I am so mad.......read this article about baby boomers!

[snappyturtle]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Baby-boomers-near-65-with-apf-654311409.html#mwpphu-container

snip...

"The situation is extremely serious because baby boomers have not saved very effectively for retirement and are still retiring too early," says Olivia Mitchell, director of the Boettner Center for Pensions and Retirement Research at the University of Pennsylvania.

There are several reasons to be concerned:

-- The traditional pension plan is disappearing. In 1980, some 39 percent of private-sector workers had a pension that guaranteed a steady payout during retirement. Today that number stands closer to 15 percent, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington, D.C.

-- Reliance on stocks in retirement plans is greater than ever; 42 percent of those workers now have 401(k)s. But the past decade has been a lost one for stocks, with the Standard & Poor's 500 index posting total returns of just 4 percent since the beginning of 2000.

snip....

The over-all tone of this article places the blame on the boomers for not, I guess, forseeing the tanking of the economy, wages that haven't kept up since the late sixties, and for many, the insurmountable losses in mortgages. Maybe it's just me....but IF you can stomach it....read the comments!!!!!!!

[hlthe2b]

1. yes.. we should have foreseen the overwhelming corruption

of government, Wall Street,and Big business, the outsourcing of all our jobs, RETHUGLICAN dismantling of all regulation and oversight of big business, the bleeding off of our entire national wealth to two unpaid (and at least one totally unwarranted) wars, and the rise of Faux News that fed the apathetic public lies and propaganda that allowed them to vote repeatedly against their own (and our own) interests.

We should have predicted that and emigrated to Europe or Canada. Apparently. :mad:

[snappyturtle]

2. I know. I would love to still be around when some the those who

left nasty replies retire to see how well they fare. Actually, they know what they're up against which is more than I can say for the boomers at their age....who would have guessed all that has happened?

[napi21]

3. I agree, the article is mstly BS, but I must admit, the last

post I read on DU about that article referenced a man who was layed off from his $100,000/yr job at age 62 so he enrolled into SS but he only has $2000-$5000 in savings. It really does seem like someone making $100,000/yr should have been able to do somewhat better than that. My husband & I are both retired now too, and although we'll never be rich, & we live stricty on our SS checks, we do have around $100,000 in savings as a backup for emergencies, and neither of us evr made anywhere close t $100m/yr!

[snappyturtle]

4. I agree. I think the $100,000 man was a poor example of boomers.

Those that commented seemed to think this $100,000/yr job was the norm. imho

[Control-Z]

13. Was there any information

about the size of his family, where he lives, or anything about his circumstances?

A man's age, his yearly salary and the size of his savings account at retirement is not a lot to go on. One sick child (even with medical insurance) can deplete a person's savings, as can a thousand other events, circumstances, reasons.

"It really does seem like someone making $100,000/yr should have been able to do somewhat better than that." "My husband & I are both..."

I'm not sure what you and your husband have to do with any of it.

[snappyturtle]

5. Another thing: I think this article will be one of many to help

coerce the slashing of SS.

[tsuki]

6. There is so much BS and lies in that article, it is difficult to respond to.

First Boettner Center for Pensions and Retirement Research - The center supports projects on public and private pensions, extending the work of the Pension Research Council at the Wharton School. Well, I guess we know which way the wind blows.

Second Baby Boomers retire at age 66. They receive medicare at 65, but retire at 66.

Third At age 62, they retire early losing 33%, not 25%.

Fourth Reliance on stocks in retirement plans is greater than ever. Boomers were told that reliance on stocks was so much better than company pension by groups like the Boettner Center for Pensions and Retirement Research.

Fifth Many banked on their home. Why? Because you idiots told them to. I have always maintained that your home should not be included in your net worth.

Sixth An anecdotal story to prove their point. Choose the worst example to smear everyone with. Made $100,000 a year. Not many make that much, but the writer can pretend they do and moan about a generation of grasshoppers, not the ants that have worked for years making lower wages that do not facilitate having a large disposable income to save. Don't mention stagnant wages, or an economy that is providing lower paying job each year.

Seventh A quote by the parasitic AARP that has backed every budget busting Social Security/Medicare reg to come down the pack.

And who is Olivia Mitchell, director of the Boettner Center for Pensions and Retirement Research at the University of Pennsylvania? A "researcher" who sucks off the public tit while accruing public pension benefits.

The University of Pennsylvania needs to vet its "researchers".

[snappyturtle]

9. Thank you. I couldn't respond as well as you have because I

was too angry! I know we will be seeing more articles of this ilk.

[raccoon]

31. Here's how to contact the author of this stupid article:

Send her an email, if you have a minute.


Olivia S Mitchell
3402 Steinberg Hall - Dietrich Hall
Philadelphia, PA19104
Phone: [phone]

[e-mail]


http://insr.wharton.upenn.edu/people/faculty.cfm?id=430

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[toddwv]

8. Weird posting error.

[snappyturtle]

10. I'm going to need a little clarification.

You alluded that the Boomers are dismantling progressive programs and trying to take the 'system down with them. How are they doing that?


FYI: Medicare starts at 65....but that doesn't mean the right wing Mod is drawing her SS benefit.

Maybe the alphabet generations should come out of the woodwork with their plan. All I hear from them is a bunch of whining....well, they should realize, like it or not, they should work with the seniors to keep SS intact as intended so that when they retire those benefits will be available....or maybe they ought to buy up foreclosed housing in hopes that it will appreciate substantially....opps! Boomers bought houses with the same thought in mind....didn't work out well for many of them.

