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A 63-year-old peak boomer said she 'can't even think about retiring' despite having a master's degree and working two jobs
Business insider ^ | 9th May 2024 | Noah Shiedlower

Posted on 05/09/2024 8:04:04 PM PDT by Cronos

Cathy R., 63, has a master's degree and has worked all her life, though she's very worried for her future.

The clerical worker in Minnesota has struggled to rise up the ranks throughout her career. She said she's earning a salary similar to some entry-level positions despite nearly three decades in her current role. She's nervous that even though she's eligible for a pension in a few years, it won't supplement Social Security payments nearly enough to live comfortably.

"I can't afford life while working. How can I even think of retiring?" the St. Paul, Minnesota resident said.

...Cathy grew up in Minnesota and attended the University of Minnesota, after which she enrolled in law school. She worked full-time as a legal secretary at the Attorney General's office while in school part-time at night.

She said the job didn't work out, as her supervisor disapproved of her leaving an hour early each day to attend classes. Law school didn't pan out after two years, and she was laid off from her government position. She still had loads of student loan debt, and she took jobs in Minneapolis as a legal secretary at different law firms.

After a decade, she hadn't climbed the corporate ladder at any firm, so she returned to working for the state government to attempt to make more money and not lose benefits. She worked at the Department of Revenue in the mailroom, then got a job as an administrative assistant for the state's college system, which she kept for about 25 years.

Because she worked for the college system, she received free tuition for a degree, so she obtained a master's in public administration shortly before the pandemic.

...Many peak boomers also fall into the growing category of ALICE, which stands for asset-limited, income-constrained, and employed.

(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; US: Minnesota
KEYWORDS: bidenomics; noahshiedlower
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To: Cronos

Just sort it out by thinking of one job for self and loved ones, giving to charity and tithing and saving for retirement,
and the other job is to support dope smoking welfare mooches watching TV or playing video games all day and millions of illegals coming in who get free housing, health and surgical care and food paid by you.
Maybe think about a third job?

Or fight if things get to that point in the next few weeks.
The loafers we support have lists of demands already.


61 posted on 05/09/2024 10:04:35 PM PDT by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls.)
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To: Paladin2
Why didn’t she marry and get a permanent room mate and financial life partner?

Bingo. Well said.

62 posted on 05/09/2024 10:05:29 PM PDT by rexthecat
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To: Cronos

Cathy sounds like an idiot.


63 posted on 05/09/2024 10:06:28 PM PDT by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: ansel12; All
So typical.

I'm talking about recent elections (say, since 2000) not FORTY YEARS AGO !

Bush-Romney-McCain-Dole Repubs lost those blue collar voters. I can't imagine why ?


64 posted on 05/09/2024 10:07:11 PM PDT by Reverend Wright ( Everything touched by progressives, dies !)
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To: Sir_Ed

👍🏻


65 posted on 05/09/2024 10:09:22 PM PDT by antceecee ( )
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To: Reverend Wright

All I did was read the one sentence post you made to everyone on the thread and gave a correction.

To: Cronos; All
Lots of comments on this thread illustrating why the Repubs before Trump didn’t do very well with blue collar whites, and lower income white collar whites.
45 posted on 5/9/2024, 10:17:27 PM by Reverend Wright


66 posted on 05/09/2024 10:11:24 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: rexthecat

Are you male? I remember working through the jobs before I got the degree… Kelly Girl… other similar…typing xeroxing business machines…or go the route my Mom did waiting tables. Men in the office environment were managers and execs…not so much women. I lived this and no I am not a feminazi….can’t stand them.


67 posted on 05/09/2024 10:14:16 PM PDT by antceecee ( )
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To: Reverend Wright

No compassion or hint of understanding….


68 posted on 05/09/2024 10:16:05 PM PDT by antceecee ( )
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To: Reverend Wright

Something you should read.

“In the 2012 generational election, half of Mitt Romney’s supporters were whites without a college degree, compared to about a quarter of Obama voters. Yet Romney still lost the presidency — and by an Electoral College landslide.

