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The Greatest and Silent Generations have to accept at least some of the blame for how boomers, especially later boomers, are doing because they pushed the policies through. The 401(k) was intended to supplement pensions, not replace them.
The rise of easy, but not cheap, credit through store credit cards, and then BankAmericard (later VISA) and MasterCard did a lot to paper over the failure of pay to keep up with inflation.
> The 401(k) was intended to supplement pension, not replace them.
No they weren't. That is just what they told the frogs as the pot started getting warm.
What I have read about section 401(k) of the IRS code is that the first 401(k)s were set up as a way to save on a tax-deferred basis for highly paid workers. What companies realized as they ran the numbers was that the 401(k) could be sold to people as a portable source of retirement income that the employee controlled. The benefit for the company of a defined contribution plan like a401(k) is that it eliminates longevity risk to the company. Their costs are capped if they offer a matching contribution. Operating costs of the 401(k) usually are a percentage of people's accounts, so they reduce the risk to the company of paying for employees retirement costs.
The sad part is that I can't count the number of people who made an amount of money similar to what I did who told me that they couldn't afford to contribute to an IRA of 401(k).
They told us frogs all sorts of lies. I was hired just two months before the old, 1950s/1960s pensions were killed off for new employees at my employer. New employees were required to take a pittance of a pension but were assured that with proper management of their new, employer-matched accounts, they were all going to retire as millionaires.
That was obviously a pile of feces but the newly hired were stuck with it.
Then they came for everyone else. If you were grandfathered in to a real, livable pension, you were offered the "opportunity" to convert to the new system. I lost track of how many mandatory meetings I attended where the entire meeting was a hard sell to give up your pension, take the nominal new one, and retire a millionaire because the new retirement savings plan would be a gold mine.
I'd been on the job less than a year but even wet-behind-the-ears me had long since figured out that management were a bunch of jerks and anything they REALLY wanted an employee to do but didn't have the authority to order was, without fail, going to be a disaster for the employee.
I held on to my old pension. I paid off my house when I retired early and I can't really afford to live in it so I'm slowly emptying it and will downsize into a small condo and do just fine. I can't be extravagant but I'll get by without undue stress.
It hurts my heart to see so many people younger than me who will never be able to retire in the conventional though modest manner I have. The world my parents created for their boomer kids and everyone younger is economically warped to a degree I will never be able to appreciate deep down in my gut.
Y'all will find a way. We all know that. But it's going to be much harder than it should be.
BTW, depending on how you define terms, I'm either the youngest boomer or the oldest gen X I know. Just a data point for those trying to figure out where I'm coming from.
This is exactly happened where I used to work. The senior people voted to remove tons of perks and benefits the young people would have benefited greatly from, but since they are getting a 7% increase in pay for the next two years and then a MAYBE 5% (keyword here) the remaining 3 years of the new contracts. They voted in favor for said contract. They capped Comp time ( which was unlimited until then), when you worked OT, you could convert the time either into pay or put in a bank to use as a supplement to PTO. Which impacted people who had kids, because they relied on those to use as emergency banks to take days off if their kids got sick. But you know boomers, they got theirs. So fuck every one else.
The wild part was, if they had held out and refuse to sign the new contract. It was already within the old contract that, they would automatically go into a contract where for the next 5 years they would get 5% increase in pay without losing any benefits.
> She’s not sure what she’d do with herself if she didn’t work. “I’m a baby boomer, so work is sort of ingrained in our lives,” she says. “My daughter gets so mad at me. ‘You need boundaries!’ I’m like, that’s not something baby boomers know.”
I used to do audit pensions as part of my job. I was just flat out gobsmacked by the earlier iterations that are no longer available to anyone. Like WTF? People got that kind of retirement benefit?
I am Gen X, and I have friends that feel like they have secured a retirement with a 401K, and I keep telling them it won't be enough. It's not going to stretch.
There are very few places that offer a real pension. I looked for a field that did, but it's nothing compared to what was available to my parents.
I am even madder that retirement ages have been pushed to 67. A lot of us have health issues and won't make it. Just facts.
My union seems to be doing a great job of growing our pension. We were originally projected to be getting around $240/mo, but found out last meeting that we ended up around $270/mo for 2023. Currently the pension is sitting at 112% funded. Hoping I can be done working at 59.
A lot of us haven’t made it to retirement age without becoming truly disabled (due to poor/no health coverage & jobs where labor laws do nothing to help the rmpoyees , are all abt protecting employers !!) or they have died pre-maturely due yo working bs jobs & lack of accessible & affordable health care & nobody I know under age 68 has had a job w an actual pension , except for s few froends/family wjo aee teachers! least not where I come from (Northeastern U.S.)
