US braces for baby boom retirement wave

[Ave Maria]

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The first of the vast US baby boom generation goes into retirement in January, setting off a demographic tidal wave with wide-ranging economic, political and social implications.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2007122...hicselderly;_ylt=AhJl1CzVgpl4TnS9e2urBIIDW7oF

I hope our social security system can handle this.

 

[GrannieAnnie]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2007122...hicselderly;_ylt=AhJl1CzVgpl4TnS9e2urBIIDW7oF

I hope our social security system can handle this.

I think many countries are going to be affected by this...I'll be 57 in February and they are often talking about the situation here in Australia too. Employers won't take on "mature" people and many of the young ones don't want to work....NOT ALL YOUNG ONES...but many !! So there is a shortage of workers and the government not only has to pay seniors pensions, but the dole to the younger unemployed too.........a big problem.

 

[Yusuf Evans]

We knew this was coming. SS is going to be bankrupt by the time we in Gen X reach retirement age. You and I are paying for a system that we, nor our kids, are going to be allowed to use.

 

[GrannieAnnie]

We knew this was coming. SS is going to be bankrupt by the time we in Gen X reach retirement age. You and I are paying for a system that we, nor our kids, are going to be allowed to use.

I've never understood the meaning of.....generation X....what does it mean ???

 

[MrJim]

I've never understood the meaning of.....generation X....what does it mean ???

according to wiki it's the generation born 1965-1980

 

[simplicity]

X stands for excellent, I think.

You can see the presence of the X by the types of films being produced these days - some of the most successful being from stories by Marvel Comics. I can still remember when everything on TV was boring. Now it seems like the producers are doing everything for me.

The costs to support a lot of retirees will be staggering. In Canada however we don't have a problem getting young people to look for work. There is still a tendency to make jobs available only to young people, which I think is a big mistake. We are gradually moving away from that situation.

I personally don't see myself ever retiring. But that's okay. It was a little bit of an illusion anyways.

 

[Billnew]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2007122...hicselderly;_ylt=AhJl1CzVgpl4TnS9e2urBIIDW7oF

I hope our social security system can handle this.

Babyboomers back in the diapers?
Both parties know SSI will be bankrupt in a few years, but neither wants to fix it.
Why fix it when you can milk it for some votes.

 

[GrannieAnnie]

X stands for excellent, I think.

You can see the presence of the X by the types of films being produced these days - some of the most successful being from stories by Marvel Comics. I can still remember when everything on TV was boring. Now it seems like the producers are doing everything for me.

The costs to support a lot of retirees will be staggering. In Canada however we don't have a problem getting young people to look for work. There is still a tendency to make jobs available only to young people, which I think is a big mistake. We are gradually moving away from that situation.

I personally don't see myself ever retiring. But that's okay. It was a little bit of an illusion anyways.

My husband never thought he'd ...retire...early, at 54...but he was what we call....retrenched....and was never able to get employment again, because he was...too old !!! That was about 18 yrs ago, he's 72 now and proper retirement age.

I don't know much about movies, never took much interest in them.

And thanks Mr.Jim for explaining what Generation X means...

 

[Foolish_Fool]

I don't really see how my generation will be able to retire.

-There will be no social security. Let's face it, it's a doomed system.

-Retirement packages are being slashed. I know alot of guys across several companies who are retiring early because if they don't, they'll lose alot of retirement money as the companies cut benefits. This trend shows no signs of reversing.

-Odds are that the dollar will continue to devalue and will have been usurped by the Euro as the preferred international currency by then as well. The buying power of the dollar will have taken a huge hit.

So basically we'll just have our savings and a crappy pension, if you're lucky.

 

[Phylogeny]

My parents are the prime baby boomer age and will be facing retirement in the coming years. It's a scary proposition for them because they should be expecting a pension plan on top of their 401(k) (they were the last people hired to get the pension plan).

Now, they are seeing retirement benefits that the company offered to previous retirees being rescinded for the current crop of retirees and they fear not getting the full benefit package promised to them by their company.

I think they will be ok financially but I worry about their health care costs. End of life care is expensive and can send families into bankruptcy. I will be willing to pay a lot for good health care insurance so that my parents will get good care without sending me to the poor house. However, I wonder how many other families will have to deal with such prospects with few financial resources?

It scares me to think of such a large group of people retiring and in eventual need of expensive care which our system will not be able to provide.

 

[SolomonVII]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2007122...hicselderly;_ylt=AhJl1CzVgpl4TnS9e2urBIIDW7oF

I hope our social security system can handle this.

You can expect a shift of government money away from the military and toward health care benefits for the aged in the coming years.

Maybe the rest of the world will breath a sigh of relief not to receiving the protection of an American military as has been the case since 1945.
Maybe not. But either way, there will have to be a shift of prioirities in order to take care of this aging block of voters, and military spending is a good chunk of money in America.

In the long run, no, such socialism is unsustainable and requires a continuing baby boom to replenish the workers paying into the benefits accrued.
I suppose that high levels of imported workers would keep the systemrunning too, as long as huge levels of support are not required to enable these workers to fit in and do the required work.

It is not self-correcting either, for nobody votes for a cessation of benefits in the interests of a sustaining economy.

But the baby boomers have got the numbers to get what they want.
And what old people invariably want is health care.

 

[UberLutheran]

I don't really see how my generation will be able to retire.

-There will be no social security. Let's face it, it's a doomed system.

-Retirement packages are being slashed. I know alot of guys across several companies who are retiring early because if they don't, they'll lose alot of retirement money as the companies cut benefits. This trend shows no signs of reversing.

-Odds are that the dollar will continue to devalue and will have been usurped by the Euro as the preferred international currency by then as well. The buying power of the dollar will have taken a huge hit.

So basically we'll just have our savings and a crappy pension, if you're lucky.

BOTH of us will probably not be able to retire.

The company I worked for ate our retirement package when the subsidiary of that company (which is my employer) was sold to another company.

And the money which had been contributed to our retirement went "bye-bye".

Of course, given the continuous string of 65-hour weeks we've been working since the first quarter of this year, maybe we'll die of heart attacks brought on by overwork before we retire.

 

[Foolish_Fool]

Of course, given the continuous string of 65-hour weeks we've been working since the first quarter of this year, maybe we'll die of heart attacks brought on by overwork before we retire.

One can only hope.

 

[simplicity]

I'm glad that more Americans are discussing these sorts of issues. As people get older, they want and need affordable medical care. And they also start to appreciate the true value of a healthy natural environment that has fresh air and clean water. A stock portfolio is worthless if its beneficiary is dying or near death.

Heathcare is really a worthwhile issue to bring up during the election. If it's not, well, much of the world could care less. It's really the sort of thing Americans have to decide for themselves. The problem is that if the basic framework isn't handled now, it might be too late to address the difficulties later. It's a time-sensitive and complicated kind of situation.