That’s because white blue-collar voters are a shrinking share of the voting pool.

As their population shrinks, they’ve also become more faithfully Republican.

“My contention is that what Reagan did was he brought a new group of people into the Republican Party, and that has grown and has become more significant,” explained Democratic pollster Peter Hart. “It is less establishment; it is more what I call downscale, blue-collar non-establishment.”

Another way to think about this is that while white working-class voters are now only about a third of the overall electorate, they’re about half of the Republican electorate.”


69 posted on 05/09/2024 10:17:04 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: Cronos

I would guess an objective review of her finances and speding would easily explain her position she’s in.


70 posted on 05/09/2024 10:19:32 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: 353FMG

That’s possible, but staying in that situation would be a mistake. Long ago my wife worked at a college and that was the situation there. She quit after 6 months. Since then she has had nothing but success. You gotta know when to fold em.


71 posted on 05/09/2024 10:21:35 PM PDT by ETCM (“There is no security, no safety, in the appeasement of evil.” — Ronald Reagan)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom; All

” I feel sorry for her, but there’s a bell curve distribution for success in life and earnings. Sounds like Cathy is at the left end of the bell curve.

Not everybody gets to grab the brass ring in life.”


The problem with this thinking is the idea that today one can’t even aspire to the middle class life of the the 1950’s or 1960’s blue collar guy - unless you are “above average” for White collar advanced degree.

Approx 12 percent of the. population of the USA has advanced degrees. And you are saying only the top half of them get as good or better than the blue collar guy of the 1950’s ?

What kind of “conservatism” do you think you are going to get with 90+ percent of the population facing less than that.

Who is going to be invested in “conserving” a system like that ?


72 posted on 05/09/2024 10:21:55 PM PDT by Reverend Wright ( Everything touched by progressives, dies !)
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To: Wally_Kalbacken

About ten years ago, I dated a woman in her 60s going for a Ph. D. or Ed.D. with unspecified student loans. After thinking about the math, I ended the relationship.

I am surviving with no car and renting a modest apartment in a small town. Pay cash, unless the payoff is swift and sure. I’ve talked to many people (usually female) in similar circumstances to “Cathy”. Don’t be Cathy.


73 posted on 05/09/2024 10:24:52 PM PDT by bIlluminati (Good triumphs when good people take action.)
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To: antceecee

Yup.

I also like how the Bureau of Labor Statistics discontinued the manufacturing employment fraction graph - because the result were so embarassing.


74 posted on 05/09/2024 10:26:05 PM PDT by Reverend Wright ( Everything touched by progressives, dies !)
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To: Mears

thx but i seldom goto the links, if it’s not in the opening, must not be important


75 posted on 05/09/2024 10:30:46 PM PDT by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. #FJB)
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To: Mears

belay that, my bad it’s late and i’m beat


76 posted on 05/09/2024 10:32:02 PM PDT by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. #FJB)
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To: Cronos

Cathy hasn’t been doing something right if after all this time she’s got a masters and is working two jobs.

What was the masters degree for, Interpretive Afro-Haitian Dance Theory?


77 posted on 05/09/2024 10:38:16 PM PDT by jmacusa (Liberals. Too stupid to be idiots.)
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To: marktwain

” is easy to live beyond your means at nearly any level of income”

Tht is so true.


78 posted on 05/09/2024 10:40:18 PM PDT by Cronos (I identify as an ambulance, my pronounces are wee/woo)
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To: ETCM

Going yo college for a useless degree and also looks like she never got into the habit of saving/investing


79 posted on 05/09/2024 10:42:05 PM PDT by Cronos (I identify as an ambulance, my pronounces are wee/woo)
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To: House Atreides

Thank you. Most of these type stories are manufactured bullshit.


80 posted on 05/09/2024 10:58:03 PM PDT by Right Brother (Pray for God's intervention to stop UMCRevMom's invasion of Free Republic.)
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