Boomer Retirements - Not a Surprise

[Tekward]

Interesting read:

“Two recent recessions devastated personal savings. And at a time when 10,000 baby boomers are turning 65 every day, Social Security benefits have lost about a third of their purchasing power since 2000.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-p...rkforce-one-last-mess/?utm_term=.584b15ab08a3

 

[JDARNELL]

I am not too worried about who is gonna deliver the mail, sells me something at a retail store, or even if there is enough undertakers. The concern should be the brain drain in the STEM areas. The article even touched on shoe stores, video rentals, and catalog sales. With such bad journalism in putting together meaningful content maybe this is an area for future opportunity. Thx for posting.

 

[zippy2020]

It would be interesting to see some stats on actual % of Boomers who ended up with poverty-level retirements.

We were fortunate with our family/friends. Those who lost some of their portfolio assets, were able to continue working for another 2-4 years and recover. They are all retired now.

Only one family member is in a precarious position. He has sufficient funds for day-to-day, but if he ever becomes disabled, there's no funds for anything but Medicaid facilities. His kids (adults, married, with young kids of their own) can't help but worry......

 

[Andre1969]

I'm confused by this statement... "Social Security benefits have lost about a third of their purchasing power since 2000"

I know inflation has pretty much taken things up by about 50% since 2000. But, isn't SS indexed to inflation? So, if you were retired and getting $1000 per month in 2000, you'd be getting around $1500 per month now?

It also seems like an irrelevant number to throw out. In 2000, the oldest boomers were only 54...eight years away from being able to get early SS benefits. Not too many boomers were retiring then, except for the outliers who would be in these forums! In fact, I don't even remember these Boomer doom and gloom stories starting to pop up until 2008, when the earliest ones started qualifying for early SS.

 

[Bigdawg]

From the comments section:

"Newsies like to spin these events up into a thriller plot, but I just see no sign of it being a big deal. Certainly not compared to literally losing much of a young generation to war, and economies have roared back from even that. Repeatedly."

Basically a non story.

 

[Cut-Throat]

I'm confused by this statement... "Social Security benefits have lost about a third of their purchasing power since 2000"

I know inflation has pretty much taken things up by about 50% since 2000. But, isn't SS indexed to inflation? So, if you were retired and getting $1000 per month in 2000, you'd be getting around $1500 per month now?

I wondered also about this..
And I've also seen this before.... And usually they go on to 'prove' this statement, by saying that the things that 'Seniors' buy have outpaced this inflation... They use Medical and Pharmaceutical costs. Heating fuel etc. - So, they are 'cherry picking' items in the Shopping Basked and ignoring other things that have not gone up as fast or even down.... It's a 'Headline Grabbing' statement however.

 

[audreyh1]

I'm confused by this statement... "Social Security benefits have lost about a third of their purchasing power since 2000"

I know inflation has pretty much taken things up by about 50% since 2000. But, isn't SS indexed to inflation? So, if you were retired and getting $1000 per month in 2000, you'd be getting around $1500 per month now?

It also seems like an irrelevant number to throw out. In 2000, the oldest boomers were only 54...eight years away from being able to get early SS benefits. Not too many boomers were retiring then, except for the outliers who would be in these forums! In fact, I don't even remember these Boomer doom and gloom stories starting to pop up until 2008, when the earliest ones started qualifying for early SS.

Agreed SS benefits have been indexed to CPI since well before 2000, so this is just bogus.

They’ve probably come up with some other metric which probably doesn’t bear scrutiny.

CPI is up about 50% since 2000, so are they pretending that SS benefits aren’t inflation adjusted?

 

[gerntz]

Interesting read:

“Two recent recessions devastated personal savings. And at a time when 10,000 baby boomers are turning 65 every day, Social Security benefits have lost about a third of their purchasing power since 2000.”

Sounds bogus. Source is an issue also.

 

[GravitySucks]

Unreadable.
I have given up on believing anything the Bezos Washington Post publishes.

 

[Cut-Throat]

Unreadable.
I have given up on believing anything the Bezos Washington Post publishes.

Well, you are pretty much alone in that belief, as the Washington Post ranks in the Top 3 Newspapers in the Country for Respectability and Facts..... Please tell us which Newspaper you read?


This is not saying that I agree with the Article, but I don't agree with slamming the entire Newspaper for it.



Here is a Forbes Ranking Titled "
10 Journalism Brands Where You Find Real Facts Rather Than Alternative Facts

Forbes Ranking of U.S. Newspapers

 

[stepford]

I have given up on believing anything the Bezos Washington Post publishes.

So long as you are similarly skeptical of anything the Murdoch Wall Street Journal publishes...

 

[CardsFan]

I also had a problem with the SS inflation number. Makes no sense.

But, on a related note, aren't the baby boomers (me included) about to dump a pile of taxes into the system as we get to RMD's? I have never seen a story on this topic, but it seems relevant.

 

[Tekward]

But, on a related note, aren't the baby boomers (me included) about to dump a pile of taxes into the system as we get to RMD's? I have never seen a story on this topic, but it seems relevant.

