Posted on 01/17/2013 9:02:32 PM PST by blam
Do You Want To Scare A Baby Boomer?
By Michael Snyder
January 17th, 2013
If you want to frighten Baby Boomers, just show them the list of statistics in this article. The United States is headed for a retirement crisis of unprecedented magnitude, and we are woefully unprepared for it. At this point, more than 10,000 Baby Boomers are reaching the age of 65 every single day, and this will continue to happen for almost the next 20 years. The number of senior citizens in America is projected to more than double during the first half of this century, and some absolutely enormous financial promises have been made to them. So will we be able to keep those promises to the hordes of American workers that are rapidly approaching retirement?
Of course not. State and local governments are facing trillions in unfunded pension liabilities. Medicare is facing a 38 trillion dollar shortfall over the next 75 years. The Social Security system is facing a 134 trillion dollar shortfall over the next 75 years. Meanwhile, nearly half of all American workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement. The truth is that I was being incredibly kind when I said earlier that we are "woefully unprepared" for what is coming. The biggest retirement crisis in history is rapidly approaching, and a lot of the promises that were made to the Baby Boomers are going to get broken.
The following are 35 incredibly shocking statistics that will scare just about any Baby Boomer...
1. Right now, there are somewhere around 40 million senior citizens in the United States. By 2050 that number is projected to skyrocket to 89 million.
2. According to one recent poll, 25 percent of all Americans in the 46 to 64-year-old age bracket have no retirement savings at all.
3. 26 percent of all Americans in the 46 to 64-year-old age bracket have no personal savings whatsoever.
4. One survey that covered all American workers found that 46 percent of them have less than $10,000 saved for retirement.
5. According to a survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, "60 percent of American workers said the total value of their savings and investments is less than $25,000".
6. A Pew Research survey found that half of all Baby Boomers say that their household financial situations have deteriorated over the past year.
7. 67 percent of all American workers believe that they "are a little or a lot behind schedule on saving for retirement".
8. Today, one out of every six elderly Americans lives below the federal poverty line.
9. More elderly Americans than ever are finding that they must continue working once they reach their retirement years. Between 1985 and 2010, the percentage of Americans in the 65 to 69-year-old age bracket that were still working increased from 18 percent to 32 percent.
10. Back in 1991, half of all American workers planned to retire before they reached the age of 65. Today, that number has declined to 23 percent.
11. According to one recent survey, 70 percent of all American workers expect to continue working once they are "retired".
12. According to a poll conducted by AARP, 40 percent of all Baby Boomers plan to work "until they drop".
13. A poll conducted by CESI Debt Solutions found that 56 percent of American retirees still had outstanding debts when they retired.
14. Elderly Americans tend to carry much higher balances on their credit cards than younger Americans do. The following is from a recent CNBC article...
New research from the AARP also shows that those ages 50 and over are carrying higher balances on their credit cards -- $8,278 in 2012 compared to $6,258 for the under-50 population.
15. A study by a law professor at the University of Michigan found that Americans that are 55 years of age or older now account for 20 percent of all bankruptcies in the United States. Back in 2001, they only accounted for 12 percent of all bankruptcies.
16. Between 1991 and 2007 the number of Americans between the ages of 65 and 74 that filed for bankruptcy rose by a staggering 178 percent.
17. What is causing most of these bankruptcies among the elderly? The number one cause is medical bills. According to a report published in The American Journal of Medicine, medical bills are a major factor in more than 60 percent of the personal bankruptcies in the United States. Of those bankruptcies that were caused by medical bills, approximately 75 percent of them involved individuals that actually did have health insurance.
18. In 1945, there were 42 workers for every retiree receiving Social Security benefits. Today, that number has fallen to 2.5 workers, and if you eliminate all government workers, that leaves only 1.6 private sector workers for every retiree receiving Social Security benefits.
19. Millions of elderly Americans these days are finding it very difficult to survive on just a Social Security check. The truth is that most Social Security checks simply are not that large. The following comes directly from the Social Security Administration website...
