For boomers, it's a new era of 'work til you drop'

[TomClash]

Feb 20, 11:04 AM EST

For boomers, it's a new era of 'work til you drop'

By JOHN ROGERS
Associated Press


LOS ANGELES (AP) -- When Paula Symons joined the U.S. workforce in 1972, typewriters in her office clacked nonstop, people answered the telephones and the hot new technology revolutionizing communication was the fax machine.

Symons, fresh out of college, entered this brave new world thinking she'd do pretty much what her parents' generation did: Work for just one or two companies over about 45 years before bidding farewell to co-workers at a retirement party and heading off into her sunset years with a pension.

Forty years into that run, the 60-year-old communications specialist for a Wisconsin-based insurance company has worked more than a half-dozen jobs. She's been laid off, downsized and seen the pension disappear with only a few thousand dollars accrued when it was frozen.

. . .

Like 78 million other U.S. Baby Boomers, Symons and her husband had the misfortune of approaching retirement age at a time when stock market crashes diminished their 401 (k) nest eggs, companies began eliminating defined benefit pensions in record numbers and previously unimagined technical advances all but eliminated entire job descriptions from travel agent to telephone operator.

. . .

"The paradigm has truly shifted. Now when you're looking for a job you're competing in a world where the competition isn't just the guy down the street, but the guy sitting in a cafe in Hong Kong or Mumbai," says Bill Vick, a Dallas-based executive recruiter who started BoomersNextStep.com in an effort to help Baby Boomers who want to stay in the workforce.

Not only has the paradigm shifted, but as it has the generation whose mantra used to be, "Don't trust anyone over 30," finds itself now being looked on with distrust by younger Generation X managers who question whether boomers have the high-tech skills or even the stamina to do what needs to be done.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_AGING_AMERICA_CHANGING_WORKPLACE?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-02-20-11-04-08

[Zalatix]

1. And yet they keep voting Republican

http://washingtonindependent.com/102877/elderly-voters-the-biggest-push-behind-the-gop-wave

[radical noodle]

2. Not all of us

I know many Boomers about that age who do not/would not vote Republican.

[leftyohiolib]

5. i know many who do. all the boomer plus people i know do

its ridiculous

[spooky3]

13. previous polls here at DU have shown that a big proportion of posters are boomers

so all the "boomer plus people you know" do not vote that way.

[leftyohiolib]

25. "all the boomer plus people i know" DO vote that way i dont KNOW any of the posters here(xcpt for my

brother hes here). no offense to anyone but i dont know you. thats the kind of know to which i was refering. so while i know of a spooky3 who posts here, i dont know you. i was more thinking my immediate circle.
sorry if that came off shouty wasnt meant to be

[Mimosa]

17. I know plenty who did

Many bought into 'free trade' and killing unions.

[spooky3]

11. people over 65 (the group in the article you cited) are the generation BEFORE the boomers

The OLDEST boomers just turned 65 last year.

[Skink]

2. I bet none of these boomers voted for Reagan

[marybourg]

4. "when stock market crashes diminished their 401 (k) nest eggs"

I'll just address one of the many points raised in this post: By now everyone's "nest egg" should be back to where it was before the recession began EVEN WITHOUT considering new money going in. If it isn't, either your 401 provider is charging too much (so speak to your benefits manager) or you're investing on fad advice (use only total stock market index funds if possible. If not in your 401 selection, speak to your benefits manager). Your retirement in now in YOUR hands! Don't blow it!

[Zalatix]

6. Uh huh, until the next crash, which is due soon

We're in a sucker's rally, which will end abruptly when Greece exits the Euro and then Portugal and Spain fall as well.

Worst of all, this will happen as inflation is going up, too.

[diane in sf]

7. Not if you had to pull part of it out to survive during the bush depression.

[bvar22]

8. I pulled ours out 2006 - 2008,

...and bought Bubble Proof rural property where we live and grow much of our own food.
The property has increased in value due to the sweat investment among other things.

Considering that, and the fact that we haven't paid a mortgage for 5 years,
we're doing considerably better than if I had left that money in an IRA,
even with the penalties for early withdrawal.
Instead of just getting back to even,
we're way ahead.

[xchrom]

9. You really should provide links to prove

That assertion.

Cause you're talking about a lot of 401s & that would be news.

[marybourg]

14. look at these:

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0584&FundIntExt=INT

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0585&FundIntExt=INT

[xchrom]

20. Unacceptable - vanguard will promote

It's own product - which has nothing to do w/ 401s across a broad spectrum of population.

[marybourg]

21. That's not a promotion; that's an actual total return report,

and if it weren't accurate the hundreds of thousands of Vanguard customers would notice it and complain. It IS accurate. My IRA, invested almost solely in Vanguard Total Stock Market, Total Bond Market and Total International, DID more than surpass its previous high. Since I have been retired for many years, there have been no additions other than increase in value of the funds.

