 |
|
06-18-2009, 12:00 PM
|
#1
|
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: South Texas~29N/98W
Posts: 4,621
|
Boomers still not smart
Many of my fellow boomers seem to be, once again, making some very poor investment decisions that will make them look to Uncle Sam even more in the yeas to come. No doubt, my future federal income tax will be paying for their retirement as well as mine.
 Quote:
|
Thus, as the recent AARP survey showed, 35% of those between the ages of 45 and 54 have stopped 401(k), IRA and other retirement account contributions. Twenty-five percent have withdrawn money from a retirement account, 56% have postponed a major purchase and 24% are planning to retire at a later age.
|
Boomers Face Longer Years of Work, More Meager Lifestyle
__________________
Part-Owner of Texas
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. Groucho Marx
In dire need of: faster horses, younger woman, older whiskey, more money.
|
|
|
 |
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!
Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!
|
|
06-18-2009, 12:02 PM
|
#2
|
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Hooverville
Posts: 18,467
|
I'm convinced.
__________________
Para todo mal, mezcal. Y para todo bien, tambien!
|
|
|
|
|
06-18-2009, 12:04 PM
|
#3
|
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Pines at East Nowhere, 43N Latitude, NY
Posts: 8,245
|
No arguments here. 
__________________
"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney
|
|
|
|
|
06-18-2009, 12:29 PM
|
#4
|
|
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Texas Hill Country
Posts: 29,467
|
Hey, easy now! Some boomers are 'samrt' enough to realize what a ripoff those evil 401k plans are...
Who Shredded Our Safety Net?-Mother Jones
__________________
Numbers is hard...
|
|
|
|
|
06-18-2009, 12:31 PM
|
#5
|
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 1,433
|
How about the part of the quote that you didn't put in bold?
Delaying major purchases does seem to be a 'smart' thing to do.
__________________
"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
(Ancient Indian Proverb)"
|
|
|
|
|
06-18-2009, 12:32 PM
|
#6
|
|
Administrator
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 24,614
|
I think it's so sad.  Makes me wish I could draft a realistic budget for each of them and make them stick to it and like doing it! But you can't change people.
So many of my boomer generation came to regard all the trappings of yuppiedom as necessities of life. They would feel like failures living a modest but reasonable lifestyle that half the world would envy.
__________________
"Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harborless immensities." - - H. Melville, 1851
|
|
|
|
06-18-2009, 12:37 PM
|
#7
|
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 4,710
|
__________________
If you can read this.You can also read this.
|
|
|
|
|
06-18-2009, 12:38 PM
|
#8
|
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,610
|
Kids these days! 
Hey wait a minute, that's my generation!
__________________
Feral Engineer - Idle Dandy
|
|
|
|
|
06-18-2009, 12:43 PM
|
#9
|
|
Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Texas
Posts: 13,430
|
__________________
"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
|
|
|
|
|
06-18-2009, 12:51 PM
|
#10
|
|
Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: The northernmost tip of Latin America
Posts: 10,672
|
Actually, boomers delaying retirement is not a bad thing. The additional years worked mean more payroll taxes and more income tax on SS distributions. It also means more competition in the labor force, which will help control inflation.
__________________
It's not the cards you're dealt in life but what you do with them that matters
|
|
|
|
|
06-18-2009, 12:54 PM
|
#11
|
|
Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Texas
Posts: 13,430
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelB
It also means more competition in the labor force, which will help control inflation.
|
And increase the unemployment rate, meaning more tax money going out for unemployment benefits.
Plus, with age discrimination as rampant as it is (particularly over 50), I am skeptical of the modern economy's ability to keep the older segment of the work force fully employed.
__________________
"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
|
|
|
|
|
06-18-2009, 02:26 PM
|
#12
|
|
Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: The northernmost tip of Latin America
Posts: 10,672
|
Quote:
|
And increase the unemployment rate, meaning more tax money going out for unemployment benefits.
|
At lower wage levels more jobs become available. More so for folks over age 65 - no medical benefits needed.
Quote:
|
Plus, with age discrimination as rampant as it is (particularly over 50), I am skeptical of the modern economy's ability to keep the older segment of the work force fully employed.
|
Welcome to Wal-Mart. No smilie - it's really quite tragic, but also likely.
