You hit on the answer:
Many of these people retired with $200,000 or more in savings. They intended to live off the interest and Social security. Interest rates at .10 to .95% just do not cut the mustard so they deplete their principle to survive. When the principle is gone they reverse mortgage their homes.
People today put their money in 401K’s and when the market drops they lose that, How is that working out for todays savers? These people had stock that went to crap. They had pans for their old age the same as the now generation, but those plans do not work in an economy likes ours is today.
Today the Government is working to kill pensons, they are telling young people to save for their retirement. I point out what happened to these people who did save for their retirement. They got screwed when the banks started paying almost nothing in interest, the market sunk, and everything went to crap.Todays generation is looking at working until they die. There is no way in hell they can save enopugh to pay off the Governments debt, put their kids through chool and save enough principal to live off of. Because they damn sure cannot live off the interest.
That’s why we’re buying rental houses now, not that we’re looking to make a killing at it, but we figure if we start accumulating properties now, while were still relatively young, by the time we retire, we’ll have a nice little income stream to live on. Yes, there certainly are risks, that’s why you have to research carefully the properties, and think long-term.
That's me, but I'm not complaining. I knew what I was getting into when we had our 3rd child and I was 48. He'll be 10 next month. If he graduates from college at 22, I'll be 70.
If I'm healthy enough, I prefer to work.