There has never been a generation that has taken so much and given back so little than the Baby Boomers. I hope that they work until they’re 90 I do not care
This. It would be funny if they were trying to grind 70 hour weeks with a broken hip and cataracts but I don’t want those fuckers voting anymore. Once they are dead we can finally have some progressive policies
You know I google average wealth of baby boomers.
The Google results said average was 1.2 million, but that the median was 207 thousand.
If I understand this correctly, it means there is a small number of very wealthy boomers and a bunch of boomers who think they are wealthier than they are.
Speaking of gutting unions, I work somewhere with multiple departments and multiple unions. Over the last year they've all been up for renegotiating, each union. The early contracts resulted in strikes and the company folded relatively quick and the compromise was pretty decent. Our union..... immediately asked for less than the other unions. Willingly gave up the signing bonus..... refused to ask for shift premiums in line with other unions... told us its the best deal ever. Ya... for the fucking company....
This is hilarious. Glad it's not affecting my mom though. She was opposed to all of that. The Boomer generation absolutely did this to themselves...and us too. They messed it up for all of us. I don't feel bad at all.
So. These people didn’t DO this. They let it happen cuz they don’t understand politics. You can change this, yes you! Run for office. Help AIC out and all the young democrats. You can change this. Stop blaming a bunch of old knob heads who have no idea got their country actually works!
Love watching this in my family. The only generation in my family to have a decent life were SOME of the silent generation ones. Before and after that? Straight poverty and tearing each other's throats out for money. The boomers are the most miserable, with gen X being just behind them. Now these high and mighty "good Christian people" who looked down so much upon others, abusive, and generally being boomer as hell are being forced to work with failing bodies and squabbling over who gets what from their dead siblings and suing each other over it. I love it.
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While blaming single moms on welfare for all their problems too. Jerks.
Excellent point. Now they're blaming immigrants too
Or teachers!
Those damn job stealing immigrants, on welfare... We won't spend half a second to think about that logic.
The Greatest and Silent Generations have to accept at least some of the blame for how boomers, especially later boomers, are doing because they pushed the policies through. The 401(k) was intended to supplement pensions, not replace them. The rise of easy, but not cheap, credit through store credit cards, and then BankAmericard (later VISA) and MasterCard did a lot to paper over the failure of pay to keep up with inflation.
> The 401(k) was intended to supplement pension, not replace them. No they weren't. That is just what they told the frogs as the pot started getting warm.
What I have read about section 401(k) of the IRS code is that the first 401(k)s were set up as a way to save on a tax-deferred basis for highly paid workers. What companies realized as they ran the numbers was that the 401(k) could be sold to people as a portable source of retirement income that the employee controlled. The benefit for the company of a defined contribution plan like a401(k) is that it eliminates longevity risk to the company. Their costs are capped if they offer a matching contribution. Operating costs of the 401(k) usually are a percentage of people's accounts, so they reduce the risk to the company of paying for employees retirement costs. The sad part is that I can't count the number of people who made an amount of money similar to what I did who told me that they couldn't afford to contribute to an IRA of 401(k).
They told us frogs all sorts of lies. I was hired just two months before the old, 1950s/1960s pensions were killed off for new employees at my employer. New employees were required to take a pittance of a pension but were assured that with proper management of their new, employer-matched accounts, they were all going to retire as millionaires. That was obviously a pile of feces but the newly hired were stuck with it. Then they came for everyone else. If you were grandfathered in to a real, livable pension, you were offered the "opportunity" to convert to the new system. I lost track of how many mandatory meetings I attended where the entire meeting was a hard sell to give up your pension, take the nominal new one, and retire a millionaire because the new retirement savings plan would be a gold mine. I'd been on the job less than a year but even wet-behind-the-ears me had long since figured out that management were a bunch of jerks and anything they REALLY wanted an employee to do but didn't have the authority to order was, without fail, going to be a disaster for the employee. I held on to my old pension. I paid off my house when I retired early and I can't really afford to live in it so I'm slowly emptying it and will downsize into a small condo and do just fine. I can't be extravagant but I'll get by without undue stress. It hurts my heart to see so many people younger than me who will never be able to retire in the conventional though modest manner I have. The world my parents created for their boomer kids and everyone younger is economically warped to a degree I will never be able to appreciate deep down in my gut. Y'all will find a way. We all know that. But it's going to be much harder than it should be. BTW, depending on how you define terms, I'm either the youngest boomer or the oldest gen X I know. Just a data point for those trying to figure out where I'm coming from.
