Boomer-Millennial Wealth Gap

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We all had a rough idea that things were bad, but these latest numbers are quite something.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this- ... 2019-12-04

When baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) hit a median age of 35 in 1990, they collectively owned 21% of the nation’s wealth. The millennial generation will hit that 35 median age in four years and they are nowhere near owning that percentage.

...

Boomers currently boast more than half (57%) of the nation’s wealth, while Gen X owns just 16%, and millennials 3%.

...

Indeed, at a median age of 35, Gen Xers owned just 9% of the nation’s wealth in 2008 — less than half what boomers had at that age. And millennials will have to triple their net worth in the next four years to catch up to Generation X at 35, and increase their wealth sevenfold to catch up to boomers at that age.

Time to pull up our bootstraps and give up that avocado toast, fellow millennials, we're just not working hard enough.

STOP YOUR GOB AND SOD OFF!

No, not you, Mikah; that reporter.

Pensions make a huge difference.

Boomer: retires with a multi-million dollar pension annuity

Millennial: never going to retire

It is difficult to negotiate an annual million-dollar pension when many of them work in "wingnut" jobs.

(A wingnut is a screw device that works like any other of its kind, is easily installed, and easily replaced.)

I'm pretty sure this will get a lot worse before it gets better.

We're headed for increasing market failure as everything gets virtualized and automated and we have no road map on how to shift from a 'work to live' economy to something else or even how we'd keep that afloat.

It's worth noting that the boomers were also quite unlike as many of the generations before them. At least in the US they came along when our country had slightly over 50% of the world's capital due to flight from Europe after WW2. Part of this is natural deflation of that bubble, part of this is all of the stuff mentioned above.

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Oh, All The Rainy Days Life Brings Still Now to Enjoy...

Hmm... i Only Had a Thousand Bucks in the
Bank At Age 39, Purchasing (Leasing, Yes
Purchasing it Later) A Brand New Close to
30,000 Dollar SUV, i Surely Couldn't Really
Afford in 1999; Yet True at that
Point, i Felt My Government Job
Federally As such With Golden
Hand-Cuffs of Retirement and

A Thrift Savings Plan Well Beyond
What Was in my Bank Account that

The Government Provided As Federal
Employee With Matching Funds Additionally

Oh God Heaven's Yes, Fabulously A Guaranteed

Soon to Come Life-Time Monthly Pension, Health Insurance
Benefits, and Life Insurance Benefits, Made that Oh Lord No,

Not So Smart Financial Decision at that Point in Life

Possible; Yet it's True Happy Enough With The Vehicle

To Keep It A Sweet 16 Years Like The Camaro i Bought
in '94, i Kept 14 Years too; And After that Reductions in Force

Came; Always 'Under the Gun' of Losing That Golden Parachute

of Federal Benefits For Life; So i Saved Every Dam Penny And Almost

Killed My Wife's Soul Then With An Imposed Draconian Budget For

8 Years, Until i Saved Enough in the Bank, Plus The Thrift Savings,

in Safe Treasury Funds; And Whole Life Insurance Policies Tax

Free And The such that Even Without the Early Disability

Retirement After 25 Years of Service i had Enough

to at least last in a Paid Off Home and Cars

Until Social Security Age; Yeah it was

Kinda Dum to Buy That Much

Automobile, Yet i Quickly

Learned My

Lesson

And Learned to Love the

Free Things in Life, Like My

Mother Did Then Until age 82

Living Off a Meager Monthly Income

Then of 500 Bucks of Social Security

Since Age 62 in Her Older Age Assisted

Rent Apartment; She Even Refused the

Social Security Supplemental Income She
Was Entitled to; the Most Important Lesson

She Taught Me is Happiness Has nothing to Do With
Excessive Wealth; Just Seeing What You Do Have As Enough And

Totally Putting Yourself in Flow of Focus With Whatever Hobby

You Are Enjoying Now And Of Course She is My Mother And We

Were Basically Both Born With A Natural Smile Plastered ACross

Our Face Shining

Like A Star...

You'd Be
Surprised Likely

At Who A Millionaire
Now is in 'Your' Neighborhood;
Basically, the One Who Doesn't

Pay Taxes As They Put Their Money
For All Their Earned Assets in a Best place

True When You Have Enough too, It doesn't take

Much to Be A Financial Success; A Secret is simply
Enjoying the Free Stuff and Not Spending the Money as Long as You

Put it in a Safe Place That Generates Money and Doesn't take it away crashing as such...

Yes Yes, Keeping the Same Wife is Integral As well as those Who Are Childless And

Don't Go Broke that way too...

