Are Baby Boomers Better Off Than Other Generations ?

Discussion in 'Retirement & Leisure' started by Tim Burr, May 25, 2017.

  1. Tim Burr

    Tim Burr Veteran Member
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    Just finished an article asking if 'Baby Boomers' were worse
    off than previous generations.

    The thinking that most previous generations had employer based retirement
    was wrong and only a small percentage of workers stayed on the job
    long enough to retire.

    We have 401's.

    They stated that due to advances in 'Science', we now live longer
    and therefore can continue to work longer, so we are better off.

    Also they sight groups like AARP getting information out to 'older' folks
    and that the internet is bringing people together.

    So we are better off.

    Do you think we are 'better off' than previous generations?
     
    #1
  2. Patsy Faye

    Patsy Faye Supreme Member
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    No !
    With 'all' the problems surrounding us today ? No ..........
     
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  3. Tim Burr

    Tim Burr Veteran Member
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    But, But....We Have the INTERNET !!
     
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  4. Patsy Faye

    Patsy Faye Supreme Member
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    Ha ha, yes - or has the INTERNET got us ! :p
     
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  5. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    "Better off"..........a lot would definitely say "absolutely not", while others would say "oh yes".

    Yes, @Tim Burr, we have got the Internet, but many will say "don't believe all the info that is on the Internet". Doctors can/will say that. You tell a doctor, "I read about _____ (this or that) on the Internet" most of the time they will say "you should be asking me about ____, not relying on Internet info". "Well doc, I can't afford to make an appointment with you each time I want to know something." I would say.
     
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  6. Martin Alonzo

    Martin Alonzo Supreme Member
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    Medical science tries to claim that we live longer to-day but it was due to sanitation and clean water that we live longer and they now claim we might not live as long as our parents. Are we better off I would say no when we were young we were more independent and planned our future. Now the powers to be are planning our future with pensions that they can take away just when you become old enough to get it. When I was younger would grab my 22 and walk through town to go hunting, our house had no lock on the door. I could go to any house on the street and ask for help or any policeman would walk me home if I was lost. I could walk anywhere in the city I live in without fear of any kind. We might have technology but did it improve the interaction between people or cause a division. I don’t know if we could take our so call improvements and get back to the way we lived without fear and everyone was friendly and helpful.
     
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  7. Patsy Faye

    Patsy Faye Supreme Member
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    Yes that's priceless isn't it, being able to leave your door open, we used to have our key on a piece of string
    which we pulled through the letterbox,.As people lived above us, we couldn't leave the door open
    I went for a long walk taking my friend along with me, I was 3, a policeman stopped us, asking where I lived
    I gave him my 'full' address and he walked home with us :)
     
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  8. Hedi Mitchell

    Hedi Mitchell Supreme Member
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    Half and half...some things are better...some are worse.
    The bigger the progress...the bigger the problem I think.
     
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  9. Harry Havens

    Harry Havens Veteran Member
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    This is my first post, as the topic appeals to me... being a boomer. By every measure, boomers had it better than our parents until now. "Now" seems to be centered around retirement costs, income, etc. and "now" boomers aren't as well off as previous generations. I find it rather shocking to continuously read of seniors holding debt at retirement age. Previous generations viewed debt as something to eradicate, hence mortgage burning parties. When was the last time anyone heard of those taking place.

    By and large we boomers fueled a lifestyle on ever increasing debt and "now" bemoan lack of savings as a danger to any continuation of that lifestyle. Sorry, not buying into that premise. "Now" is a result of "then".
     
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  10. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    I think it just depends on where people live. There are small towns in Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, N/S Dakota that are very safe to live in. I've been to those states and been in some of those small towns. It's unbelievable how people are there, compared to a lot of big cities. But, "big cities" is where the nice wages are.

    Some years ago, was at a strip mall in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Vehicles unlocked and windows down. I was sort of amazed, but then thought "one thing for sure, I'm not in So. California!".
     
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  11. Tim Burr

    Tim Burr Veteran Member
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    #11
  12. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    It's not like me to be optimistic, but I think we are; and for a lot of reasons, not all of which are necessarily a good idea.

    Even without a retirement plan, we do have Social Security, Medicare, and the presence of Medicaid. Yes, I know it's done, but people are less likely to put seniors out into the street today. Not because they are more compassionate necessarily, but because there can be repercussions.

    In southern Maine, last winter, a city was going to take the house of an elderly couple who hadn't paid property taxes or water bills for years, or even made arrangements for payments. People went to Facebook with it, and the city backed down, although taking their house was probably the reasonable thing to do.