The average monthly Social Security benefit for a retired worker was about $1,230 at the beginning of 2012. This amount changes monthly based upon the total amount of all benefits paid and the total number of people receiving benefits.
Could you live on about 300 dollars a week?
20. Social Security benefits are not going to stretch as far in future years. The following is from an article on the AARP website...
Social Security benefits won't go as far, either. In 2002, benefits replaced 39 percent of the average retirees salary, and that will decline to 28 percent in 2030, when the youngest boomers reach full retirement age, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
21. In the United States today, more than 61 million Americans receive some form of Social Security benefits. By 2035, that number is projected to soar to a whopping 91 million.
22. Overall, the Social Security system is facing a 134 trillion dollar shortfall over the next 75 years.
23. As I wrote about in a previous article, the number of Americans on Medicare is expected to grow from 50.7 million in 2012 to 73.2 million in 2025.
24. Medicare is facing unfunded liabilities of more than 38 trillion dollars over the next 75 years. That comes to approximately $328,404 for each and every household in the United States.
25. Today, only 10 percent of private companies in the U.S. provide guaranteed lifelong pensions for their employees.
26. Verizon's pension plan is underfunded by 3.4 billion dollars.
27. In California, the Orange County Employees Retirement System is estimated to have a 10 billion dollar unfunded pension liability.
28. The state of Illinois has accumulated unfunded pension liabilities of more than 77 billion dollars.
29. Pension consultant Girard Miller told California's Little Hoover Commission that state and local government bodies in the state of California have 325 billion dollars in combined unfunded pension liabilities.
30. According to Northwestern University Professor John Rauh, the latest estimate of the total amount of unfunded pension and healthcare obligations for retirees that state and local governments across the United States have accumulated is 4.4 trillion dollars.
31. In 2010, 28 percent of all American workers with a 401(k) had taken money out of it at some point.
32. Back in 2004, American workers were taking about 30 billion dollars in early withdrawals out of their 401(k) accounts every single year. Right now, American workers are pulling about 70 billion dollars in early withdrawals out of their 401(k) accounts every single year.
33. Today, 49 percent of all American workers are not covered by an employment-based pension plan at all.
34. According to a recent survey conducted by Americans for Secure Retirement, 88 percent of all Americans are worried about "maintaining a comfortable standard of living in retirement".
35. A study conducted by Boston College's Center for Retirement Research found that American workers are $6.6 trillion short of what they need to retire comfortably.
So what is the solution? Well, one influential organization of business executives says that the solution is to make Americans wait longer for retirement. The following is from a recent CBS News article...
An influential group of business CEOs is pushing a plan to gradually increase the full retirement age to 70 for both Social Security and Medicare and to partially privatize the health insurance program for older Americans.
The Business Roundtable's plan would protect those 55 and older from cuts but younger workers would face significant changes. The plan unveiled Wednesday would result in smaller annual benefit increases for all Social Security recipients. Initial benefits for wealthy retirees would also be smaller.
But considering the fact that there aren't nearly enough jobs for all Americans already, perhaps that is not such a great idea. If we expect Americans to work longer, then we are going to need our economy to start producing a lot more good jobs than it is producing right now.
Of course the status quo is not going to work either. There is no way that we are going to be able to meet the financial obligations that are coming due.
The federal government, our state governments and our local governments are already drowning in debt and we are already spending far more money than we bring in each year. How in the world are we going to make ends meet as our obligations to retirees absolutely skyrocket in the years ahead?
That is something to think about.
So what do you think? Do you believe that there is a solution to our retirement crisis? Do you think that we can actually keep all of the promises that we have made to the Baby Boomers?
The way it is going now, it will be the younger generation never packing their luggage and leaving Mom and Dad.
If it’s not a boomer program, why did the boomers insist on keeping it? You’ve had 24 years of boomer presidents to get rid of it.
Compared to my folks generation, most boomers have been left with a derailed country, lost jobs, lost homes, lost medical insurance, bankrupt retirement plans, lost investments, lawless borders and a corrupt government...Then their told government looted Social Security, it's bankrupt and they might have to work till they drop dead....