We LiVE iN Amazing
Days Where all the

Arts And Sciences

Of All of Human History

Are At Our Finger Tips practically

Free For Those Who take advantage

of All the Free Perks They THRiVE iN Whatever

Hobby They Do and Create Next; Yes It's All About
Discipline And Patience And Enjoying Now the Most

Having Enough

is True

Wealth

As i Know

Plenty of Folks

With Much Bigger 'NuMBeRS'

Than i have in Wealth who Are

More Miserable than Folks Just Sitting

On Their Front Porch Enjoying a Cool Breeze Free...

Be the Wind, Float Like a Feather, Be The Balance, Be Free Enough...

Ya Might

Be Surprised

How Little it Costs

to Become the Author Ya

Love to Read Most As Least...

Yes The Author of 'Your' Own Life Ya Co-Create, RicheS iN Deed

Beyond What Most Folks Will Imagine With Enough of the Other

'Green Stuff' to 'Boot'...

i've Met A Whole

Lot More 'Rich'

People in

This

World Who

Have Almost Nothing

To Show For Wealth Compared

to Those with all the 'Toys' of Empty Money Will Buy....

And 'The Good Old Boys' Still Working A Second Job; my

Peers Supporting A Big Boat and Camper in the Back Yard

Under Another Roof They Built For That They Never Find 'Time' to Use...

True Ya

Might

Be Surprised

How Many Folks

Never Lose Time to Truly Live Free...

Learn to Live With Less; It Might Piss

Off A Consumer Surviving CuLTuRE;

Yet Never The Less, Free Is Worth A Lower Cost of Life...

It's Gonna Be The 'Have Nots' Who Eventually Vote For What They Get Next...

i Figured 'the Game' Out; Created My Own System of Art; Perhaps 'They' Will

too And Win Their Own Version of Heaven Now... Humans Are ResourceFul 'Little Critters'...

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Not sure about the situation with Millennials, but I think the statistics for Generation X, as a percentage of total wealth, are misleading because the absolute numbers are disproportionate. They say a Boomer is anyone born between 1945 and 1965 whereas they only give a 15-year range during which Generation X was born, plus the birth rate was significantly lower at that time compared to when the Baby Boom generation was born (i.e. why it's called a "boom"). If you adjust for that, I don't think Generation X and the Baby Boom would look much different. Although personally I don't consider anyone too young to have had their world view shaped by the experience of the Vietnam War era to be a true Boomer.

Millennials have a real problem, mostly due to having graduated college at the beginning of a long recession and many having a huge tuition debt burden. I won't deny that.

At least, waiting for their parents to die so they can get their inheritance is an experience working and middle class Millennials now share with rich kids!

Last Will & Testament

I, Fnord, being of sound mind, have spent all of my wealth while I was still alive.

To all those expecting an inheritance from me, enjoy this cat video instead.

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Yeah, 'The Article' Made the Inheritance of 59 Trillion Dollars to Millennials From Boomers Seem Very Rosie

For Their Futures; Yet it Belies the Fact That Although The Average Boomer Has Close to a Million Dollars

in Savings That is Highly Skewed By Outlier Billionaires As Such, the Median Savings of 65 Year-Old
Folks Already At Close to Age of Retirement is Around 58,000 That is Less than Nothing Per

Averages of Medical Costs THAT Demographic Will Spend During Retirement; As A Huge

Debt that Americans Have in Retirement is Their Health in Terms of
Metabolic Disease That is also a Human 'Pandemic Scale of Disease'

In the United States; People Have Put their Health at that Age
Demographic, Many of them, in taking care of it in Last Place...

They May Get a Retirement; Yet Just More Focus

On Suffering in Retirement Sadly

As i Already See What has

Happened to My Peer Group

in A 40-Year Class Reunion in '18, of Even the
Ones Who Felt Good Enough in Overall Well-Being to Attend...

Lots of Mileage; Lots of Mileage from a Culture Now That Has

Lost Balance, Substantially And Basic Sanity of Humanity too...

We Talk A Lot About Material Gains and Money in this Society;

Yet We Often Fail as Human Beings in Humanity Measures of

Wealth Naked As Such Without All 'The Goods' That Do End Up

Spoiling Real Quality of Life Now; Yet You See, i Didn't Study A STEM

Or Business Major in College; My Three Degrees Are Specialized in Humanity;

A Life Long Well Being Adventure (Ups and Downs) Over Money and Stuff; And i got the Money

And Stuff Anyway as i Kept the Same Money and Stuff And Wife too of Course to Succeed For Real...

