Posted on 07/15/2009 4:31:32 AM PDT by arthurus
The pulling of boomers money out of the market as they retire was going to harm stocks, and has been known for anyone paying attention for a long time.
You are going to have huge amounts of regular contributions into stocks and other investments dry up as they stop working and the money they have there will be moved to “safer” investments, now that they are drawing from them, not contributing to them.
Regardless of what else was going on economically this was going to happen, and happen right about now. All this other crap is just going to exacerbate it.
As I’m sure you know, I was being sarcastic. Gloating about one’s success and superior intelligence and/or wealth isn’t helpful; kind and wise advice to others is.
Yup.
Do you perchance know Marmaduke Surfaceblow?
So what lesson are the children of Boomers learning? Ole Mom & Dad saved for the future and half of it is gone...
Ya think the kids are going to invest in 401k's? LOL.
sw
You are proving my point.
“Oh, but the electronics, big house, nice cars, and eating out were more important than that 50 cent dollar match.”
...I remember one guy in particular that had a big bass boat he was always bragging on...but at the end, he had nothing in his 401-k....and I expect you’re exactly right; the grasshoppers will be coming after the ants now...the ‘hoppers ain’t got any money, but they got the vote and that’s all the Left cares about.
Stonewalls the Ant
sw
Shall I whistle and give you something to tap dance to?? Boomers did not "come on the scene together", we were born during an 18-year period following the end of WWII. And, unless you know something that the rest of the world doesn't, I don't expect that we will all be leaving "together" as you state. Your argument and your logic simply don't fly. Scotty is not going to beam us all up at one time and cart us away.
And, this isn't "Cocoon".
Well the lesson this child of boomers has learned is, all the rediculous nonsense that went on as parts of booms at least came home to roost before the people who’s decisions created most of them were alive to still see it.
When my parents started out, the median household income was about 25k, the cost of a year at Harvard was 2.5k and the median home price 24.2k. This was all at a time when the median home only had 1 full time worker in it.
Today, the median household income is about 45k, the median home price is 221,000 and a year at Harvard is 50k. In terms of real dollars, the median household today makes just a bit more than they did in 1971 when adjusted for inflation and has to have 2 income earners on average to do so. Faces a far higher debt load, far worse schools for their kids to attend, higher crime, etc etc etc.
Its going to take decades to clear up the mess that the pandering and entitlement that was created during the boomer years generated. Marketed to from their youth as something special and different, now we get to hear ads as they hit geriatric age still telling them the same thing.
What I’ve learned is all the crap about them being so special and different and the rules being different are complete and utter crap. The artificial reality created by that nonsensicle thinking is crashing down around us as we speak. Go back to the fundamentals, and ignore the white noise madison avenue created for the last 40-50 years.
You lost me?
LOL! Well, yeah....
Then again, there are boomers and there are "Boomers" ... the former being the vast majority: normal, hard-working folks who happened to be born during that time period; and the latter being that narcissistic group -- I'm sure you know the type -- who define themselves by the '60s, endlessly extol the virtues of their particular generation and seem to expect all manner of special treatment.
Square footage of these houses was frequently around 1200 sq. feet. Today, houses are 2000 to 3000 sq feet, with an incredible amount of built in appliances and gadgets.
A couple of things I've heard from talking to realtors, builders etc. All the energy efficiency hasn't lowered electrical consumption, as the square footage of houses and the number of appliances and computers, etc., greatly outdistances any savings from increased efficiency. Houses built before HVAC systems were designed to use natural ventilation.
Increased efficiency of production allowed for a natural increase in standard of living, but commodity stuff went a lot higher. I think television had a lot to do with the increased consumption. Back in the 70s, I read an article about the standard of living on television compared to reality. They mentioned that the girls on "One Day at a Time," about a single mother with two girls and no child support all wore designer clothes and shoes that cost over $100 a pair. The slave cabins in Roots were furnished with antique furniture that cost far more than the furniture in the average person's home. When filming a moderately successful businessman, they routinely rented the home of a millionaire. These images created expectations, and people spent and borrowed money to meet these expectations.
The pumping of money into the economy caused inflation. With more disposable income, people bought more consumables. As home financing changed people bought more opulent houses. It became almost unusual for a child to share a bedroom, let alone for several children to sleep in the same bed. One thing that will REALLY make me believe we've returned to reality will be when A&F is no longer able to sell worn out blue jeans for $150+.
Growing up in the fifties, my family didn't have much money. Apples were a luxury. We raised chickens in the back yard, and our fancy meal of the week was fried chicken. I remember the store where we bought our groceries. It was smaller than the average quickiemart. There were three brands of coffee: Folger's, Maryland Club, and Maxwell House, and no flavors. All the sodas were in bottles that you returned to the store, as was milk. People lived more frugally because they had to.
Good comments.
With my kids grown, we were able to find a very well built small brick ranch on a 2 acre lot and downsize.
Luckily we were able to sell the big house at a decent price, and just closed last month.
I think the real estate market has a lot of big homes to work off in the next decade or so.
Inflation was and is caused by one major cause, and one major cause only.. its called the Federal Reserve Bank. Long term inflation is a direct result of its existance.
Total cumulative inflation from 1789 to 1913 was 8%. From 1914 to today its been well over 2100%. There short term were spikes up and down before the fed reserve existed, but it always leveled back out to a dollar pretty much equalling a dollar. That doesn’t exist any more, your wealth is stolen from you, an most people have no clue or care. The inflation rate shot up even more once we left the gold standard as well.
I agree with you that pop culture is laughable. My grandfather raised 4 children in the years you grew up, he was the sole provider, and started on the plant floor and worked his way up to management. Got his degree in engineering and has several patents to his name. etc etc.
He came a long way from a kid who started his career putting stacking the corrigation into the feed hopper on the line. He hasn’t only lived the american dream, but was able to because of the opportunities that existed in America at that time. Now don’t get me wrong, America still has great opportunity, but if you are trying to raise a family off a high school degree in america today, you cannot argue you are better off than folks were a generation or two ago.
Just your example, if you live in an sort of urban or even small town today, raising chickens in the back yard is often illegal now. You have to go to that gigantic supermarket and pay way too much per pound for that.
I believe America is a land of opportunity, but I also know that access to the opportunities on average or not what they were.. As we have moved from a manufacturing based economy to a service based economy we have exported a lot of our wealth in the process. That’s not made up dreamland either, that’s reality. Every manufacturing job creates about 3.5 additional jobs in an economy, ever service job about 1.6 additional jobs. See anything in that? The ration of service jobs created vs manufacturing jobs created is about 2 to 1.. about the same as the amout of workers it takes to make the same amount of real dollars as it did back when we were primarily a manufacturing economy. This stuff hasn’t happened by accident.
Yes, today the cost of many things are lower, relative to income, due to cheaper imported goods, but the things that matter are insanely more expensive, and not just because newer things are more complex or larger, but because our earning ability has truly shrunk on average to 1/2 of what it was just 30-40 years ago in terms of real dollars. Housing, education, health care all grotesquely outstrip income etc etc.
Congratulations for your achievement and I hope you are enjoying your retirement as much as we are.
Thanks for your service as well.
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