__________________
It's not the cards you're dealt in life but what you do with them that matters
|
|
|
|
|
06-18-2009, 05:08 PM
|
#13
|
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: May 2008
Location: MD's Eastern Shore
Posts: 3,567
|
Yeah, this one is one of those that's a tragedy for those involved, but probably good for me personally. Keep those payroll taxes coming! 
__________________
Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake. - W. C. Fields.
DW and I - FIREd at 50 (7/06), living off assets
|
|
|
|
|
06-18-2009, 05:20 PM
|
#14
|
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Dallas 'burb
Posts: 8,522
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Want2retire
I think it's so sad. Makes me wish I could draft a realistic budget for each of them and make them stick to it and like doing it! But you can't change people. |
Yup.
I know two people that I can actually reach out and touch that will discuss financial matters.
Soooo...I spend a lot of time here rattling on to strangers that have a common interest.
__________________
There's no need to complicate, our time is short..
|
|
|
|
|
06-18-2009, 05:23 PM
|
#15
|
|
Moderator
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 11,216
|
LIke many AARP articles this one seems weak to me. It acknowledged that 9 percent of the people in the 45 and older age group have lost their jobs in the last year, so I'm not surprised that those people, of the 35 percent cited, are no longer contributing to retirement plans.
The article also says "...they are gearing up to work longer, set aside more now and live a more modest lifestyle..." So perhaps they are not contributing any more to a retirement plan because they are paying off debt instead, or building an emergency fund, or in some other way "setting aside more now" outside their retirement accounts?
And the horror of "living a more modest lifestyle"! Those crazy boomers, what will they be doing next  ?
__________________
Everything will be monkey in the end. If it's not monkey, it's not the end.
|
|
|
|
|
06-18-2009, 05:38 PM
|
#16
|
|
Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Texas
Posts: 13,430
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bestwifeever
And the horror of "living a more modest lifestyle"! Those crazy boomers, what will they be doing next ? |
It's even sillier than that, IMO. The best time to learn to live a "more modest lifestyle" is while you're still w*rking. That will help provide a sanity check with respect to how much you really need to retire, and whether or not your plans to give notice are realistic.
I suspect some people don't do this and underestimate what they need to retire. These are the folks who are forced back into looking for w*rk in their 50s and 60s when they're likely to face rampant age discrimination.
__________________
"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
|
|
|
|
|
06-19-2009, 08:54 AM
|
#17
|
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 2,585
|
The Financial Planning article in the OP refers to an "AARP survey", but doesn't provide any link. I looked at the AARP website and didn't see anything that seemed to match this article.
IMO, it's hard to say whether these are bad decisions without knowing more about the details. If you or your spouse have been fired, it could make a lot of sense to stop making 401k contributions.
|
|
|
|
|
06-19-2009, 08:59 AM
|
#18
|
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Posts: 6,662
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelB
Actually, boomers delaying retirement is not a bad thing. The additional years worked mean more payroll taxes and more income tax on SS distributions. It also means more competition in the labor force, which will help control inflation.
|
Ditto MichaelB! I'm delighted to see so many of my generation feel that they have to keep working so they can keep buying all that stuff! All those extra taxes they pay is a great side benefit (for the rest of us).
Audrey
|
|
|
|
|
06-19-2009, 09:02 AM
|
#19
|
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 4,710
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by audreyh1
Ditto MichaelB! I'm delighted to see so many of my generation feel that they have to keep working so they can keep buying all that stuff! All those extra taxes they pay is a great side benefit (for the rest of us).
Audrey
|
Well. I'm hoping they got enough jobs for them all. 
__________________
If you can read this.You can also read this.
|
|
|
|
|
06-19-2009, 09:23 AM
|
#20
|
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Posts: 6,662
|
Well, I guess I had better hope so too! At one time it sure looked like there were - we were running really low unemployment numbers for a long time. And there have been lots of fears of not enough workers in the future due to low population growth so I've tended to believe older workers will be needed. Maybe this current high unemployment won't last that long.
Audrey
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
|
| Thread Tools |
Search this Thread |
|
|
|
| Display Modes |
 Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
» Recent Threads
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
