Retiring Boomers Find 401(k) Plans Fall Short

The Wall Street Journal ^ | February 19th, 2011 | E.S. Browning

[andyk]

The 401(k) generation is beginning to retire, and it isn't a pretty sight. The retirement savings plans that many baby boomers thought would see them through old age are falling short in many cases. The median household headed by a person aged 60 to 62 with a 401(k) account has less than one-quarter of what is needed in that account to maintain its standard of living in retirement, according to data compiled by the Federal Reserve and analyzed by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College for The Wall Street Journal. Even counting Social Security and any pensions or other savings, most 401(k) participants appear to have insufficient savings. Data from other sources also show big gaps between savings and what people need, and the financial crisis has made things worse. This analysis uses estimates of 401(k) balances from the end of 2010 and of salaries from 2009. It assumes people need 85% of their working income after they retire in order to maintain their standard of living, a common yardstick.

[Tzimisce]

Tell that to the 58,000+ guys on the Vietnam War Memorial. They died fighting marxists.

...I fail to see what Nam has to do with the Marxist takeover in 2011.

But maybe you're right, maybe if they fought the Marxists at home first we wouldn't be where we are now.

[Tzimisce]

I am a baby boomer. I was raised in a blue collar family. I was paying rent by at age 18. I then joined the USN and chased commies around the globe. No one gave me anything ever. I never even got the GI Bill.

Am I a commie?

Yep - not your problem. You're going to get your social security, so who cares about the next generation? Young people can go to hell.

After all, young people have never done anything as great as what you guys did. :)

[Tzimisce]

I am a baby boomer. I was raised in a blue collar family. I worked picking beans, berries from age 10. I was paying rent by at age 18. I was married and had a baby at 19. After my divorce, (I got NO child support) I put myself through a BS and MBA while working FULL TimE and getting NO help from anyone, (I took advantage of my employer’s tuition reimbursement program) except a few months of housing from my Mom. I have NOT travelled extensively...to Paris when I was 25...paid for by ME. I am a conservative. Get over to DailyKos or the other liberal boards and LECTURE THEM!

Yes I know. You deserve to have your nest feathered now. Who cares if it's done on the back of the younger generation? YOU ARE OWED IT.

If funny that you're lecturing me about stereotyping people. I'm probably further to the right than you are - and that's the point of my post.

[Billthedrill]

Some of us have spent our lives fighting them in both places. To such little thanks as people like you offer. Go to hell.

[Tzimisce]

You really need to watch your mouth son. If you called this 52 year old a “commie” to my face only one of us would leave the room. Same goes to the hundreds of thousands that post on this forum.

You need a new gig. It ain’t here.

Yeah! You young 'uns need to be in your place and keep your mouths shut.

You'll pay for our social security, medicare and whatever else we decide to give ourselves AND SMILE WHILE DOING IT.

[Tzimisce]

What a load of broad-brush unadulterated crap.

Unworthy of posting on FR.

Another point of view? We don't go for other points of view around here...

[jwalsh07]

...I fail to see what Nam has to do with the Marxist takeover in 2011.

Your vision is the least of your problems.

Boomers didn't elect FDR or LBJ.

Some had a part in electing Obama but a very slight, less than 1%, majority of boomers voted for Obama and male boomers voted against Obama by a good majority.

Obama overwhelmingly won majorities with voters under the age of 44. Presumably your generation is represented there.

The point here being that many of us boomers have been fighting marxism, both inside and outside our borders, before you were a gleam in Daddy's eye.

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the links - impressive...

[Tzimisce]

You are right about most baby boomers, as well as for the vast majority of baby boomer opinion leaders. Some Freepers who responded to you seem to be engaging in selective amnesia. For example, it is the baby boomer teachers and professors who have been successfully stuffing a socialist mindset done the throats of the young for a generation now. For all our sakes, I wish that they could afford "30 and out".

I'm tired of RINOs.

I'm tired of the "lets all get along" crowd.

The Teacher strike in Wisconsin? That didn't pop up in the past week - it's been going on for decades.

Voter apathy. Let's just along politics. Going along with the left - after years of this philosophy, it's KILLING us. Someone is going to have to pick up the tab for all of this. And it's going to be the younger generation.

Something in this system is going to give. It's not a game anymore - it's too serious. Someone, somewhere is going to have to pick up the tab for the all spending shoved down their throat and even though they're paying for it, they will get nothing for all the money they're putting in.

It's sad and scary.

And the sense I get is: too many people don't care. As long as they get theirs, they just ...don't care.

And you see it reflected all over the place: the Teacher Union in Wisconsin. The Obamas on vacation after telling the rest of us to give ours up. The talking heads at the New York Times. Code Pink globe trotting when the rest of us are worried about food. Even jobs - the attitude is reflected if you're lucky enough to be out job hunting.

