They should just throw the old people out of the country like they did with the Roma.
And for all the folks in their 20s wondering why the fogey is getting all uppity, let me point out one very basic fact: Gen X is waiting for the boomers to GTFO of the job market so we can finally start running things and taking the hit to care for their greedy asses. This means we’re going to work longer and protect all the good jobs for ourselves, particularly in a down economy with less growth and worse retirement options. Meanwhile you’ve got crushing debt from college and no job prospects, and if you’re lucky enough to land a job we’ll keep you figuratively scrubbing the floors as long as possible. The basic truth of big business is that it could be done with 1/2 the manpower if the process got out of the way and people worked hard, but instead it’s a big morass of people protecting turf and their retirement. You won’t get a piece of it until you’re old, old, old.
H.
When we take over, we can just euthanize them all.
Yes: pretense.
Hmm . . . schadenfreude still works:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/06/AR2009050603322.html
Choice tidbits:
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For households headed by persons between the ages of 55 and 64, the median value of all retirement accounts was just $100,000.
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Half could not do a simple math calculation (divide $2 million by five) and fewer than 20 percent could calculate compound interest.
Offsetting that:
Let’s start with the basic fact that only about half of Americans have any employer-sponsored retirement plan at all. The other folks will have to depend on Social Security. For a typical boomer worker, that would mean a monthly benefit of about $2,400 at a retirement age of 66 in 2020. On that, you won’t be able to afford many Starbucks lattes.
But you can live pretty well, provided your house has been paid off. I’m still going to wait and see how much additional quality of life they legislate themselves over the next ten years.
H.
For households headed by persons between the ages of 55 and 64, the median value of all retirement accounts was just $100,000.
Yeah, crap like that. That’s just absolutely insane and going to end in tears.
Projections run a pretty wide gamut as well, one article I found suggested that at 45, the household should already have 2.5 times income in wealth, and at retirement 15 times. Others suggest 1.5 times plus SS is enough.
Personally I’m moving to Antarctica and buying up a couple hundred square miles of land. After it melts down to the sweet mastodon carcasses, I’ll be sitting on a gold mine!
H.
It’s true. I really think we need a maximum voting age.
I’m fairly certain that at no point in human history have people had retirement assets like the calculators say you should have. Is the retirement situation significantly worse than at other points this century?
That isn’t true. We just had a whole thread in this very forum (of post-boomers) whining that San Francisco was taking their Happy Meals away, and calling it a “slippery slope.” Saying subsequent generations have learned anything from the Boomers other than which German sports cars to aspire to is false. Bill Maher’s final New Rule this season was exhorting anyone to provide him one example of Americans sacrificing even the most trivial indulgence for the better good. I know I’m having trouble thinking of one. If you want any further examples of kids wanting to “have it all,” shut down btjunkie.org and watch the outcry.
Self obsession coupled with a healthy dose of entitlement seems to be ingrained in the national culture now.
Exactly, I’m not saying we’re better, I’m saying we’re going to reap the whirlwind sown by the boomers. It doesn’t matter if you’re greedy if there’s nothing left to fight over. And I mean “we” covering the entire generation, which guarantees lowest-common-denominator decisions. I’m all for jacking the tax rates across the board right now, wiping out a good portion of the military budget, and murdering people on estate, capital gains, and income tax above $250,000, the sweet spot where the retirees live right now. Get 'em before they get out, I say. It would make for some hard times at first, but a national reset of priorities and expectations plus a balanced budget would pay off in the long run.
That plus a massive carbon sequestration scheme, big investments in green, gene, and Mean Joe Green technologies. Our Mean Gene Okerlund ways must stop!
Hmm, I stroked out in the middle of that, what the hell did I just say?
H.
edit: And of course reduce spending, etc. etc., but let’s be realistic what we can do in the short term.
“Retirement planning calculators” are created by people trying to sell you a service. Seriously, if your retirement plan doesn’t include the purchase of a second house and a boat, and you don’t intend to spend 80% of your time flying first class around the globe then you can live on a remarkably small amount money.
“Retirement planning calculators” are created by people trying to sell you a service. Seriously, if your retirement plan doesn’t include the purchase of a second house and a boat, and you don’t intend to spend 80% of your time flying first class around the globe then you can live on a remarkably small amount money.
I’m about to turn 31 and have in the past few years started saving heavily for my retirement (once my mortgage is paid off, I plan to “retire” at 45 and only work part-time jobs that really interest me). If you subtract mortgage payments from my household budget, I need approximately $6000 per year to pay for living expenses (my wife and I split all shared expenses 50-50). That includes property taxes, insurance, groceries, utility bills (electricity, internet, phone), etc. It doesn’t include money for entertainment or travel or anything else beyond mandatory expenses. So I figure I’ll need maybe $15-20k per year (in 2010 dollars, without adjusting for inflation) to have a comfortable retirement with ample money for trips and fun activities. I was explaining this to my baby boomer parents a few days ago, and they both expressed shock and said I was significantly underestimating the amount of money I’d need. They said they recently spoke with their investment advisor who calculated that they would need $80k/year to retire comfortable. EIGHTY-THOUSAND DOLLARS PER YEAR! Their mortgage is already paid off, and they’re planning to sell their home for a big profit and move into a smaller condo soon. How could they possibly require so much money for their retirement?
IF your house is paid off, you own your car and you don’t have any large debts outstanding, then yes I would agree with you. At that point, you just need money for monthly bills (heat, water, etc) and property taxes each year. Monthly payments will suck you dry if you’re trying to live off of your savings.
Medical expenses? Also depends on what they want to do in their retirement. That does seem high though, but your estimation of $20k a year seems low.
It sounds like he’s going to have a wife that keeps working, so that takes care of medical, which is huge. Otherwise, I support your plan kind sir! But I do notice that by your numbers, you’ll need to have $400,000-$800,000 saved, depending on if you’re going by raw money in the bank or calculating income from savings as well.
H.
I think MarchHare’s in Soviet Canuckastan, so that probably affects the calculations.
Ah, missed that. So the Canadian entitlements work for a shiftless 45-year-old? Have they no shame!? Seriously though, do they not have some sort of wealth requirement/threshold?
H.
What entitlements are you referring to health care? If so, no there are no requirements to qualify other than being a resident (for a minimum of three months in most provinces). If you’re referring to others, like Canada pension how much you receive is based on how much you contributed and you only qualify to receive it at 65. So if MarchHare retires at 45 he won’t get it for 20 years and when he does it’s likely to be rather low, as he won’t have paid into it for those 20 years, if it’s even still around, most take it as a given that it won’t be.
Baby Boomer chicks totally put out