Kinda like this?
Posted on 05/13/2009 11:12:59 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
"HOPE I DIE BEFORE I GET OLD" always seemed to be the retirement-planning credo of Baby Boomers.
It seems like ages ago, but just back in October 2007, Kiplinger's was featuring a cover story shouting, "Retire Rich," a theme favored by finance-magazine editors nearly as often then as "New Sex Secrets" or the like got plastered on the front of the likes of Cosmopolitan. Both are probably equally fictional, though I have not researched the latter.
Most likely, it's doubtful there are any revelations on either score. Retiring rich requires the discipline to save along with discipline, diversified asset allocation with a keen eye on expenses. Simple, but not easy.
And certainly not a course to which we Boomers have been inclined to hew. We were quite aware that we could not count on a defined-benefit retirement plan -- the traditional pension -- to provide for retirement. That's been supplanted by the defined-contribution plan -- the 401(k) or the equivalent -- though there might be some form of matching by employers, a perk that's getting cut back in hard times.
Even if they couldn't count on a pension, Boomers had thought they could emulate their parents by cashing in on the appreciation of their homes. Mom and dad might have plunked down $40,000 for a house 40 years ago -- an expensive home back then -- —that might have sold for 20 times as much a few years ago.
If they did sell out, there probably would be little if any mortgage left by that point, so they could clear virtually the whole sales price. And they could pocket a cool half million in gains tax free. Just for having lived in a house during the greatest property inflation ever, subsidized by incredible tax breaks.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.barrons.com ...
That's partially true as social security and medicare taxes have ALWAYS been a part of my paycheck. However, over the years a great deal of my income has also gone to pay for the huge increases in housing prices which I probably won't gain back as I was not old enough to buy a house at 40K and sell at 400K (for example). Also a great part of my income has gone to pay family healthcare insurance rates. Even with a very small family I always got hit paying the same amount as huge families. Then of coruse there was also the huge increases in fuel prices that happened from the 70s onward. That also took a lot of the loot I earned.
No, I'm a "greatest", not a boomer.
I was born in 1945 and I'm not down on your generation or the Boomers. What Forsyth is saying can be said of every generation.
When was it that retirement became common or expected?
If I got back the actuarial value of my and my employers’ contributions to “Social” “Security”, I would collect well over $10,000/month at age 65. I am “promised” $1,740, and doubt that I will ever see a fraction of that, because by then “Social” “Security” will be means tested, which means that those who planned for retirement will subsidize those who didn’t.
I made the mistake of planning for retirement since my early twenties, avoiding debt and eschewing high flying “investments”.
Means testing means that “Social Security” is a welfare program.
We’re screwed. We are so screwed.
If I could opt out of social security, leaving behind all my donations to date, I certainly would, in a heartbeat!
I love my mother, but I ask her this question whenever she crows about how her prescriptions cost her only a few dollars:
"Mom, if you aren't paying for your prescription, then who do you think is paying for it? I'll tell you who's paying for it, and it comes out of every paycheck. Your working grandchildren, your daughter, and your two sons. Between the six of us, roughly $5,000 was taken from our paychecks for Medicare, and another $5,000 was paid by our employers as a 'benefit' to us."
And how many times have we heard about someone who works a hard life, then retires.
And kicks the bucket 3 weeks later.
I would always want to work. At least part time.
Early Boomer here. Not all of us failed to prepare. My wife retires tomorrow at 53. I’m 60 and semi-retired. Wife is going to do a little contract work and we are looking forward to leaving the rat race and going Galt. We have lived somewhat below our means for 30 years to get to this point. No pensions or govt PERAs, we did it on our own by investing in real estate, private equity, 401ks and SEPs.
I recall years ago a medical social worker told me it was only a matter of time before “offing” the elderly would be the RIGHT thing to do. It seemed silly then . . . .
I was saying the same thing well into my thirties. I’m 58 and it’s a close run thing, given the chance.
Einstein said the most powerful force in the world is compounding interest, and it’s not doing me a damn bit of good at negative 1.5% in SocSec.
Congrats!
What do you think socialized medicine will do for the boomer generation?
Kinda like this?
Every time I see a Scooter Store commercial I tell my husband, “There goes my Social Security check.”
We will put up a major stink when a government bureaucrat says we have to wait 6 months for that MRI and 18 months for that knee joint replacement. You will never see such caterwauling.
Things wouldn’t be so bad if:
*People didn’t insist on participating in every single trendy thing from material goods to the latest health craze. I wonder how much medical costs have gone up since each and every single child has been diagnosed with the latest trendy set of multiple disorders because they don’t behave like social showpieces for the self esteem of the parents.
*People got solid jobs rather than constantly pursuing flimsy careers in the arts. All very well and good, but let art be something you do on the side.
*If people go to college knowing what they want to do rather than paying almost hundreds of thousands on ‘figuring out’ what they want to do and switching degree programs on whim.
*We start putting requirements on people who want welfare after having a kid out of wedlock. Certain standards.
*If you pay into the system, you get a certain percentage placed into your bank account. You pay into it, you should get a part of it.
*If you volunteer, the hours you put in are recorded and you recieve the points towards a college/university scholarship. It also goes on your academic transcript and is taken into consideration during admittance screenings.
*Make limits in regards to how much a student can take out in loans. Arrange so that colleges can only accept so much money from student loan sources.
*Create ‘debt notices’ in the paper so that way no one gets away with getting loans to pay for other loans. Send the notices to banks. Publicly humiliate people who don’t pay their credit card debt in time.
*Actually start executing death row inmates sooner than ten to thirteen years later. Have delinquents watch executions to set them straight.
*Sentencing people in proportion to the crimes they commit. No more three years and parole for felons who break any federal law. Make an example of famous people; sentence them to harsher laws.
*Garnish wages for unpaid loan/credit card debts. They do it for men who don’t pay child support, why not for those with outstanding loans(q)
*If anyone participates in diplomatic activities at odds with government policy, confiscate their estates and yank their passports, arresting them upon return to the country.
*If any private citizen engages in any unofficial diplomatic activites outside of government approval, charge them with treason and order extradition.
Does anyone else have any other ideas, that’s all I can think of for now.
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