In the 70's Boomers were called "The Me Generation" - and that is a very fitting title. One that I don't think they ever (as a generation) shed.

And now you see it reflected in 2011 politics.

This whole situation just sucks.

[Tzimisce]

You really need to watch your mouth son. If you called this 52 year old a “commie” to my face only one of us would leave the room. Same goes to the hundreds of thousands that post on this forum.

You need a new gig. It ain’t here.

I also believe threats of violence are against FR terms.

What was I saying about Boomers don't think the rules should apply to them?

[Tzimisce]

Thank you. There will be no more need for us to communicate.

Typical Boomer attitude. I'm getting mine, so I don't care.

You don't want to talk? We won't talk.

[Tzimisce]

The Red Diaper Doper Baby Boomers are a very vocal but very small minority of Boomers. Most of us Boomers served our country in time of war; went to college on the GI Bill; got well paying jobs after graduation; got married and taught our children to make good life decisions; voted Republican, paid our taxes, and saved more than enough for a comfortable retirement.

I recognize that not all Boomers think the same.

Unfortunately, I fear what the majority of them are doing and what they will do. :(

[goodnesswins]

In the 70’s I was working my a** off...and raising a son...and contributing, and by the way, I STILL AM contributing. What you haven’t figured out is this has nothing to do with age....it’s philosophy, but like racists....you brand people according to one trait... I won’t suggest you do what BillTheDrill did, BUT, I would suggest you stop digging the hole .....

[Tzimisce]

Some of us have spent our lives fighting them in both places. To such little thanks as people like you offer. Go to hell.

Spoken with the true, holier than thou arrogance of a self entitled member of the Boomer generation...

[Billthedrill]

No. It was spoken by someone who is thoroughly disgusted by a self-absorbed, snot-nosed punk troll. Now go ahead, invoke the site rules, you little Mussolini. Bring it on.

[Tzimisce]

Boomers didn't elect FDR or LBJ.

And there is my point, right there.

It's not your problem. You didn't set the system up. Of course, anyone paying attention saw what a mess it would turn in to on the horizon - but who cares? As long as you get yours.

And now that the problem you could identify but decided to ignored is out of control, someone else can clean up the mess. Since mom and dad aren't here to take up the slack, we'll just push the mess onto our kids. After all, those kids have it so easy right?

That is my point. Thank you for making it.

[Tzimisce]

The truth hurts.

But look at the upshot: Unlike me, you probably won't be around when this goes from bad to worse.

[goodnesswins]

How OLD are YOU? better answer truthfully.....cause people here are really starting to wonder

[The Cajun]

Baby Boomers: they grew up little Marxists in the 60’s thinking the world owes them everything because mommy and daddy handed them everything.

Pound sand bub.
Started working and basically raised myself from the age of 13.
Blue collar worker and was able to retire at 51 because of hard work at ridiculous hours. Nobody gave me crap, I earned it myself.

[Praxeologue]

I'm tired of RINOs.

I'm tired of the "lets all get along" crowd.

The Teacher strike in Wisconsin? That didn't pop up in the past week - it's been going on for decades.

Voter apathy. Let's just along politics. Going along with the left - after years of this philosophy, it's KILLING us. Someone is going to have to pick up the tab for all of this. And it's going to be the younger generation.

Something in this system is going to give. It's not a game anymore - it's too serious. Someone, somewhere is going to have to pick up the tab for the all spending shoved down their throat and even though they're paying for it, they will get nothing for all the money they're putting in.

It's sad and scary.

And the sense I get is: too many people don't care. As long as they get theirs, they just ...don't care.

And you see it reflected all over the place: the Teacher Union in Wisconsin. The Obamas on vacation after telling the rest of us to give ours up. The talking heads at the New York Times. Code Pink globe trotting when the rest of us are worried about food. Even jobs - the attitude is reflected if you're lucky enough to be out job hunting.

In the 70's Boomers were called "The Me Generation" - and that is a very fitting title. One that I don't think they ever (as a generation) shed.

And now you see it reflected in 2011 politics.

This whole situation just sucks.

This thread about retiring boomers revealed alot about my generation, as also evidenced by the 600+ comments at WSJ.COM. Whether growing up dirt poor or with a silver spoon, all but a few felt entitled to "retire" in their early 60s, even though most will be able to work into their late 70s or later. This also relates to the apathy, "let's all just get along" and the RINOs for the past thirty years. They may or may not have lead exemplary private lives, but when it came time to speak up for the good of the nation, for everyone, they fudged and waffled, feathering their own nest. For example, where were all those Tea Party members in 1990? 2000? 2007? ... going along, getting along, swallowing bigger government ... Only when the SHTF over the past two years did they emerge. Now they talk like they've been troopers all along and get all huffy when you question the bona fides of their generation. We have known these types all along. Now I just want their votes and campaign contributions, thank you very much. What we are discussing is set to be displayed in the upcoming contest between Palin and Romney.