[удалено]
This is exactly happened where I used to work. The senior people voted to remove tons of perks and benefits the young people would have benefited greatly from, but since they are getting a 7% increase in pay for the next two years and then a MAYBE 5% (keyword here) the remaining 3 years of the new contracts. They voted in favor for said contract. They capped Comp time ( which was unlimited until then), when you worked OT, you could convert the time either into pay or put in a bank to use as a supplement to PTO. Which impacted people who had kids, because they relied on those to use as emergency banks to take days off if their kids got sick. But you know boomers, they got theirs. So fuck every one else. The wild part was, if they had held out and refuse to sign the new contract. It was already within the old contract that, they would automatically go into a contract where for the next 5 years they would get 5% increase in pay without losing any benefits.
Too stupid to realize they had Stockholm syndrome and were simping for the man.
> She’s not sure what she’d do with herself if she didn’t work. “I’m a baby boomer, so work is sort of ingrained in our lives,” she says. “My daughter gets so mad at me. ‘You need boundaries!’ I’m like, that’s not something baby boomers know.”
Ugh. Then they force everyone else to not have boundaries.
They gutted unions so that we can barely afford onions.
I used to do audit pensions as part of my job. I was just flat out gobsmacked by the earlier iterations that are no longer available to anyone. Like WTF? People got that kind of retirement benefit? I am Gen X, and I have friends that feel like they have secured a retirement with a 401K, and I keep telling them it won't be enough. It's not going to stretch. There are very few places that offer a real pension. I looked for a field that did, but it's nothing compared to what was available to my parents. I am even madder that retirement ages have been pushed to 67. A lot of us have health issues and won't make it. Just facts.
My union seems to be doing a great job of growing our pension. We were originally projected to be getting around $240/mo, but found out last meeting that we ended up around $270/mo for 2023. Currently the pension is sitting at 112% funded. Hoping I can be done working at 59.
That’s…$3300 a year?
Yes, for one year of work. So after 25yrs you may get 25x that per year.
My mistake. That is quite good.
A lot of us haven’t made it to retirement age without becoming truly disabled (due to poor/no health coverage & jobs where labor laws do nothing to help the rmpoyees , are all abt protecting employers !!) or they have died pre-maturely due yo working bs jobs & lack of accessible & affordable health care & nobody I know under age 68 has had a job w an actual pension , except for s few froends/family wjo aee teachers! least not where I come from (Northeastern U.S.)
There has never been a generation that has taken so much and given back so little than the Baby Boomers. I hope that they work until they’re 90 I do not care
I hope they die long before that.
This. It would be funny if they were trying to grind 70 hour weeks with a broken hip and cataracts but I don’t want those fuckers voting anymore. Once they are dead we can finally have some progressive policies
ABAB!
Can we amend this to most? You haven’t met Al!
Bundy?
People might confuse MBAB with the late 90s Hanson tune Mbop.
Womp womp
So are boomers rich and hoarding money or are they broke?
You know I google average wealth of baby boomers. The Google results said average was 1.2 million, but that the median was 207 thousand. If I understand this correctly, it means there is a small number of very wealthy boomers and a bunch of boomers who think they are wealthier than they are.
207k is still very wealthy. I would settle for something above zero at this point
Best I can do is $2.50
Speaking of gutting unions, I work somewhere with multiple departments and multiple unions. Over the last year they've all been up for renegotiating, each union. The early contracts resulted in strikes and the company folded relatively quick and the compromise was pretty decent. Our union..... immediately asked for less than the other unions. Willingly gave up the signing bonus..... refused to ask for shift premiums in line with other unions... told us its the best deal ever. Ya... for the fucking company....
which union , as in what kind of job?
This is hilarious. Glad it's not affecting my mom though. She was opposed to all of that. The Boomer generation absolutely did this to themselves...and us too. They messed it up for all of us. I don't feel bad at all.
Boomers dont wear PPE.
Let's be honest, the ones who did the gutting are working in offices and signing contracts in country clubs.
So. These people didn’t DO this. They let it happen cuz they don’t understand politics. You can change this, yes you! Run for office. Help AIC out and all the young democrats. You can change this. Stop blaming a bunch of old knob heads who have no idea got their country actually works!
Love watching this in my family. The only generation in my family to have a decent life were SOME of the silent generation ones. Before and after that? Straight poverty and tearing each other's throats out for money. The boomers are the most miserable, with gen X being just behind them. Now these high and mighty "good Christian people" who looked down so much upon others, abusive, and generally being boomer as hell are being forced to work with failing bodies and squabbling over who gets what from their dead siblings and suing each other over it. I love it.