Peer backlash against us?

JBmadera said:
along those lines:

The Eastern Echo
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Well screw them, I just responded to the article. It's the most hostile piece I have read on the subject. Here we are saving and being careful with investments and credit card debt (having none) and so on - and we are blamed for the situation we're in! :mad::mad::mad::mad:

I tried for years to convince my well-paid co-workers to max out their 401Ks or at least save a lot in it and they looked at me like I was nuts. But they all went out for lunch daily, and bought $5 coffees (when it was free at work, freshly ground, too...) all the time.

Aarrrggghhhh. I'll try to remember to go back and see what kind of response my response got!
 
I'm flying under the radar as well, but it helps that I work part-time so the questions are minimal. Once I do ER, if someone asks, I'd respond that I worked very hard for many years, made good money, lived modestly (but not miserly), saved prodigiously and invested prudently.
 
pb4uski said:
Once I do ER, if someone asks, I'd respond that I worked very hard for many years, made good money, lived modestly (but not miserly), saved prodigiously and invested prudently.
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TMI. The old standby is to tell anyone who asks that you retied for medical reasons. Just don't mention it was because you were sick of working...
 
For most people I know, I won't have this problem. The only adverse reaction from the few people who I have discussed this with so far is a near universal belief that I will be bored. For the few who do have a problem - that's their problem.

I'm more concerned with being asked to pay for the unfunded or underfunded entitlements and never ending political promises either through higher taxation or higher inflation than anything else. My retirement budget (hopefully) reflects these concerns.
 
JBmadera said:
along those lines:

The Eastern Echo

Call them, “The Selfish Generation.” The Boomers grew up in a world that never asked them to sacrifice. Their parents fought a war for civilization that claimed the lives of half a million in less than four years. Their parents had to ration at home.
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BS, the war was from 1939 -1945, better part of 6 years. Oh, you yanks waited until the end of 1941 to join in. Do the math. The Japanese invited you and you accepted (many of us are glad you did). The war in Europe was over, thank the British Colonies.

Ah, tire and gas rationing, bummer. Pretty tough on the boomer`s parents.

The boomers were asked by Uncle Sam to take a vacation near what is now a tropical destination of choice (Thailand). Note the `near`. The rest of America wasn`t all that good to them when they returned (IIRC).


Yah, right, selfish as hell.


All this from a northern border rat.
 
REWahoo said:
TMI. The old standby is to tell anyone who asks that you retied for medical reasons. Just don't mention it was because you were sick of working...
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I agree with Brewer's flying under the radar, and I like the medical answer. My personal approach is to live a lifestyle (and dress the part to match) that makes people afraid I'm going to ask them to lend me money...
 
I am not worried about jealousy from anyone. How could they be envious of a guy who is still doing maintenance on his cars? I have a bit of money, but I am not filthy rich. What is there for them to be envious about? I do not have to pretend; my frugality works well enough.

What I don't like is if they are going to say that because I have saved that amount of money, I do not need the SS as much as other spendthrifts, and I need to give that up. That would put me in a dilemma. Should I join the spendthrifts and spend all my savings now, so that I will be poor like them and will be taken care of?
 
Flying under the radar here as well, although sometimes I wish I could take the Wild Weasel approach with the spendthrift whiners of my own generation.
 
Coderguy said:
Well, being 30; I wrote a really long post. Then I decided it behooves me not to make enemies here.

Can we at least generalize less and accept this is way more complicated than stupid spenders vs. smart savers?
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Not these folks. :)

I do think that today's young people have no where near the gravy train that boomers had, particularly the 50s cohorts. If you could get out of college, or even if you just found your way down to the nearest government office or GM plant you had a good job that was easy to keep and allowed plenty of saving and free time.

Some boomers had to deal with Viet Nam which was truly a big deal, but the rest of us hid out in various ways


I see a lot of young people. Of course they party, they should. But they also work very, very hard with not much security other than their skills.

Ha

 
X2 for the medical explanation. I recite my Dad's poor health and early death, my night in the cardiac ward and get some nods of understanding. I liked work and could have stayed but retirement is better. Except for travel we live a simple life so not much economic visibility.
I don't think this is a hijack but a development of the thread, if the way to neutralize the savers is inflation then what is the best way for savers to address inflation? Clearly equities, real estate and possibly commodities will help but one of the most effective (tho not psychologically the best for me) is to have debt. So maybe the boomers with a lot of debt have unknowingly found a good anti inflation strategy.
 
yakers said:
Clearly equities, real estate and possibly commodities will help but one of the most effective (tho not psychologically the best for me) is to have debt. So maybe the boomers with a lot of debt have unknowingly found a good anti inflation strategy.
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That all works well at Hale Nords, especially the mortgage debt...
 
yakers said:
I don't think this is a hijack but a development of the thread, if the way to neutralize the savers is inflation then what is the best way for savers to address inflation? Clearly equities, real estate and possibly commodities will help but one of the most effective (tho not psychologically the best for me) is to have debt. So maybe the boomers with a lot of debt have unknowingly found a good anti inflation strategy.
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+1

Inflation is one of my bigger concerns about early retirement and I will be holding mostly equities and real estate with a small allocation to commodities as one (very imperfect) attempt to provide a degree of protection and I will also keep some of the mortgages on my properties in place for the same reason.
 
Gumby said:
Flying under the radar here as well, although sometimes I wish I could take the Wild Weasel approach with the spendthrift whiners of my own generation.
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The best defense is a good offense. ARM means something different in that context.

