It all started with a rather innocuous (at least in our opinion) history about how younger generations might not want to follow the lead of the baby boomers when it comes to saving for retirement.
It was a simple warning to Gen X, Millennials, and Z, pointing out that, unfortunately, a sizeable segment of the boomer generation hasn't saved enough to sustain them through their golden years. And lest these youngsters seek to end up in a similar metaphorical "Road to nowhere," they better change their ways soon.
That's nothing out of the ordinary for a financial publication, right? We put our readers through financial guilt trips all the time. It is part of what we do.
Okay, based on the volume of responses from angry boomers, maybe we were a little harsh in the first column, but still, our intentions were well-intentioned and honest. And that is exactly what we try to explain to readers in a follow column That just turned up the heat of the intergenerational fight that we never really intended to start!
Seriously, the torrent of emails we received after we posted"Boomers bite backโ from members of all generations was something we had never experienced before. Any doubt that we didn't just hit a nerve, but hit it with a jackhammer, was quickly dispelled.
With that lesson learned, we decided to skip the sermons this time and let the readers speak for themselves. So, dear readers of all generations, find some of the reactions we received to our first two articles, many of them edited by space. We encourage your responses if you wish to participate in the discussion. Hopefully the third time is the charm!
BOOMER REACTIONS
A significant percentage of the boomer reaction to articles about the retirement crisis specifically emphasized their financial independence, in other words, the ability of boomers to be self-sufficient. Too often, authors focus on their own money or professional struggles in stark contrast to what they see as the pampered lives of younger generations.
Boomer Tammy H., for example, wrote in detail how her generation โleft home after high school with little help from our parentsโ and โwe spent college working full-time jobs or various part-time jobs.โ , while we get by without the โfancy SUV, big house, fancy clothes, vacations and Starbucksโ.
Tammy H. added: โWe didn't start at the top, we work hard to get there. We take care of our parents in old age. We do not abandon them. We help our ungrateful and entitled children and raise our grandchildren. We earn everything we have."
An equally large portion of boomers blamed corporate greed as the root of the nation's retirement crisis.
โThings might have worked out if it hadn't been for a phenomenon unlike anything our ancestors could have dreamed of, which was the sale of the plants and the closing of the plants that built America, and the free world, to investors. foreigners," he wrote. CA โShifting jobs out of the country to save on labor and taxes was wonderful for the rich and well off, but it sucks for those who can't capitalize on it at the time it happens.โ
Other members of the boomer generation pointed to poor timing as the reason so many boomers have had trouble saving. Timing, of course, is everything (or at least close to it) when it comes to investing.
โThe tail end of boomers entered the workforce during the Nixon stagflation results,โ writes Kevin G. โOut of school to high unemployment, super high interest rates, high energy costs. It was not a good time to start preparing for future homeownership or future retirement.โ
That being said, Dan F. and others saw the writing on the wall, maxing out their 401(k) each year instead of relying on a pension to bail them out.
โI thought it was extremely obvious when companies started offering 401(k) plans that they were trying to get out of the pension business. I would encourage the younger generation to follow the retirement plan of this boom. I stopped working at 49 without any financial worries or desires," said Dan F.
Meanwhile, Charles L. suggests that the boomers made an honest demographic mistake when it comes to their alleged overuse of public resources.
โWhat was not appreciated at the time was that the generation that followed the boomers is 20% smaller and we had just given ourselves a huge raise that our children would pay for,โ he wrote.
In a similar vein, Danielle J. argues that for all the slingshots and arrows they're currently receiving from young people, boomers didn't set out to sabotage the finances of future generations, and everyone involved should move on.
โPointing fingers at each other solves nothing and is cruel to those with less power. Have a nice day!" Danielle J. said.
REACTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF OTHER GENERATIONS
As for the response from non-boomers, Wayne S. was one of many who showed no empathy for the "richer generation."
โThey kept destroying the economy and tearing down safety nets, passing laws to take their money while concentrating it in the hands of a few. Now that they have grown old and need the help they destroyed, they are instead asking for help while denying responsibility,โ wrote Wayne S.
Similarly, Gen Xer Roy M. planted the blame for the nation's retirement crisis squarely at the feet of the boomers before him.
โThe boomers created the political climate that allowed Social Security to languish and pensions to disappear, not to mention health care that can ruin anyone in the blink of an eye. I don't think you can complain about having to remain a servant of the privileged when you created that privilege through your own actions,โ she wrote. "I am sad that I managed to live to see the fruit of his labor."
And even as many boomers have blamed an unfair economic cycle for their inability to prepare for retirement, so have many Gen Xers, especially when it comes to the rising cost of education.
โAs a member of Generation X, my main problem is that when I graduated from high school, they told me to go to college. No one was hiring someone with just a high school diploma because this was the big shift from paper and analog to digital files,โ said Allyssa R. โBut when I finished college, no one wanted a college grad. Twenty years out of college and ten million excuses from employers and a plethora of menial part-time jobs, I have zero savings and virtually no retirement!
When it comes to boomers who say they made an honest demographic mistake by misjudging the size of the generation behind them, Gen X readers like David N. dismiss that notion entirely.
"Don't let them get away! The future threat to Social Security became clear from demographic evidence in the early 1980s, as the generation of Silent Generation (Generation X) children was not large enough to support boomer retirement. But God forbid the boomers put extra expenses on themselves to fix a system that would still be running through their own retirement! Wrote David N.
Finally, a heartfelt thank you to India S. for summing up the mood of millennials when it comes to the battle between boomers and later generations.
โThank you for your strong warning about retirement and for not following in your retirement planning footsteps,โ he wrote. โI am 36 years old and I consider myself a millennial, although I am on the line. But frankly, I've had enough of our parents' opinions. The fact that they flooded your inbox with replies to defend themselves speaks volumes about their self-centered nature.โ
You're welcome India!