This Society is Super Nuts... This Society is Super Nuts... This Society Is Far From 'Sane' And that's A Dam

Fact Where

it counts
Most
In Any

Kind of
Quality of

Life Now for Real...

Or Have 'You' Seen the
Faces in Walmart Lately';

The 'Median Boomers' As Such;

Not The Elite That Are Few And

Truly Thriving Now.. Who Made Better Choices in Life...

And Of Course by the Nature of What is; Are Just More Fortunate in Life...

Got Rich Relatives Far From Thriving Now As They Spent Their Health on the Money And THINGS...

Yet of Course There are 'The Rapture Folks' Still Expecting Jesus to Come Back And Create Heaven

FOR THEM instead...

Sadly they didn't

Get the 'Luke 17:21

Memo'; Perhaps if they

Did they Would Have Taken

Better Care of Their Health;

A Worst Outlook Of Life in Self-fulfilling

Prophecies Is to Determine Death Is What You Look Forward to Most...

Now that's Really Nuts.... Now That's Really Nuts and Says So Much About

The Overall Condition of the Human Condition Now; Ain't Rational, Never Will be...

Society

Has Always

Promoted

'CuLTuRAL Generated
Insanity'... (Be Cause IT WORKS)
to Subjugate, Master and Control
Others in Suffering Now.... For Anyone
Who Gained 2020 Vision on this Human FAct Last Year... and now too...

---

https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/baby-boomer-retirees-positive-about-retirement-savings-2020-10

I was really affected by the Vietnam War growing up.

This is why I want to go to Vietnam on vacation.

I'm fortunate that I worked a clerical job for almost 41 years, and will get a pension soon.

^^^

---

Federal Retirements Are Among
The Best; Yes Just The Health And
Life Insurance Benefits Alone are

Worth 20,000 Dollars A Year for the
Rest of Our Lives and More of course...

i Barely Made it out of the Golden

Handcuffs Alive; Yet i Realized Just

How Much Freedom Those Benefits Could

Give me to do Whatever The Hell or Heaven

i Wanted to Do Retiring Still Early Enough to Do It...

Yet even though

i Could Travel

And Even Live Most Anywhere

In the World Now, Nature Here
Where i Live Is So Beautiful It Doesn't

Provide Any Motivation to Even Leave on Vacation

For me Yeah, Vietnam An Interesting Option For

Vacation For Personal Reasons That Era Impacted me
too as my First Cousin Burned Up in A Helicopter; as

A Private In The Army His Dream Was to Come Back

And Buy A Camaro; i got to Do that in '94, He Didn't in '69;

That Night i Still Remember Coming Back From Visiting my

Father In Tallahassee in Our 60's Ford White Falcon; The Sky Lit
Up With Lightening Every Second Like The End of the World Was
Coming The Last 60 Miles Home; My Mother Lived By Pure Faith and

Just about

Everything

She Believed

In Came True even

Miracles Like Me Recovering

That No Doctor Said was possible then...

Yeah Vietnam Affected me too; i didn't wanna

Ever have to Kill Anybody and i'm Glad i didn't Have
to In Several Wars For So-called American War Chant Lies of Freedoms For Blood Starting in the 60's

That Didn't Have Anything Really to Do With Our Freedoms at All except Politics and Business As Usual...

My Father Used to Always Say the 'Peace Symbol' Was A Chicken's Foot For Cowards And True He Was full of himself

too; Nope, Not Afraid of Anything In Heaven/Hell Or On Earth; Just Full oF iGNoRaNCE In A Florida Panhandle Man Way....

Other than That Women In Vietnam Are Gorgeous; My Other 2nd Cousin Survived, Marrying a Lovely Woman There..

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Last edited by aghogday on 15 Apr 2021, 6:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

At least you're not leaving them those cats...

On topic though, I assume the bulk of inherited wealth in the middle class tends to be in the form of real estate.

I wonder how all these generational differences and gaps apply or don't apply here in my country. Economically speaking I think it tends to be the reverse. Younger generations have had better opportunities than older ones. I'm not really sure how well this generalizes to the population as a whole though. And overall the situation seems to be converging to sort of sync with wealthier countries, mostly because of the impact of the internet I guess.

.... Which is exactly the thing I can't afford, because real estate prices here have more than doubled since 2008, and my income has only recently started to slowly grow beyond entry-level, as I'm entering middle-age. My father had one college degree, was married, had a house and three kids on a single income at 37. I have two degrees and by far the biggest expense in my life is rent.

37 isn’t even close to “middle age.” I believe “middle age” starts at 50.

I’m 60, and I’m middle aged.

That is interesting, you were just hitting puberty when it ended.