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Lean Retirement Faces U.S. Generation X as Wealth Trails


Lean Retirement Faces U.S. Generation X as Wealth Trails - Bloomberg

GenX wealth chart Lean Retirement Faces U.S. Generation X as Wealth Trails - Bloomberg

Good timing is not the age group’s forte. Many took out mortgages just before prices plunged, making them the most disadvantaged by the housing crisis, while the 2008 stock-market slump dealt them a further setback. Only one-third of Generation X households had more wealth than their parents held at the same age, even though most earn more, The Pew Charitable Trusts found.

When their working years end, Gen-Xers might have to live on just half of their pre-retirement income, compared with 60 percent for the Baby Boom generation, Pew said last year.

  “Generation X is at this really critical historical spot,” said Diana Elliott, a research officer in financial security and mobility at Pew, a non-profit global research and public policy organization in Washington. “They are not doing well relative to the last generation. It should give us concern as a country.”

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The Millennials don't seem to be faring well either, except for the ones that stand to inherit from the Baby Boomers.

Yes, the whole American Dream, Plan or whatever you want to call it has changed.  Some are riding out  previously established retirement plans, some landed in the right place at the right time and made a ton of money, and some scrimped and saved, the rest will struggle, and there will be a lot of them. 

Will we become a nation of impoverished seniors?  Many whom will still be working? and many will be on low income programs, because they never were able to get good enough pay or benefits to be able to plan for their retirement, as they were too busy just surviving.

IMO, we will all eventually pay for changes that were allowed in the workforce.  Like having it be acceptable for someone to live below the poverty line, while working full-time. 

Not everyone is a rocket scientist, but it doesn't mean they shouldn't be able to earn a decent wage and benefits, and be able to support a family. 

My 2 cents ;)

I think you're right, and I wonder what (if anything) we can do about it.

I am imagining a Golden-Girl scenario for many seniors, where they pool their meager resources and share a home, uitilities, et al.

I also imagine a lot of seniors turning their flower gardens into marijuana fields.

Hopefully seniors will help us legalize marijuana, too.

Pooled resources seem to be the way of GenX. We in it together.

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