[tsuki]

12. I think he is making the same error many on this board make. He is

confusing the Tyktovs with the Boomers. Boomer do not get medicare until 2011. Social Security 2012.

[hootinholler]

20. Tyktovs????

Even google didn't help, actually your post was like hit 3, the rest had something to do with Vietnam (the country not the war)

A little help please?

-Hoot

[tsuki]

24. Too young Korea, too old Vietnam, born in the late 30's to 1945. They

were the equivalent to the alphabet soup generation.

They were the least populated generation, but are often lumped in with the Boomers. But the difference is stark. They went to well supplied schools, university, were recruited for jobs from university or after two years of guarding the Oktoberfest, were McCarthy supporters, hated Kennedy and were very conservative. They were the ones screaming "America, Love It or Leave It".

By contrast, Boomers entered school, sat on the floor until tables and chairs could be found, shared books (no one could see it coming). We competed for university slots, and when we completed school, we either went to the war in that foreign rice paddy or dropped out for a while because there were no jobs (Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose).

The Tyktovs started moving here in the 90's with their pensions, social security, medicare and big house sale from home. They moved to "paradise", got here and started bitching about everything, from environmental protections to taxes. They wanted to build in the primary dune system (too long a walk to the beach). They don't want to pay taxes, but the county is not doing enough for them, etc.

Think Tom Brokaw. The 2%'er who went on and on about tax breaks, and the deficit doesn't matter who now intones, we have been at war for 9 years and the public has never been asked to sacrifice. Born 1940.

And I guess Tyktov was something we said in the 60's. Used to make them mad as Hell.

[hootinholler]

25. Thanks for that!

I'm among the last of the boomers, born in 1960 the youngest of my family so I'm in that 'generation' at least genealogically.

-Hoot

[snappyturtle]

26. ...unless Boomers took early retirement at age 62. Boomers born

in 1946 could take early retirement in 2008.

[tsuki]

28. And lose 33% of benefits. Husband was laid off at 61.5. He started

collecting at 62 because if he had waited until 66, the last five years rule would have lower his benefit more. As it was, the last year he made 20K less, so it lowered his allowance by $30 a month.

[tsuki]

11. If she was on medicare, she was not a boomer. Boomers do not

start on medicare until 2011, at age 65. She sounds like a Tyktov.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[eridani]

15. We'd love to. If you want that to happen, defend Social Security and Medicare

You'll need that stuff way more than we will.

[lillypaddle]

16. Hey, I resemble that remark

However, it is a very jerkish remark. I'm 63, still work, and have worked since I was 17. I only have about $10,000 in savings after cancer & a surgery - you don't need or deserve to work any more than I do.

[Paper Roses]

18. Are you being sarcastic or are you really a jerk?

We old timers are responsible for many of the good things that are available. Much of the collective downfall has happened during the boomers lifetime. I am not blaming the boomers. Things evolve in ways we cannot see. It is just sad to see you blame all that is wrong on your grandparents era. If you have a job that does not meet your standards, all I can suggest is that you keep looking. We old timers cannot even find a job at all. I know from which I speak.

Our senior years are all not a bed of roses, living on SS is tough. Finding a job is a miracle, keeping it is even a larger one.

[michaz]

17. What a stupid, dumb remark she has made. n/t

[xchrom]

19. it's all the boomers fault. whatever it is -- it's our fault.

sun spots causing problems -- boomers. earthquakes in indonesia -- boomers.
starving children in timbuktu -- yep, boomers.

all our fault.

[starroute]

21. They're worried about Boomer money leaving the stock market

Most of this discussion has revolved around Social Security -- but there's another issue that's equally important and doesn't get nearly as much attention.

As the Boomers retire, those who *have* saved will be pulling money out of their investments in order to live on. And the stock market people don't like that one bit.

So there's kind of a two-pronged strategy going on here. On one hand, if the Boomers can be encouraged or even forced to retire later -- and to invest more of their earnings during those final pre-retirement years -- it will help balance out the withdrawals by those who are taking earlier retirement.

And if younger workers can be made to believe that Social Security won't be there for them when it's their turn to retire, and that they'd better invest as much as they possibly can right now, it will counter the well-founded skepticism that has arisen about 401(k)'s.

I don't really know what these people think is going to happen to the economy if everybody can be convinced to spend less and save more -- something like Japan, I guess. But apparently that isn't a concern to them.

[snappyturtle]

22. +100!

[daa]

23. Boomers should have known that when they worked

for lower wages at places like IBM in exchange for a pension and retiree health care, that the lying bastards would take it away. When you get screwed in your 50s you cannot recover.

[snappyturtle]

27. The loss of pensions, for whatever reason, is a major problem

for many Boomers. I think younger people don't understand the scope pensions once enjoyed in employment security. I also believe that corporations steered away from pensions and encouraged 'other' retirement plans, (401ks) etc. because it was cheaper to fund their part. It's all about corporate bottom line....to hell with the employees. Maybe I'm wrong about this although I rather doubt it. imho

[2Design]

29. most those taking early have been out of work for years or downsized or their jobs outsourced

article is bs and doesn't take facts into consideration

[jtown1123]

30. There has been an onslaught of these articles recently. Seems like blatant ageist warfare.

These pseudo journalists should be ashamed of themselves.