Welcome to ‘peak boomer’ era: A wave of retirees is about to blow through their savings and cling to Social Security to stay afloat

8 comments

1. Jesus, this is a bleak outlook all the way around. Something not covered in the article was the potential for this “peak boomer” (god, I love that term) generation to lean on their children for financial assistance in retirement and the likelihood that they’ll rack up tens-to-hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical debt trying to stay alive for the next three decades.

   My guess is that many of these people will keep working for as long as they can, deep into their 70’s, only opening the door to retirement once their body and brain finally gives out.

   Good luck, everyone!

2. How odd that other rich countries aren’t seeing this crisis blow up to nearly the same degree. This couldn’t possibly have something to do with high unionization rates and mandatory employer pensions, could it?

3. Greatest country in the world, right guys?!?! RIGHT?!

4. I don’t think this will be as impactful to the economy as this article suggests.

   Less than 1% of the population are entering into retirement age with a disproportionate portion of them less prepared than they should be. Some have adequate savings or pensions. Some of them will work. Some will have to live modestly. Quite a lot of Boomers overall will be dead within a decade, so this is a pretty short-term phenomenon.

   Debt cannot be inherited, and poor retirees end up on Medicaid so the impact on their children is mostly no inheritance.

   I guess if you were hoping to cancel SS you might be annoyed that this would make it more consequential, but to me that seems a step back.

5. Y’all best get to work now and fund my retirement.

6. I’m one of them young boomers.

   A decent retirement was something I always planned for. I learned early to save first; I stayed in the military (active/reserve) for a long time because I liked it AND the pension that I just started collecting, and stayed at my last job for 20+ years as it had a pension, as well.

   That being said, 60 today isn’t the same as 60 was 50 years ago, especially if you have a decent, non-backbreaking job. I could do what I am doing, even going higher if I wanted to, because I am somewhere I like doing what I am doing, it pays well, and I am in good health for another 10 years.

   However, I saw a lot of degradation in retirement plans over the years, even with the military pension. It isn’t quite as good as if I had joined a bit earlier, and they’ve knickle and dimed future increases for those who came after me. The 401k was a great idea, but it depended on a bit of discipline and maybe some sacrifice, and was certainly cheaper to the organization offering it -which is why so many places phased out traditional offerings.

7. I bet… in a few years… we vote to raise taxes on the wealthy (good) and young (bad) to pay for more retirement services. Got a feeling

8. At least some Boomers had pensions and largely paid off their debt. Wait until the younger generations “retire” with no pensions, jack shit in their 401ks, and piles of debt.