Boomers can’t downsize

[Anonymous]

https://www.vox.com/2017/12/20/16772670/baby-boomers-millennials-congress-debt

"I’ve always seen the boomers as a generational trust-fund baby: They inherited a country they had no part in building, failed to appreciate it, and seized on all the benefits while leaving nothing behind."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok but you should sell and live somewhere cheap

Cheap is crappy. That's why people retire in place in their well located suburban homes in amenity-rich places like DC metro. They don't sell because they can afford to live here and if they do sell it means downgrade of their QOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who would retire to Rehoboth? Go to South Carolina. Super cheap.

I’m in Chevy Chase and we are planning to retire up north but have looked at home prices in Charleston so we can spend January and February there. The home prices in 29401 are nearly identical to those in 20815. Not cheap. Definitely not super cheap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Boomer here. Let’s talk about cheap colleges.

In 1980 tuition only at my college SUNY Stony Brook was $1,000. My parent only made $10,000 a year.

In 2020 my nephew started SUNU stony and their parents made 160k a year but after deductions their AGI gets then free tuition, I think in NYS something like everyone under 140k AGI gets free tuition

Yet somehow free in 2023 is more expense than $1,000 in 1980.

BTW good private schools live on campus line $7k in 1980. A fortune compared to income

Did you need a college degree then for most jobs? Nowadays it's a must for any job outside of labor and service jobs. Lowest paying white collar jobs require college degrees, these jobs pay often less than service jobs and definitely less than skilled labor. Having a college degree doesn't give you a living wage anymore. And to get into highly compensated professions you need things beyond a regular degree: law degree, medical degree, connections to high paying Finance or tech jobs, being on top of your game in college and working mad hours and getting internships into top finance/tech/consulting firms.

I do agree though that compared to boomers new generation has higher standards when it comes to housing, vacations, going out, etc. Homes are humongous now, these types of homes used to only be available to true wealth, now it's UMC lifestyle. HGTV and reality shows laid foundation to much higher expectations for what homes should look like. Vacations overseas and second home ownership became standard in MC/UMC circles in the western world. New generations grew up with this because their parents (boomers and even GenX) could give it to them, so they feel very disappointed when they have to work their butts off and can't have this out of college. Their parents didn't have any of these things either until later after having worked and saved and invested for decades.

[Anonymous]

Who are these people criticizing boomers?

Seriously, who are you? Aren't boomers your parents? We surrounded you with love, we protected you, we tried to give you a good trajectory for the rest of your lives. And you return all that nurturing with poking us in the eye? WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?

Or are all these critics just AI bots trying to stir the pot?

I am not an AI bot, I’m a 1972 GenXer with Silent Generation parents born in 1938 and 1942. My DH was born in 1971 and his parents are even older. And we both hate Boomers for all of the reasons eloquently summarized in the post from today at 11:52.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok but you should sell and live somewhere cheap

Cheap is crappy. That's why people retire in place in their well located suburban homes in amenity-rich places like DC metro. They don't sell because they can afford to live here and if they do sell it means downgrade of their QOL.

Exactly right. Why would I move when I will be worse off? My millenial kids will benefit greatly by inheriting this home whether they live it in or sell it to fund their family's life. We'll add an elevator if we need to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Boomers grew up in the tailwind of the U.S.'s victory in WWII and all the benefits of the U.S. being the only nation not ravaged by war. They also are directly responsible for most of the problems we face today. It mostly started with Reagan's administration. Boomers entered the workforce en masse and voted for significant income tax cuts (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_tax_cuts) when the government and corporations still provided significant benefits to their employees and citizens. In the 1990s, as their investments were growing and they were hitting their peak earning years, there were significant cuts to capital gains and income taxes under Clinton and then Bush (https://www.thebalancemoney.com/president-george-bush-tax-cuts-3306331) and shifts away from government and corporate provided benefits to "public-private partnerships", outsourcing, contractors, and shift to 401ks instead of pensions and figuring out healthcare on one's own. While it was good for their investments, it was terrible for the public good and for the social safety net and the funding of public education.

It was on the Boomers' watch that NAFTA was implemented, unions were gutted, wars of convenience were started, unfunded tax cuts were implemented, and all manner of deregulation occurred (e.g., airlines, banks, energy, telecom, consumer protections), which often led to industry scandal and blow ups (e.g., S&L crisis, Enron, WorldCom, Great Financial Crisis). Our culture of consumer debt (e.g., credit cards used to be rare thing), disposable everything, and the financialization of the economy also started on their watch.

It was also when corporations were given "free speech" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_speech) and the ability to legally bribe politicians. It wasn't always this way. As they have entered their senescence, they have been further gifted with lower estate taxes than at any point in the last century (https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinefletcher/2021/09/28/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-11-million-estate-tax-exemption-going-away/?sh=23f8da307e07). At every step of their lives, the government has sought to placate them at the expense of the rest of society and the general public good.

