baby boomers article

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Ben Stein is a pompus idiot!

CT - stop holding back...you've really gotta express your true feelings. Let it out! Save yourself years of therapy!

Personally, whenever I see blue-footed boobies I find that's a sign of ill health and not a good kind of booby.

Ok, its not just me that thought that. I think thats good... :|

 

[starry night]

Another good source for info on coming retirement/boomer crisis is Brookings Institute (www.brook.edu). They have all kinds of projects, analyses, reports. Try searching for topics "Retirement", etc.

 

[ladelfina]

Sometimes I feel I should take my pile of marbles and move to another "younger" country...i.e. one that doesn't have the same oncoming trainwreck of demographics...course I don't know what country that would be.

Ask HaHa! Of course, in the US, it's the immigrants who are coming in working and and in particular birthin' all the babies who are going to pay into SS in the future... (By that measure, maybe we aren't letting enough people in.)

---
I was just reading "How to Retire Early and Live Well with Less than a Million Dollars". One weird thing in the book was the author's premise that once boomers start retiring en masse, the consequent withdrawal from the stock market will lead to an overall decline in prices.

With the low numbers everyone is citing for retirement savings, is this likely? Does anyone know what percentage of the US market is held by pension plans and individuals, say 45-50 and over? Who holds the rest?

 

[Rustic23]

[

the author's premise that once boomers start retiring en masse, the consequent withdrawal from the stock market will lead to an overall decline in prices.

Does the author address the increase savings in the market by non-BBs that don't expect SS to be available? Perhaps there will be some what of an offset.

 

[ladelfina]

No, but that's a good point. Wonder how many people will actually be doing that, though. (Not many if reports here are correct.)

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quite simply, boomers wont be retiring 'en masse', I'll bet half or more keep working to 70+. And yeah, the sense of distrust thats been created around pension plans and social security availability for those in their 20's and 30's *should* lead to a little more personal investment...but the spending and savings habits of most people leave that area in question.

I predict a pretty soft landing from all of this.

 

[Nords]

... once boomers start retiring en masse, the consequent withdrawal from the stock market will lead to an overall decline in prices.

Funny how this board can simultaneously discuss:
- Social Security is broke,
- Medicare is broke,
- we're running out of workers, and
- the @#$%ing Boomers are gonna crash the stock market,

when all the time the solution has already been taken care of. The Boomers are spending all their money now, working until they're in their 80s, and dying at their desks. They'll pay plenty of SS & Medicare taxes while hardly taking anything out of Medicare-- a double bonus!

Instead of complaining how the Boomers are inhibiting the advancement of younger workers, I think the younger workers should ER and let the Boomers support THEIR lifestyle!

Oh, wait, that's called parenting...

 

[Sarah in SC]

From The Onion satirical newspaper:

More Companies Phasing Out Retirement Option

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/44679

"With pension funds dwindling as retirees enjoy longer, more capable lives, many businesses have opted to freeze their workers' employment status and keep them on the job through their sunset years.
...To the list of outmoded and costly business practices such as health insurance, overtime pay, and lunch breaks, add age-based quitting.  Post-retirement age labor is great for companies and it's a great way for seniors to stay active. But multi-tasking on the job can take its toll.  GE customer-service rep Esther Fischbeck, 88, is juggling career, widowhood, and early-stage Alzheimer's disease...There's a place at our organization for everyone--the young, the old, the mentally incapacitated, the moribund.."

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

That explains those problems getting my refrigerator serviced.