated buying decisions and good tech support.
SO WHAT. They call on us to pick our brain so they can then go online and buy it at the lowest cost from an outfit that blows out products and gives minimal support. I'm not mad, that's life in the free market.
Customers only care who sells the lowest. And that's their right. But when the consumer acts all befuddled on where the service has gone I have to laugh.
The average baby boomer thinks that life and world history has revolved around them. Besides, many of them are voting Dim knowing that this is imminent. Make no mistake, they think that "the government" will be there to bail them out.
What will it be like to live in the horrible new dog-eat-dog world, with no one caring whether you live or die -- and have no money? What will it be like on that crowded freeway? You don't want to find out.
That's when the roots of the Terri Schiavo tree begins to green!
The thing I worry about is the democrats or rinos getting to the point where they take from those of us who saved to give to those of us who spent. I have driven cheap cars and taken cheap vacations my whole life. I have never tolerated credit card debt and paid off my mortgage early. I am well-situated for retirement with a good deal more than the numbers Stein cites as minimum. I don't think I should be penalized because the folks who leased BMW's and went snorkeling in the Caribbean have just discovered that they don't have enough money to retire on. Tough luck to them, I saved mine, they can go earn theirs by working until they are 80
Amen to that.
Tell me if you want on.
bet you had bacon and eggs for breakfast, drank whole milk, ate meat, potatoes and gravy with bread spread with real butter and drank coffee.
I still do and lots of it.
--where the US government can tax them all they want, simply by taxing spending instead of income. The two main ways that lefties in conservatives disguies are trying to do that is by tax-hikes with tariffs and a new sales (aka flat) tax. Either way is a method that non-saving generation x'ers can use to confiscate boomers' savings.
Anyone who complains about having their savings taxed a second time (first as income now as spending) by even bigger government, is a 'traitor'.
Me too. You can't beat eggs in bacon grease, real butter, whole milk (preferably from the cow with the cream), chicken skin deep-fat fried and all those yummy foods. I eat 'em all and I am not overweight. Course maybe the blood is struggling to coarse through the veins, I don't know and furthermore done care. What is good for you this week is not good for you next week. Just wish we could get food without all the drugs. I wonder where one gets beef to raise for slaughter that doesn't have a family history of drugs?
They will and do expect that..
Socialism is riseing not ebbing in America.. To wit: more RINOs in the republican party..
The only ones oblivious!.... are republicans..
Wow! That's gotta be some kind of record. It's good to see that kind of attention span in one so young.
...and the other gave it up because his blood pressure was too high!
I'm afraid that's where I'm headed if I'm not careful.
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