Great question Cardsfan. It is much bigger than I thought:

"According to the Investment Company Institute (ICI), at the end of 2014, U.S. retirement assets totaled an incredible $24.7 trillion. Employer-sponsored defined benefit plans, as well as state, federal and local government plans, accounted for a combined $8.4 trillion of these retirement assets. The remaining (and by far largest) component of the retirement assets pool was represented by IRAs ($7.4 trillion) and Defined Contribution Plans ($6.8 trillion). Add to this a reported $2 trillion in annuities and you have $16.2 trillion in assets that may be subject to a required withdrawal at some future point."
https://www.bnymellon.com/us/en/our-thinking/baby-boomers-and-required-minimum-distributions.jsp

 

[GravitySucks]

So long as you are similarly skeptical of anything the Murdoch Wall Street Journal publishes...

I find the Journals quality has also dropoed.
Along with Sulzburgers NY Times.

My local paper is now just awful. Barely edited and written for a third grader. Sports section is probably over half the non-ad space.

Most of my news comes from NPR though biases are certainly apparent there.

Honestly it is hard to find non agenda based reporting these days. Maybe I'll try the Philadelphia Inquirer again. They were always a great investigative paper.

 

[Cut-Throat]

I also had a problem with the SS inflation number. Makes no sense.

But, on a related note, aren't the baby boomers (me included) about to dump a pile of taxes into the system as we get to RMD's? I have never seen a story on this topic, but it seems relevant.

It's actually much more positive for S.S. as the Inflation Amount on S.S. is on a 'Wage Index".... I found a calculator that shows this.... Calculator has only been updated to 2017 .....


https://www.halfhill.com/inflation_js.html



First Figure is for CPI Inflation and the Second is For S.S. Wage Inflation... You actually gain with S.S. as far as the Dollar Figure... Certain Political Parties are trying to cut this Benefit Currently.

 

[Bamaman]

Of the Boomers I grew up with, very few ever worked past 60 years old even. We're talking middle class families for the most part. I retired at 58 1/2 with a year's severance pay--perfect.

Just a couple of people I grew up with worked to 65, and only two in my high school class (I know of) are still working at age 68.

I am concerned about inflation, however I don't lose sleep about it. There's room in my portfolio for it.

 

[Mdlerth]

The decline of the daily newspaper dates to the end of Calvin and Hobbes

I find the Journals quality has also dropoed.
Along with Sulzburgers NY Times.

My local paper is now just awful. Barely edited and written for a third grader. Sports section is probably over half the non-ad space.

A retired friend who spent decades as a reporter told me that the most common reason given for canceling a newspaper subscription was because the editor monkeyed with the comics page.

Comics aren't even expensive to carry. Syndicates typically charge only 15-100 dollars per week to supply a strip to a newspaper, so it takes maybe about a dozen subscribers to cover the cost of each comic.

I'm not interested in debating here the objectivity of the news media, but I do wonder why so many papers, facing dwindling circulation, decide to economize on the features their customers value the most.

 

[beowulf]

Haven't purchased an actual physical newspaper in about 10 years. Everything is on line and you can read some for free without subscribing and others through your public library's internet programs. Also, tons of free news from many sources. Some reliable . I give most print media, especially newspapers, no more than 10 years before everything is digital.

 

[DrRoy]

Two recent recessions devastated personal savings.

The current stock market (S&P500) is approximately double the high point prior to the great recession. If you remained invested this argument is false.

 

[target2019]

I take personal savings to mean savings account. I know individuals who lost jobs and had to withdraw from retirement accounts too. It's great to be insulated, protected by a large stash, and income that was steady. But the greater number of people in USA are not positioned well.

 

[Winemaker]

Unreadable.
I have given up on believing anything the Bezos Washington Post publishes.

+10

 

[North Texas Cajun]

The current stock market (S&P500) is approximately double the high point prior to the great recession. If you remained invested this argument is false.

Not quite there yet, but close. The S&P 500 closed at 1565 one day in October, 2007 - Oct 10, I think.

Of course, if one includes dividends, the total nominal gain since that date exceeds 100%.

 

[target2019]

It's actually much more positive for S.S. as the Inflation Amount on S.S. is on a 'Wage Index".... I found a calculator that shows this.... Calculator has only been updated to 2017 .....

https://www.halfhill.com/inflation_js.html

First Figure is for CPI Inflation and the Second is For S.S. Wage Inflation... You actually gain with S.S. as far as the Dollar Figure... Certain Political Parties are trying to cut this Benefit Currently.

Thanks for posting that link. It tells me that "salary increases" for an average Joe like me are essentially keeping up with the Inflations.

 

[Rianne]

A couple of years ago, DH/me visited the Lincoln Library in Springfield, IL. The media was as bad or worse in 1861 than it is today. The news articles, the quotes by citizens, politicians, military etc. That was eye opening. We're naive to think today's news is much different than 100-300 years ago. Did Columbus discover America? Who discovered the earth was round? There are many misstated, misunderstood, inaccurate and false statements and beliefs in history.

 

[GravitySucks]

https://www.chicagotribune.com/busi...oomers-retire-dollarsense-20190301-story.html

Chicago Tribune jumped in to.
One point I'd like to see addressed is the "No Qualified Employees" rant corporations make. When I was a pup companies trained people. Now they push that off on the public. For example: My community college has a certificate and degree program that includes working aloft of power lines. The local ( actually an international corp.) Power company hires the young folk that get that certificate and it cuts the corporations cost to train.
Kids starring out think this is how life always was, but it really is a recent change to the norm.
More corporate welfare.