It’s just not all as “gloom and doom” as some of you are saying here. If I even had 1/10th of the “financial savvy” that some of you here display, I would be much better off in my retirement years.
You need to keep in mind that most boomers and beyond didn’t have nearly the expense of raising a family as Gen X and Y do/did.
It didn’t cost them as much because they didn’t raise their kids in the same or similar “style” that younger-generation parents have become “accustomed to.”
Part of the reason for this is that the choices just weren’t there for most young boomer-parents. Vast choices in baby/child accessories, housing, cable/internet, private schools, pre-k/kinder/ Montessori, *new* public schools (with accompanying MR tax), cell phones, laptops, tablets, etc, etc.
Another reason is I think more boomer women stayed in the workforce for decades at 1-2 jobs. They weren’t allowed (before 1993) to take off more than ten weeks (usually just six weeks) for maternity leave or they would lose their jobs. New dads weren’t allowed to take off for maternity leave. Boomer women worked because they had to (because fewer of their spouses were college graduates and thus, “professionals”).
I see FAR MORE Gen X/Y SAHM’s in their 20’s thru 40’s than I EVER saw of us boomers. It seems most of the younger posters on this forum state they have a one-income family, even if the SAH parent has a college degree or an advanced degree. And the job market has been poor in recent years.
Besides many boomers having access to defined benefit pensions, combine that with the vast majority of boomer parents in dual-income households who worked longer in years, worked more hours (got more overtime) and worked steadier and more consistently than generations following (this is NOT gender-specific). Most lived within their means their entire lives (save medical emergencies, etc).
IMHO, even after the effects of the stock market crash of 2000 and 2008 on boomers’ retirement funds. the above are just a few reasons why we are/will be able to retire on much less than younger generations think they will need.
