Ademographic stampede is about to pulverize American society. Eighty million retirees—the baby boom generation—are rapidly heading into their retirement years. And according to a survey released on Tuesday, Americans have less money than ever.
“People just don’t want to think about this.” Instead, everyone prefers to stick their head in the sand until it is too late to do anything, says Jack VanDerhei, research director for the Employee Benefit Research Institute (ebri).
According to VanDerhei, the percentage of American workers with virtually no retirement savings grew for the third straight year. Of the over 1,000 workers and retirees surveyed who were over the age of 25, a whopping 27 percent said they had less than $1,000 in savings. That’s up by over 7 percent from last year.
The percentage of workers who said they have less than $10,000 in savings (the equivalent of 3 months’ worth of average yearly salary) jumped to 43 percent, up 4 percent from 2009.
The great American recession is already taking its toll, despite still being in its early stages.
On average, U.S. consumers are going $300 in the hole per month after all expenses are met, says John Lekas, senior portfolio manager for Leader Short-Term Bond Fund. And Lekas says conditions are only going to get worse, as real unemployment (as measured by the government U6 number) heads toward 25 percent over the next couple of years.
For many families, conditions would already have been much worse had governments not borrowed billions to pay out extended unemployment benefits, food stamps and other welfare.
Wow, I just returned from a dinner party with 40 people mostly over 65 years of age and already retired. Everyone was talking about how much money they lost in the last two years or so.Stocks,Real Estate,no interest at the bank E.T.C. This was a group of upper middle income seniors. They all are cutting way back. no more new cars,trips. All retired with nothing to worry about and now the 100k a year is 40k a year.Paid for homes and now not enough for the upkeep. They were a huge consumer market.Who's going to buy Cadilac,Lincoln,and Lexus now.
ReplyDeleteAnd when the old legs stop pedalling the wheel stops.
ReplyDeleteGoing to be a few generations of hell to go through to pay for the theme park cage we traded reality for.
10:31
ReplyDeleteYa life's tough when you can't afford servants anymore.
Oh it's going to get ugly... and the wailing...
10:39, I know many have it much worse than this group. I think what struck me was the realization that only the super rich are not affected, by this economic meltdown.
ReplyDeleteHey, where's Laura at these days man?
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen her around here lately.
The poor thing.
All she did was post her racist ass opinions here.
and in other news, FEMA opened two new 'theme parks' around the country, bringing the present total to 864.
ReplyDeleteAm I hearing voices? When did I post racist remarks? I was just saying all American sheep should just shut the f#$% up and start growing food gardens.
ReplyDeletehow can you have any savings after being underemployed or unemployed, no cobra or health insurance, being foreclosed upon and no one will hire you because you're over age 50 and you've declared bankruptcy trying to save your home. Catch 22. no jobs. and grossly understated that there are six applicants for every job--it's more like 100 for every one. All the stats are jimmied to look good and bs.
ReplyDeleteIt's the fault of retirees or close to retirement folks who gambled in the market or didn't save thru the years. Smart folks put their money in CD's and treasuries, even paying low interest and held on thru the years. Now some are retired, who stayed out of the risky investments, and live simply, not trying to compete with the Jones and drive Hyundais.
ReplyDeleteDO NOT FILL OUT THE CENSUS FORMS WHEN THEY COME, A FRIEND OF MINE IN THE GOVT SAYS THEY WILL USE THOSE AGAINST YOU WHEN THE CRACKDOWN BEGINS!
ReplyDeleteOh, please. The Census form is not a prelude to FEMA camps. Stop listening to Alex Jones.
ReplyDeleteAs for why old people--and everyone else--have no money, you can thank the rising cost of living over the last decades while incomes remained flat. Throw in several medical problems, car repair, a new roof, expensive drugs, the cost of gasoline, the cost of heating, letting the utility companies gouge us, increasing property and school and other local taxes, rising health insurance premiums, food inflation, and just about everything else I can name. If you manage to pay for all of that, there's nothing left.
"Ya life's tough when you can't afford servants anymore.
ReplyDeleteOh it's going to get ugly... and the wailing..."
Particularly for the servants.
last time I filled out a census was 30 years ago. Hadn't seen one since until today. The last one only asked how many people lived in the household and I think maybe race. This one asks names, age, if you own your home, race. They should only be asking how many live in the household because its suppose to be a head count. I don't know how the gov can use this info to crack down on us unless they use it to charge us taxes for carbon credits. Like figuring out how much an average person shits, and how much carbon dioxide each person is putting out, doing the very things humans have done since their creation. What happens if you don't fill it out?
ReplyDeletenothing happens, you never got it, did you sign for it, if not trash it, they cant prove you got it
ReplyDeletedj superstoke
ReplyDeletedj katmandu
ReplyDeletecensus form is a way for govt to know you exist and they will come to blow your head off
ReplyDelete