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Posted on 11/10/2011 4:21:38 AM PST by Publius804
Will Baby Boomers be the last generation to enjoy the modern concept of a leisure-filled retirement? It's a worthy question to ponder in light of a new Pew Research Center report showing a growing wealth gap between young and old in the United States.
Using government data over the last 25 years, Pew found that households headed by those over 65 have made "dramatic gains" in economic well-being, while those headed by younger adults have fallen steadily behind.
In 2009, elderly households possessed 42 percent more median net worth than their same-age counterparts had in 1984. Young adults veered in the opposite direction: Households headed by those under the age of 35 had 68 percent less wealth in 2009 than those in their same age range had in 1984.
Put simply, the age-based wealth gap was 10:1 in 1984. A quarter-century later, it's 47:1.
It's obvious why older Americans typically have a higher net worth -- extra years of earning -- but the rising gap illustrates a growing problem, one worsened by the Great Recession: Many Americans in their golden years are enjoying a retirement that, most likely, will be extinct by the time today's younger workers reach their 60s.
That reality is setting the stage for a generational war over retirement, and a large part of the equation is Social Security. The political fault lines on the issue already are real.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
We exchange tips on agility with our walkers....
Sorry
Meant nursing home.
(If they’re still around after 2014)
How dare you confuse the prejudiced with facts. Yesterday some idiot was blaming boomers for letting communists get a "foothold" in the universities.
“Will Baby Boomers be the last generation to enjoy the modern concept of a leisure-filled retirement?”
They’s also be the first....My grandparents never even considered retirement and I don’t recall it ever being a topic of discussion until my parents started talking about it.
“In 2009, elderly households possessed 42 percent more median net worth than their same-age counterparts had in 1984.”
The dam evil wall street!
Good to hear! But you are not the norm.
All the data I have seen shows that most retired people spend a lot at first, then in a few years spending goes down to below what they were paying out (in total) during their earlier years.
They have most disposable cash, but less month to month outlay.
ErnBatavia is a boomer. I, having been born on June 29, 1945, am a bit too old to be one but we both like getting those S.S. checks every month, so you kids (assuming you are young yet) keep on working and keep those checks coming to us.
DaleReed, the other member I've pinged, has been sucking up those S.S. checks longer that we have so he's ahead of us. We are all a part of the "Greedy Old Bastards" club, here at F.R.
(I have too, that's where all the covers are)
Did you hear about the couple who had been married for 70 years? They were sitting in their rockers one evening and he turned to her and said, "I'm so proud of you dear". She turned to him and said, "That's OK, I'm tired of you too".
Sorry, darlin’. I’m older’n you. My SS check amounts to $175/mo. I’m bankrupting the country in my own teeny-tiny way lol!
More power to you and thank you for leaving our country better than you found it!
You’re a hoot, Graybeard58!
“The problem is that the “conservative base” prefers to cuddle with the Republican Party, and I know of few (if any) young’uns who trust the Republican Party, especially after the Party’s behavior of the past decade. Shucks, I myself don’t trust the Republican Party after Bush and a Republican Congress went on a spending orgy!”
Perfect time to recall that it was a GOP controlled Congress and Dubya the idiot who passed Medicare Part D aka “free pills for granny paid for by the younger workers.” Most of the old folks around here are all about small government till you threaten to cut THEIR free pill gravy train.
“Too bad, so sad for the “youts”. They had their chance when Bush proposed private accounts.”
ROTFLMAO! Nice try there but you conveniently forget several things. First the bill failed due to the fact that the GOP controlled Congress was getting pounded into submission by AARP and the old folks organizations. If the young are blameworthy its not being as politically organized as their grandparents and thus weren’t able to help Bush overcome the geezer pressure. Second, the “youts” were already screwed even before SS reforms came up the pike. Google Medicare Part D. It came to pass in 03. It gives free pills to granny. It will cost the young in this country trillions for just the upcoming decade! Have a nice day.
Careful... nowadays you might find some of the youth willing to deliver a bit of the ol’ ultraviolence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWLByMshYIU
Ninety-nine percent of conservatives are about small, limited government until it comes time to cut their favorite program or stop issuing them checks.
Poor babies. It's not like the geezers were never young once too. ;-)
They were. They voted in such stellar politicians as LBJ who gave this country the esteemed legacy of Medicare and Medicaid which are going to bankrupt this country.
Baby boomers also voted in Reagan. Waitin’ now for the youths to step up and redeem themselves after falling for hope and change.
The Boomer’s then had a large role in voting in Dubya who was such an exceptionally bad President that he ensured Obama’s election and turned off much of the youth from the GOP.
http://www.shu.edu/academics/scholarship/scholarship-detail.cfm?customel_datapageid_298601=355005
“The strong youth vote for Obama in 2008 was thus both pro-Obama and anti-Bush in nature. The huge age gap in 2008 suggests a split of the electorate along generational lines and the long-term consequences of the age gap appear to overwhelmingly favor the Democratic Party. George W. Bush’s unpopular and divisive presidency helped to make the youngest generation of American voters increasingly Democratic in their vote preference.”
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