"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in." Boomers never once sacrificed for the greater good. They never once looked forward to improving the society of the next generation. For the Boomers, it's "f you, I got mine." And now, the bill is coming due on 40+ years of terrible policies.

And now you have the nerve to complain about the state of affairs? GTFOH. Go pull yourself by your bootstraps if you can't afford your "dream" retirement.

THAHNK YOUUUUUU. And for the person who made the comment about COVID and printed money, who was in charge during those policies?!? Same f?^%^ group. And why did we have to isolate? Not to protect kids! Nope, it was to protect those >45.

We isolated to placate teachers unions.

No, you isolated because the risks were highest to the Silent Generation and Boomers. Did teachers' unions want to protect their constituents longer than necessary? Probably. But don't pin it on them. Oh, and btw, COVID exposed how broken our healthcare system is and how balkanized it's become. Another thing that happened on Boomers' watch. Such a typical Boomer. It's never your fault.

Oh come on. I'm not a Boomer and schools shutting down didn't help them. We isolated because the teachers refused to go to work. Look at the school districts that stayed closed the longest: blue areas with strong teachers unions. Places with lots of elderly like Florida reopened schools after 2 months.

This anger towards Boomers is misplaced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:The Boomers paid like $1500 for tuition, $50k for their first home and then when their parents died at normal ages, got inheritances in their 40s. Now they’re super charged with modern medicine, loaded, and aren’t going anywhere. They’re also not maintaining their houses. Just check the market and see all the “as is” $1.2Ms that have fallen into disrepair. These folks need to start riding off into the sunset.

They were also making $40,000 a year with a masters degree. And their parents were primarily blue color workers- no inheritance.

+1 Thank you.

+2. Late boomer here. We graduated into a recession and took whatever job would pay the bills if we didn’t option of going to grad school. I paid 12% on a PLUS loan.

Millennials graduated into a recession too. You didn't have it harder, we all have had it hard. The comparison game doesn't look good on you grannies.

NP. You don’t need to be ageist. You could have left that off and still have been successful in your comeback. Ageism is pernicious.

—genX

Maybe the grannies should remember it's a privilege to get older.

[Anonymous]

I am a Gen X-er and every single SFH I have resided in or owned in the U.S. has had multiple letters asking if we are interested in selling. All those letters do is make the owners more determined to stay.

We had to scrape our way to the top. No one so much as paid for our education. In contrast, some of our Boomer neighbors inherited their homes, and they are now worth - well, a lot. But, I would suppose they are also resistant to selling. Why should they sell, OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Boomers paid like $1500 for tuition, $50k for their first home and then when their parents died at normal ages, got inheritances in their 40s. Now they’re super charged with modern medicine, loaded, and aren’t going anywhere. They’re also not maintaining their houses. Just check the market and see all the “as is” $1.2Ms that have fallen into disrepair. These folks need to start riding off into the sunset.

Say what? I'm a boomer, went to college in the 80's and is was definitely more than $1500. My first home was around $200k for a small townhouse in a dodgy area and our interest rate was over 10%. We lost money when we sold it because the area had gone downhill and the market was soft. My parents are alive and well in their 80s and I probably won't get an inheritance until I am 75 and it won't be much. And my current house is fully renovated and well maintained. Now my silent gen mother's house is another story - crumbling before our very eyes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Boomers grew up in the tailwind of the U.S.'s victory in WWII and all the benefits of the U.S. being the only nation not ravaged by war. They also are directly responsible for most of the problems we face today. It mostly started with Reagan's administration. Boomers entered the workforce en masse and voted for significant income tax cuts (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_tax_cuts) when the government and corporations still provided significant benefits to their employees and citizens. In the 1990s, as their investments were growing and they were hitting their peak earning years, there were significant cuts to capital gains and income taxes under Clinton and then Bush (https://www.thebalancemoney.com/president-george-bush-tax-cuts-3306331) and shifts away from government and corporate provided benefits to "public-private partnerships", outsourcing, contractors, and shift to 401ks instead of pensions and figuring out healthcare on one's own. While it was good for their investments, it was terrible for the public good and for the social safety net and the funding of public education.

It was on the Boomers' watch that NAFTA was implemented, unions were gutted, wars of convenience were started, unfunded tax cuts were implemented, and all manner of deregulation occurred (e.g., airlines, banks, energy, telecom, consumer protections), which often led to industry scandal and blow ups (e.g., S&L crisis, Enron, WorldCom, Great Financial Crisis). Our culture of consumer debt (e.g., credit cards used to be rare thing), disposable everything, and the financialization of the economy also started on their watch.

It was also when corporations were given "free speech" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_speech) and the ability to legally bribe politicians. It wasn't always this way. As they have entered their senescence, they have been further gifted with lower estate taxes than at any point in the last century (https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinefletcher/2021/09/28/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-11-million-estate-tax-exemption-going-away/?sh=23f8da307e07). At every step of their lives, the government has sought to placate them at the expense of the rest of society and the general public good.

