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A boomer retirement bomb is about to blow up America's economy (www.businessinsider.com)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

212 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The great baby-boomer retirement wave is upon us. According to Census Bureau data, 44% of boomers are at retirement age and millions more are soon to join them. By 2030, the largest generation to enter retirement will all be older than 65.

The general assumption is that boomers will have a comfortable retirement. Coasting on their accumulated wealth from three decades as America's dominant economic force, boomers will sail off into their golden years to sip on margaritas on cruises and luxuriate in their well-appointed homes. After all, Federal Reserve data shows that while the 56 million Americans over 65 make up just 17% of the population, they hold more than half of America's wealth — $96.4 trillion.

But there's a flaw in the narrative of a sunny boomer retirement: A lot of older Americans are not set up for their later years. Yes, many members of the generation are loaded, but many more are not. Like every age cohort, there's significant wealth inequality among retirees — and it's gotten worse in the past decade. Despite holding more than half of the nation's wealth, many boomers don't have enough money to cover the costs of long-term care, and 43% of 55- to 64-year-olds had no retirement savings at all in 2022. That year, 30% of people over 65 were economically insecure, meaning they made less than $27,180 for a single person. And since younger boomers are less financially prepared for retirement than their older boomer siblings, the problem is bound to get worse.

As boomers continue to age out of the workforce, it's going to put strain on the healthcare system, government programs, and the economy. That means more young people are going to be financially responsible for their parents, more government spending will be allocated to older folks, and economic growth could slow.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The last boomers haven't. The youngest ones will be 60 this year. There are still tons of them in the workforce.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago (4 children)

No, that's what I'm saying. Those turning 60 this year are not Boomers. They are the generation that came between Boomers and GenX. Yeah, even this Wikipedia article lumps them in with Boomers, but they weren't considered Boomers as they were coming of age: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones They shouldn't be now, either. Ask any of them if they consider themselves Boomers.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

Will be 60 January 18th. NOT a boomer!

Started working when I was 14.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I'm 62 and had my first job at 12.

Mom disowned me and dad left everything to his 5th wife. No wealth dribbled down my way.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

You two are accused above of hording wealth.

Why didn't you retire yet?

Was it waiting for social security? Waiting for Medicare? Paying basic bills?

People don't seem to know your life, but are making a lot of assumptions.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

What gen are you in then?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

What gen are you in then?

Gen X

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I’m not sure it changes this conversation to argue about that. The usual demographic description of Boomers is those born up to 1964. If we define the Jones cohort, this just splits that in half, and that article gave an ending date 1965. I’m not sure how it matters to this conversation.

My older brother was born in 1965 and would be pissed off if anyone called him a boomer. We should do that

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

I was born in 1962 and I consider myself a Boomer. I have a friend born in 1961 who considers himself GenX. It's life circumstances and attitude that determine where you fit.

Also, everybody please remember all these generational labels are made-up bullshit and vast generalizations that might be useful for some meta-analysis of trends, but they're less than useless when it comes to understanding individual behavior.

Like I taught my kids, the minute you start thinking all people in "Group Whatever" are alike, you lose.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Ironically I think they are referred to as the silent generation. I’m genx my parents are boomers and older brother is silent generation. I think.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Silent generation precedes the boomers.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Ah sorry, thanks for the correction.