My mom would have never been able to deal with what millions are dealing with today...She was one of the millions of stay at home moms, who never had to work a day in her life outside the home..She and much of her generation went though the late 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s living pretty damn easy...I'm not hold that against her, I'm just telling it like it is..
Don’t really sympathize. Imagine you’re trying to get married for the FIRST time but you’re shelling out SS Tax.
I’m sorry you don’t love your partner enough to sacrifice for them.
One of the best moves I ever made was joining the Air National Guard when my active duty time was up. An extra $2000 a month and full use of any military base amenity for life. We buy most of our food at the commissary at a 40 percent savings over the civilian economy. And I can fly space A for nothing. Yeah, best move I ever made.
A-Men. A-Men.
I get by on half that!
Boomers have never known hard time - good thing they are teaching us!
What a goofy post.
Boomers seem to be the generation that is trying to fix it, challenging it, yet again, people like you associate it as a “boomer” program.
“millions of stay at home moms, who never had to work a day in her life outside the home”
That sums up the boomer perspective perfectly. Yeah, stay at home moms contribute nothing.
“Boomers seem to be the generation that is trying to fix it, challenging it, yet again, people like you associate it as a “boomer” program.”
Right. When did Clinton fix it? When did Bush fix it? When did Obama ‘fix’ it?
You’ve had 24 years already since 1992 to fix it. What, are you going to get it right now?
It is a boomer program - you’ve had your chance to fix it and you all failed.
I’ve read your posts...Your full of cheet.
Gee, you sound like that generation between the WWII generation and boomer Sarah Palin.
The generation of the 1960s, the Beatles, and Stones, and Jane Fonda, and William Ayers, and Jimi Hendrix.
> What is so surprising about this data. The country celebrates debt and interest payments and the baby boom has no concept of hard times.
Get yourself out of debt, stop paying interest and watch your savings grow quickly.
Oh yes we do. Lived on the streets many times; some of them when I didn’t own a car and had to sleep wherever I could; had no obey and food and remember the pangs of hunger, the feeling of freezing winter, hopeless with no place to go, having to wash my hair in the sinks of service station bathrooms and having jaegers hand dryer to dry my hair ...so you don’t know what you are talking about...: )
I’ve come a long way since then but Obama is heading me back in that direction and I’m trying o fight him but he keeps throwing irons in the fire...
BTW - I don’t owe anything but the mortgage and a small credit card bill that comes in every month that always paid off in full. Funds are still going down even after cutting corners in just about anyway I can. We just seem to live in a world where everyone now charges a premium price or the government foists a new tax, fee, or surcharge to keep draining our coffers lower and lower.
“The generation of the 1960s, the Beatles, and Stones, and Jane Fonda, and William Ayers, and Jimi Hendrix.”
Sure, if I did drugs, got married and joined a commune!
“I’ve read your posts...Your full of cheet.”
Coming from someone who said stay at home moms are worth it? That’s a badge of honor.
This isn't Ozzy and Harriet Missy....This is not old America...Reboot yourself.
LOL, Social Security is a "boomer program", and when a president is of a certain age, he is supposed to end a program that there is every reason will remain permanent in some form.
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Seems history is repeating itself. Every young mom I know, including my own daughters, have college degrees but do not work. They want to be stay at home moms. Such luxury was alien to me but then they are all married to successful men. I was a divorced working mom. Maybe they don't want to be me but Gen X-ers are lazy is my take.
“Try working full time to make ends meet”
I would be in heaven. Full time hours, with regular daytime hours with one employer? Where can I sign up?
“also raising kids, and keeping a home like millions of boomer moms”
You think I want to be single? I don’t make enough yet to be able to support a family.
“This is not old America”
Right, we look at Ozzie and Harriet and see a happy, well adjusted family. Then we look at the drugged out craziness of Woodstock. We long for Ozzie and Harriet - but what we get is drugged out stoner and hippy culture! No thanks!
Part of the solution to the SS problem is the clamor to legalize those who have stolen into the country. The expectation is that many are young and will be paying into the Ponzi Security System, to allow it to float a little longer before it crashes.
You can’t even quote accurately or simply evaded what was said.
See the tag line.
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