DU's Common Retirement Lament Revisited

[zeitgeist]

Offered for your light entertainment reading today is a lovely post which features a graph.  Yes, DUmmies do indeed have a hard time correlating information, for example, reading the time scale, who has been in office during this nose dive? 

DU Hint:  It wasn't a Reagan or Bush. 

DU Bonus Points:  What NY Senator caused the second largest bank failure in US history?? 

http://www.cnbc.com/id/25654303

Super DU Bonus Points:  Chris Dodd was friends with whom? 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122360116724221681

Now on to our show ...

http://upload.democraticunderground.com/10028124718

Star Member brooklynite (34,517 posts)

America’s worsening retirement problem

Politico

When a crisis ends, not everyone recovers equally. And in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, though the stock market has long recovered, there is an important group that was hit badly – and hasn’t bounced back.

This is Americans nearing retirement.

People aged 50-64 are supposed to be building wealth and getting ready for retirement. But the Congressional Budget Office released a new report on wealth last Thursday that found that median family wealth dropped for Americans aged 50-64 from around $250,000 in 2007 to just under $200,000 by 2010—and then, troublingly, continued to fall to around $150,000 in 2013. That’s a 40 percent drop in six years.

Americans aged 65 and older saw a smaller drop in the wealth during that period, closer to 10 percent, while those aged 35-49 saw a significant drop from 2007 to 2010 that has leveled off since. Americans younger than 35 typically have little wealth.

[/quote]

Star Member X_Digger (17,301 posts)
1. Retire? LOL, I'll be working til I drop.

Unemployment that lasted two years meant I spent my 401k (not that there was much) on groceries and mortgage.

Almost nobody in my extended family has ever 'retired'. Switched to a lower paying, fewer hour job, sure. Retire? That's something rich people do.

Response to brooklynite (Original post)Fri Aug 26, 2016, 09:23 AM
dembotoz (10,009 posts)
2. recently became more aware of divorced women late 50 early 60s who are just barely scrapping by

god that title sounds perverse but a tiny bit of back story.

last fall i took in a woman who was becoming homeless. she is in that age group.

seems like she could just smell them out.....and they are all over

e.e cummings is that you??   She smells them out?  Oh no, I ain't goin there today.    

[Carl]

Thanks to 6-7 years of Obozos QE I II III the fat cats that are funneling money to Shillary have made out fine while purchasing power for the rest has decreased so savings along with it.

This is what you DUmbfuks claim to hate but you turn your heads,bitch and blame conservatives.

[DLR Pyro]

Retire? That's something rich smart people do.

FIFY DUmmy

[FlaGator]

Median wealth in the Bush years basically rose for everyone and since Obama took office it has fallen for everyone.

[SVPete]

The graph does show a decline in wealth in 2008 and 2009 for which one might, without committing anachronism, blame GWB. That would likely be due to the housing bubble bursting. That said, housing prices probably largely recovered by 2010 or 2011 (I'm going by Silicon Valley, which may be atypical), so why did the decline in wealth continue decline after 2010? That's a question DU-folk should be ducking, not bringing up. Though, as zg suggested, DU-folk probably aren't very good with Math or chronology.

Fixed a typo.

[Carl]

The graph doe show a decline in wealth in 2008 and 2009, for which one might, without committing anachronism, blame GWB. That would likely be due to the housing bubble bursting. That said, housing prices probably largely recovered by 2010 or 2011 (I'm going by Silicon Valley, which may be atypical), so why did the decline in wealth continue decline after 2010? That's a question DU-folk should be ducking, not bringing up. Though, as zg suggested, DU-folk probably aren't very good with Math or chronology.

They have avoided the thread like the plague.

[Bad Dog]

Retired five years now.  The rules are pretty simple.

1. Get an education.
2. Get and keep a job. 
3. Save 10% of your first paycheck and each check that follows.
4. Drink responsibly and avoid recreational drugs.
5. For all "life choices" use your &%$#ing head.

I know, casting swine before pearls.

[I_B_Perky]

Retired five years now.  The rules are pretty simple.

1. Get an education.
2. Get and keep a job. 
3. Save 10% of your first paycheck and each check that follows.
4. Drink responsibly and avoid recreational drugs.
5. For all "life choices" use your &%$#ing head.

I know, casting swine before pearls.

As for 1 I have to agree/disagree in that it does/does not necessarily equate to success. Witness many of the over educated dummies who are consistently poor.  A good trade skill works as well. 
number two is a no brainer. Work ethic goes a long way. 
number three means living below your means and investing wisely in diverse no load index funds for the long term with that 10 percent and over a lifetime you will have a sizable chunk of change. 
number 4 disqualifies the dummies right off the bat
number 5 disqualifies the dummies for the simple reason they cannot use their heads at any given moment since their heads are usually utilized as a butt plug.  Maybe that goes back to why #1 never seems to work out for the dummies.   

H5 BD!!!   Those are excellent rules to live by.  Only dummies could **** up something so simple.