Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire "Boomers" have dismal retirement investments.

It would appear that those who saved have hit a nerve with those who have not.

Boomer here and doing just fine.

Spot on. Love to read the continuum of the whining "have not's" that have chosen their destination. Even with their less that apparent misfortunes they would have been far better off with the funds developed from a non-brain dead start when they were young. More entitler's? Always wondered, given their clear "misfortunes" how they are advising their children to be less "misfortunate". Denial with a vengeance.

Nope. Those who have not likely ain't posting. What has hit a nerve is a double dose of "smug".

For my own part I have never cared much about money, but am set up OK at least for my own modest standard of living.

Looking at my family it runs the gamut, from comfortably retired already to no retirement saved to speak of. Generally speaking those without retirement are that way due to a combination of career choices and major setbacks; health, job, family, marriage etc..... Dunno a one of those in the hole financially who got that way due to being conspicuously more profligate with funds than the rest of us.

But, as to the original post; unquestionably a lot of aging Americans are gonna experience a sort of poverty.

Birdwatcher

PE Boomers are doing just fine, there on the indentured servant plan...

That is exactly what happened to my family situation.

My wife and I were putting funds into investments, college funds, and savings. Then my youngest got sick and it was more than $3K per month out of pocket. I'd much rather put the money I'm spending right now into investments and retirement savings and it is not because I want to retire early.

If anybody here doesn't know that life can change for the worse in an instant then they are not paying attention. For the most part when the smug get their comeuppance there is often not much sympathy.

There is nothing here unique to Boomers (investing or not investing, saving or not saving, good luck or bad luck) that doesn't work the same way for the preceding and succeeding generations. You have to do the best you can with what is in your own control and hope/pray that something bad doesn't happen to wipe it out.

Much wisdom and truth in that statement Bluedreaux.

That's for damn sure. It can go from real good to real bad, seemingly in the blink of an eye...through no fault of your own.

Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better looking than others. If everyone became equally rich, or clever, or good looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest� - C.S. Lewis

Smug? Being responsible, accountable,hardworking and self reliant is a choice. Our grasping entitled populace that doesn't embrace that choice is subject to the vagaries of life that can afflict anyone. You choose your own survival strategies in this country. Enjoy the boat, truck, gun etc. with which you enslave yourself with compound interest and practice your whining for when tough times arrive as they may for anyone.

mike r

n007;
Top of the morning to you sir, I trust that Island life has been treating you well.

We're enjoying a bit of a typical warm Okanagan fall here and I'm on a second cup of coffee waiting for our eldest to help me do some maintenance on her Cherokee this morning.

As you likely know of me, I'm fairly private about many aspects of our personal life - for a number of reasons I won't get into right now....

Anyway though, as a for instance to your thoughts, I'll just say that in the past 12 odd months in our lives.

My Mother's condo was damaged to the point where she and 60 odd other retirees were forced to leave it. At present they are in negotiations with their various insurance companies to see what if anything will be covered. Pretty much all of her life savings was tied up into the condo, so while she's been holding her own financially so far - we're all cognizant that might change in an instant too and her children will help out as we're able to.

Her situation calls for us to allot additional time into our daily schedules which of course adds challenges some days.

My mother in law moved into a local retirement facility and fell the first night there - sustaining a serious, life altering injury. After a long stretch in the hospital while she was on a waiting list for placement, we've been able to get her into a good full care facility.

Because of the provincial health care funding being what it is, her basic housing needs will be taken care of financially and the remainder should be available from her savings. Her condition has meant that a lot of time has needed to be spent with her - again this makes schedule juggling fun some days.

This spring the local cabinet making shop that I'd been a manager at in one capacity or another for over a decade went under. I'd been employed there more or less since '87 - barring a year off in '98 to manufacture fire fighting equipment - and while I knew it was struggling, still was forced to find other employment and adjust to all the vagaries of life that comes with that.

I'll leave out a few other items in life we're dealing with as of this morning just because, but again they are taking time, energy and financial attention that it was impossible for anyone to plan for.

Please be sure I'm pulling back the curtain to my life only to say that if there are folks out there going through some "interesting times" - well they aren't alone.

Emphatically I'm not looking for sympathy either here by posting this as my wife and I are a pair of survivors if any ever existed and we will make it out the other side of it all.

My hope by writing this out is that folks will see examples of a 'Fire member who is the living embodiment of what you posted.

It is a blessing that we've prepared financially for life to go into the weeds for sure, but finances are only one piece of a complex puzzle we know as our lives.

Lastly, since we're a hunting site after all, the initial weeks of this fall's season have showed our eldest daughter and I more looks at mulie bucks, bull elk and good sized black bears than the past 5 seasons.

She and I have been burning enough fuel between her Cherokee and our Cummins pickup that we'll both be getting a thank you card from Husky this Christmas!

Thanks for your thoughts this morning n007, all the best to you folks and good luck on your hunts this fall.

Dwayne

Far better to be grateful when things are going well than boastful.

Reading some posts you'd think the race has ended today, when it fact today is just the beginning. It's a long run, enjoy it when it's good, be ready when it's bad and accept the fact that you don't have control over anyone but yourself.

Always have a plan to sleep out in the open and eat out of a tin can.

Kent

I am sixty-five and plan on retiring at the end of this calendar year but then continue on on a very part-time basis. I have not been an overly frugal type and am not a "money guy," but by all accounts, we should be quite comfortable.

My main point is we are in much less control over the vicissitudes of life than we might think at times. A well known pastor I listen to on occasion once told his listeners, "I have two types of people listening to me now. The first group has had some life-changing tragedy happen to them, be it bankruptcy, a debilitating (or life-claiming) illness or accident, divorce, death of a child, or any other thing involving yourself or family. Then there is the second group who have had nothing like any of these things happen to them.......YET! The point is, rare is the person or couple who go through life without one of these personal struggles. Any one of these can be financially devastating.

The title of the thread is indeed sad for those whom it is true yet there is nothing in adequate wealth alone that is completely dependable, safe, or satisfying.

More sound wisdom.

Very well said.

I learned this summer that I could travel around the country living off of a bicycle on $18,000 a year, even easier on $24,000. Its a possibility.

With no overhead, living's cheap.

Sorry, but I don't buy being able to work your way through college in 5 years, pay for college, and save 2k/year. Around here college costs about $25k/year for state universities (Purdue, IU, Ball State) and private schools are $50k and over. How you gonna earn over $30k/year (remember, you have to pay taxes on that income) while going to college full time?