POWIP Piece of Work In Progress – Former Abode of Dan Collins

Boomer Retirement Watch — 3 Jan 2011

I have a few google news alerts set up to help me hoover up all the retirement- and pension-related articles out there [I also have help from people like Dan and a few correspondents who send along interesting stuff]. And a bunch of Boomer retirement whining has started to creep into my alerts. I figure I might as well turn this into a feature.

DUH RETIREMENT ADVICE FOR BOOMERS:

[edited heavily for content]

1. Have a plan
2. Save more
3. Retire later
4. Scale back your lifestyle
5. Delay Social Security

6. Quit whining

Speaking of whining:

The first of the baby boomers—the post-war Americans born between 1946 and 1965—start to hit retirement age in 2011. And they're not coasting gracefully into the golden years. The entire nation, of course, lost its spunk during the recession that lasted from 2007 to 2009. But the once-upbeat baby boomers seem to be taking the longest to shake off the blues. According to surveys by the Pew Research Center, 80 percent of boomers say they're dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country, a higher proportion than any other age group, younger or older. Part of that may be natural, since people in their 50s tend to deal with the highest amounts of stress and show the lowest satisfaction levels. But the boomer bummer may also reflect the changing fortunes of America itself, and widespread unease about the nation's future.

Yes, I know I'm an unpleasant person to be around b/c I remind people of stuff like their mortality [I'm not here to make friends]. But the way I really annoy is I know a lot of history. And seriously? People have it pretty sweet now compared to prior millennia.

So guess what? Many of the boomers will live well into their 90s, and if they want to avoid the cat food route, they should keep working til they really can't do it any more.

Some note that the boomers' problem is their own fault:

The people who want their benefits preserved are the ones responsible for the problem. After all, it was they who broke the "chain of trust" by which each working generation supports the retired generation's benefits. They reduced the number of their children to about two per family, or even fewer, so that today there are about 60 to 70 million fewer consumers and workers than there would have been, and that many fewer people to support the boomer retirees and soon-to-be retirees.

It would be condign punishment if the boomers' benefits were indeed cut; it would be the utmost in "fairness." In the meantime, the coming generation of workers must be educated to the economic and demographic benefits, and even psychological benefits, of stable marriages and families with many children, say six to eight.

In other words, to save Social Security, have babies.

Now, my parents had 3, but it was nothing on my mom's family of 6. My dad came from a family of 3, though.

Those darned Protestants.

[Love ya, grandma!]

Gag-inducing story from NPR:

It may be hard to believe, but the generation that transformed America as it came of age in the 1960s is now entering its senior years.

"There are 7,000 boomers a day who will be turning 65 in 2011, which is a significant birthday for sure," says Steve Cone, executive vice president of AARP.

Sixty-five used to be the age when Americans stopped working, kicked back and embarked on serious leisure to make up for all those decades of the daily grind. But just like with every other stage of life they've gone through, baby boomers are expected to transform how we think about "retirement."

If I hear about how the boomers are reinventing hip replacement and senile dementia, I will be very, very displeased.

More stupidity in being surprised that time moves at 1 year per year:

Green Bay's first baby boomer graduated from West High School and maintains close ties to the community.
....

"I didn't think of myself as a baby boomer until it started being talked about," he said. "Right away I realized, 'Hey, I'm the first.' I thought it was cool."
....

"I'm kind of surprised that I'm that old. I feel kind of young," he said about reaching retirement.

What, did he expect to be dead by now? How the hell can he be surprised to get old? This is one of the most inevitable things that happens to person [and you can't be surprised to be dead...well, maybe you can, but people generally aren't quoted about that]. You can be surprised to have a broken leg or a kid from a dalliance decades past that you didn't know about. But surprised to get old?

Dear lord, we're going to have at least 20 years of this, aren't we?

[Love ya, ma!]

Meep

Meep is a member of the Irish Catholic mafia, having a suspiciously high number of green-eyed, red-haired friends. While she doesn’t have red hair herself [except when she goes into the sun (rare for any vampire)], she does have green eyes. She’s a raving Papist and is a life actuary on the side [i.e., she counts dead people]. An amateur pain-in-the-ass [willing to go pro!], she likes covering retirement, mortality, math, and education issues.