"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in." Boomers never once sacrificed for the greater good. They never once looked forward to improving the society of the next generation. For the Boomers, it's "f you, I got mine." And now, the bill is coming due on 40+ years of terrible policies.

And now you have the nerve to complain about the state of affairs? GTFOH. Go pull yourself by your bootstraps if you can't afford your "dream" retirement.

You make some points. I think the lesson learned is those policies you cited now need to be reversed. It’ll be painful for us millennials though but the tide has to be changed for the common good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Boomer here. Let’s talk about cheap colleges.

In 1980 tuition only at my college SUNY Stony Brook was $1,000. My parent only made $10,000 a year.

In 2020 my nephew started SUNU stony and their parents made 160k a year but after deductions their AGI gets then free tuition, I think in NYS something like everyone under 140k AGI gets free tuition

Yet somehow free in 2023 is more expense than $1,000 in 1980.

BTW good private schools live on campus line $7k in 1980. A fortune compared to income

Typical boomer response.

"I think some guy I heard about once got free college so obviously it's not an issue."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Who are these people criticizing boomers?

Seriously, who are you? Aren't boomers your parents? We surrounded you with love, we protected you, we tried to give you a good trajectory for the rest of your lives. And you return all that nurturing with poking us in the eye? WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?

Or are all these critics just AI bots trying to stir the pot?

I am not an AI bot, I’m a 1972 GenXer with Silent Generation parents born in 1938 and 1942. My DH was born in 1971 and his parents are even older. And we both hate Boomers for all of the reasons eloquently summarized in the post from today at 11:52.

We’re GenX and feel no animosity towards Boomers. Why waste time with hate? You need to chill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:The Boomers paid like $1500 for tuition, $50k for their first home and then when their parents died at normal ages, got inheritances in their 40s. Now they’re super charged with modern medicine, loaded, and aren’t going anywhere. They’re also not maintaining their houses. Just check the market and see all the “as is” $1.2Ms that have fallen into disrepair. These folks need to start riding off into the sunset.

They were also making $40,000 a year with a masters degree. And their parents were primarily blue color workers- no inheritance.

+1 Thank you.

+2. Late boomer here. We graduated into a recession and took whatever job would pay the bills if we didn’t option of going to grad school. I paid 12% on a PLUS loan.

Millennials graduated into a recession too. You didn't have it harder, we all have had it hard. The comparison game doesn't look good on you grannies.

NP. You don’t need to be ageist. You could have left that off and still have been successful in your comeback. Ageism is pernicious.

—genX

Graduated early 80s. Huge recession factories closing, massive inflation , 18 percent interest rates. Billy Joel singing “livin here in Allentown closing all the factories down our teachers lied that an education gets you a job” Springsteen sang The River “isn’t any work on account of the economy”.

All the recessions since have never been bad enough for the most popular artists to write devastating lyrics about the difficulties.

Life is way easier and cushy today but people don’t appreciate it at all and are treading water in a sea of covetousness and envy.

What a strange take re: music.

DP here I think but the point is that older generations also faced hard times. The music is influenced by the widespread economic issues like unemployment.

The point is that life is cushier now but the population is weaker physically and mentally. Results in more covetousness and whining. I think the average boomer can still beat up the average millennial.

Not sure about your last point since our generation is getting up there but the rest is true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Boomers paid like $1500 for tuition, $50k for their first home and then when their parents died at normal ages, got inheritances in their 40s. Now they’re super charged with modern medicine, loaded, and aren’t going anywhere. They’re also not maintaining their houses. Just check the market and see all the “as is” $1.2Ms that have fallen into disrepair. These folks need to start riding off into the sunset.

They were also making $40,000 a year with a masters degree. And their parents were primarily blue color workers- no inheritance.

+1 Thank you.

+2. Late boomer here. We graduated into a recession and took whatever job would pay the bills if we didn’t option of going to grad school. I paid 12% on a PLUS loan.

Millennials graduated into a recession too. You didn't have it harder, we all have had it hard. The comparison game doesn't look good on you grannies.

NP. You don’t need to be ageist. You could have left that off and still have been successful in your comeback. Ageism is pernicious.

—genX

Graduated early 80s. Huge recession factories closing, massive inflation , 18 percent interest rates. Billy Joel singing “livin here in Allentown closing all the factories down our teachers lied that an education gets you a job” Springsteen sang The River “isn’t any work on account of the economy”.

All the recessions since have never been bad enough for the most popular artists to write devastating lyrics about the difficulties.

Life is way easier and cushy today but people don’t appreciate it at all and are treading water in a sea of covetousness and envy.

What a strange take re: music.

DP here I think but the point is that older generations also faced hard times. The music is influenced by the widespread economic issues like unemployment.

The point is that life is cushier now but the population is weaker physically and mentally. Results in more covetousness and whining. I think the average boomer can still beat up the average millennial.

Not sure about your last point since our generation is getting up there but the rest is true.

Boomers raised millennials.