I never mentioned to my bosses that I am planning to retire early since Mega only offers 401(k)s (unless they are of the same mindset). DW at least works for a Mega that still offers pensions.
 
Same here - flying under the radar. Not always easy to do so.

Gumby said:
Flying under the radar here as well, although sometimes I wish I could take the Wild Weasel approach with the spendthrift whiners of my own generation.
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I tell the truth, laid off twice due to megacorp mergers, 50+ getting kicked to the curb again.

what surprises me is how much hostility exists out there - against both pensioners and savers, I guess it's true what they say "no good deed goes unpunished".

we're going to move to either Tuscon or St George (55+) and just go about our business, surrounded by folks just like us - retired.
 
The only retired people I know are my brother, and an 82 year old friend. I met some fifty-ish woman dancing who is retired city worker, but I don't really know her. Almost forgot, one male friend recently retired from county government.

I have not noticed any bad feeling directed toward me for years, although I live where many adults including adult men are out and about during the day, so it would be hard to know if one is actively working or a pensioner.

I think people may resent public pensions, as they see them as unduly generous and only available to a small subset of workers. And of course, it may occur to them that a good hunk of their taxes go to pay these pensions.

I have never heard any negative comments about savers or people with pensions from private business. People who are perceived to be tight-fisted with money in their personal lives, or misers, have never been liked by other types as far as I know.

In general, people tend to respect work and distrust those whose lives are devoted to leisure. They don't get much into, "well she must have worked hard to save enough to now devote herself to leisure." It's more what have you done lately thinking.

Ha
 
Speaking of Boomers....

Just remember, the youngest "boomer" (born in 1964) is just 46, today.

I would think that a lot of pre-50 folks think that they are not responsible for the "boomer's mistakes", even being part of the era. However, I doubt that few of them were at Woodstock (maybe they were, in a way :LOL: ) or realize that they are lumped in with us "losers".

All I know is as an early boomer (turn 63 on Monday :blush: ), I didn't get to participate in the "excesses" of the times quoted. Just a "po white boy" that got his draft notice (pardon, my free SEA "vacation" notification) the same month he turned 18. That was the days before the lottery. If you turned 18, you "won" (unless you ran to Canada, or you could afford college).

Having parents that put their own needs first (no college for me - working at the family business since I turned 14, for no pay, and had only a few pennies in my pocket when I got on the bus to basic training) I had to make my own way.

Oh well. I'm not bitter (really). Just don't lump me with those that are thought of as the "typical boomer" (I'm not typical, at all :bat: )...
 
haha said:
I think people may resent public pensions, as they see them as unduly generous and only available to a small subset of workers. And of course, it may occur to them that a good hunk of their taxes go to pay these pensions.
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Ha, this is only going to get worse, especially if public pensions and SS aren't affected equally by the budget-balancing axe. People in the private sector paid into SS for years with the promise of "x" benefit when they retired at "y" age- when they see their promised benefits cut and their public sector counterparts getting COLA'd raises every year the social and political backlash is going to be ugly.
 
NW-Bound said:
I am not worried about jealousy from anyone. How could they be envious of a guy who is still doing maintenance on his cars? I have a bit of money, but I am not filthy rich. What is there for them to be envious about? I do not have to pretend; my frugality works well enough.

What I don't like is if they are going to say that because I have saved that amount of money, I do not need the SS as much as other spendthrifts, and I need to give that up. That would put me in a dilemma. Should I join the spendthrifts and spend all my savings now, so that I will be poor like them and will be taken care of?
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+1
 
Something from one of those "understanding generational differences" classes at work - "Baby Boomers don't like to be called Baby Boomers and they don't like to be lumped together. They like to think they are unique."

So, you see, the younger folks have already Catch-22'd your arguments :D You cannot win! :nonono: All that is left for you is to refer to everyone under 40 as "slackers who still live with their parents"!

Amethyst

rescueme said:
SJust don't lump me with those that are thought of as the "typical boomer" (I'm not typical, at all :bat: )...
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One thing they all have in common is that they are all unique.
 
I'm a Gen-X member, and when I read articles about retirement, I don't think of it as "oh look at the Baby Boomers and their plight". Instead, I substitute Baby Boomer for Gen-X because I know the very things can happen to members of my generation and Gen-Y as well.

I've seen people in my peer group buy more house and car than they can afford, live on credit cards, take out interest only loans, draw out lines of equity on their homes etc.... the same mentality that may have landed members of Baby Boomers who are in trouble will come back to bite Gen-X and Gen-Y as well.

One of our family friends made an insightful observation - you look at a sitcom and how the "average" family lives - the home they seem to have, cars, what they get to do etc. and it sends a message disparate from reality. More realistic were sitcoms like Married with Children or the Roseanne show. People seem to dress really well these days on TV no matter what they do!

There was another forum that asked whether our financial habits are nature versus nurture, and I think it's a bit of both. Rather than blame parents (i.e. BB for Gen-X's spending habits) it's more about our cultural norms today and the messages we receive without ever realizing.

I don't think my parents landed in their financial dire straits by being spendthrifts... but they did so by being very stupid "investors" (i.e. listen to "hot tips", getting ripped off by ponzi schemes) with their hard earned money. I know they will probably die in debt. It makes me sad to think there are many more like my parents.

But it does make me angry to know that there are people who overleveraged themselves, used "other people's money" as if they have nothing to lose, and then whine about having to work until their 70... no matter what generation they come from!
 
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