    Here, probably because the housing market is very low, with houses selling for $20,000 or less, when they sell at all, mortgage companies have been washing their hands of houses rather than foreclosing. I have spoken to a few people who, because the paper mill is out of business, and not honoring retirement plans or healthcare policies, have been unable to make mortgage payments, and have received letters from the mortgage company telling them that they do not need to make any further mortgage payments, despite the fact that the mortgages are not paid up. I don't know whether they are given a clear title to their home, but they are still responsible for property taxes, but are making no further mortgage payments. The elderly get a discount on property taxes. I don't know how this works out legally, but am thinking the mortgage companies don't want to be stuck with a lot of high-maintenance houses that they can't sell.

    Regardless, every state has programs that offer subsidized housing options for those who can't afford to buy or rent, and the elderly generally have an edge on these. These might be places where they don't necessarily want to live, but there are no reasons why someone needs to be homeless.

    Although not everyone is equipped (or realizes that they are equipped) to take advantage of it, but the Internet has opened up opportunities for retired people to make money from home. Yes, it may require a lot of scrambling, and trying one thing after another, but it is possible to have money coming in from several sources, without having to leave the house for a job every morning. My wife and I both work a regular 30-hour a week job with a Canadian company, and have money coming in from Amazon and Google from some of our web sites, and my wife brings home a fair amount of cash from selling on eBay, Amazon, and another bookselling place that she uses.

    Last century's equivalent to that might have been earning money by mail order, writing articles for magazines and newspapers, taking in other people's laundry, or having a skill that could be done at home. My grandfather used to sell cedar boughs, wreaths, and that sort of thing. There is less work involved on the Internet, I think.

    What we are missing are retirement plans. Unless someone works for a government agency, they are unlikely to have an employer-paid retirement plan available to them. But most people didn't work for the same place long enough to be vested in the retirement program anyhow, and companies tend not to stay in business long enough to have to pay off on whatever retirement plans they have.

    Here in Millinocket, Great Northern Paper Company had a great retirement program for its employees, but when they sold the company, the new buyer bought it as an asset sale, and did not pick up the medical or retirement obligations. A law suit was filed on behalf of retired employees seeking payment from the estate, but they lost. The former owners of GNP got to keep the money from the sale, and the new owner did not buy the obligations.

    If that wasn't shocking, the town of Millinocket reneged on its own retirement program, so city employees who had retired with a nice retirement plan no longer had it.

    So depending on a retirement plan is sketchy, anyhow.
     
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    Last edited: May 25, 2017
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  13. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    I think that we have kind of a double-sided topic going here. One part (and the original question) was whether our generation is better off that earlier generations were. The other part, which we have also been discussing here as part of that topic, more concerns whether society is better/safer now than when we were younger.
    As far as the first part goes, I do think that we are living easier lives than most of the people who were our parents and grandparents lived. Wood heat was common, or even coal, and fires had to be built and tended to, even for someone to cook a meal, as well as for keeping warm and heating water for the weekly bath.
    Many of the jobs that are done by machinery now, were all done by hand in earlier times, and people (even children) worked long hours doing hard jobs.
    Medicine has come along way in the last 100 years, and before that, it was even worse. No way would I want to have surgery with only whiskey to use as an anesthetic ! People might not be as healthy as they were back then, but we are mostly living longer anyway. Of course, we do not eat as many natural and healthy foods as was the normal fare for our parents and grandparents, and the processed foods that most people live on today are certainly contributing to a lot more health problems.
    Even though there was no criticism of smoking back then, we still have a lot more people getting cancer in this day and age than they used to get.

    As far as society as a whole, I agree that we have all lost a lot of our freedoms, and security in life. We never locked our door in either the car or the house, we went all over the neighborhood with no danger, and no one even thought about putting razor blades in the halloween apples.
    Most people of any religion tolerated the other religious beliefs, and we never even considered that a terrorist might come along and just start killing people.
    No one was going to shoot you from what we now term as "road rage", and even if the drivers might cuss a little at other drivers, that was about as far as it usually went, and if you were broke down along the road, people were going to stop and help you fix the problem, or get some help.
    So, over all, we have some things that were much better in earlier generations, and some advances that make life much easier for us now.
     
    #13
  14. Holly Saunders

    Holly Saunders Supreme Member
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    Razor blades in the Halloween apples????? :eek::eek: OMG @Yvonne Smith , I've never heard of such a thing...
     
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  15. Patsy Faye

    Patsy Faye Supreme Member
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    @Yvonne Smith - true what you say, I cry when I think of my Grandmother and the awful life she had
    Fortunately, she lived through the 50s and 60s when everything was brighter and optimistic, if only
    we could have stopped time ................
     
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