I didn't claim that there was an increase "across a broad spectrum of population", only among the sensible who don't think they can "beat the market" and invest in low-cost, broad spectrum funds.

[xchrom]

22. So that wasn't you in reply #4 who said everyones nest egg

Should be back to X?

[spooky3]

31. if you have been "retired for many years" as you say, then your situation

is very different from that of most boomers, who have not yet reached retirement age and who are and have been advised to have a different proportion of their funds in bonds, domestic stock markets, international markets, etc.

Your investments should have been much more conservative than that of most boomers, and you didn't have the same options to move funds out, which might have caused some of them who panicked to take money out in 2008 and 2009 and not get back in. That's why you are in good shape financially (I am also), but that is not necessarily going to be true for most prudent investors in a younger age group than you.

[spooky3]

12. that's true only in limited circumstances--your statement is far too sweeping

such as:

--you had a well-diversified account before the crash AND
--you were willing to gamble that your account would come back completely, and didn't change any of your investments at any time during this recession (e.g., you didn't cut your losses and move to safer bonds) AND
--you had very little invested in the typical international/global stock fund (many of those are still well below their 2007 peaks); some well-regarded investment houses such as T. Rowe Price (hardly "fad" advisors) were advising clients to move INTO global stocks in 2007 because of concerns in the US markets, and many people followed their advice. Even these well-paid financial experts didn't seem to realize that the crash would affect the entire world AND
--you could AFFORD to ride out the recession, which still is not over, and didn't get laid off or sick

OR

Your accounts were entirely in good municipal bonds, like Suze Orman's, who could afford safe but tiny returns because she has millions invested. BUT all boomers were advised to have a good proportion of their 401ks invested in stocks because bonds would not keep up with inflation, so probably .00001 % of them in had that type of portfolio.

etc. etc. etc.

20-20 hindsight is of no value in stock markets.

[marybourg]

15. A 401 is for saving long term for retirement, not for

speculating. The fundemntals of saving long term for retirement have been pretty well nailed down by now. I'd advise you to read the "Bogleheads Guide to Retirement". I disagree with your characterization of TR price and all brokerages.

[just1voice]

29. Mary, every fund follows the S&P regardless of diversity, LOOK THEM UP

The markets are totally manipulated by the big bank criminals who do nothing but speculate. You are severely misleading people with your retirement/investment comments by suggesting it's not speculating when it purely is.

Other than the obvious evidence obtained by simply comparing any 401k fund to the S&P, historical evidence of multiple bubble collapses as recent as the tech bubble and real estate bubble are further evidence of massive fund speculation.

[spooky3]

30. are you calling anyone who invests in the stock market "speculators"?

sorry, I know of no credible advisors who tell people to stay out of the stock market altogether.

After reading your other posts that say you yourself had holdings in what sounds like an S&P index fund, I suspect you did not read my post very carefully, or you didn't understand it, or you aren't thinking about how other people's situations differ from that of someone who has been "retired for many years." And as someone who is heavily invested in Vanguard, which is quite similar to TR Price, your comments about how you disagree with my characterization of TR Price makes no sense to me at all.

[progressoid]

27. "By now everyone's "nest egg" should be back to where it was before the recession began"

[RebelOne]

10. I was laid off my job in 2010.

I was already 70 years old. If I had not been laid off, I would still be working. I was hoping to get more money into my 401K. I am not bad off financially, as I live in a mobile home that I own, my car is paid, and my only other expenses are utilities, insurance, Internet and cable TV. I was also collecting Social Security along with my salary, so I miss that salary.

[shanti]

16. sadly

i know way too many people who fit the description of the boomers in this article, friends, family members, etc. i made damn sure i wasn't one of them though. my younger brother is 52 and has been unemployed for the past two years, about the same age as our father was when he last worked. bro (barely) gets by as a movie extra for now, but he has no children, so there will be no one for him to move in with when it becomes a necessity.

[WillyT]

18. HUGE K & R !!!

[woo me with science]

19. And it will get worse, if we don't get the money out of politics

and depose the bankers who are purchasing governments and systematically restructuring our economic systems to enslave the rest of us and profit themselves.

Occupy now, because they are putting structures into place to prevent occupation later.

[no_hypocrisy]

23. On the other side of the equation,

I'm thrilled to have been hired for a position with the public defenders office and I can work there as long as I like. No age discrimination or mandatory retirement. If I drop dead in the courtroom when I'm 85, that's fine with me. All I have to do is maintain my health and vitality.

[flamingdem]

24. People need to understand the impact of globalization

on our jobs. Yes, it's not fun to compete against the cream of the crop of the entire world.
The corporations don't care about your nationality

[progressoid]

26. This is not limited to boomers.

We're all getting squeezed from every direction.

[just1voice]

28. Article is bigoted and uses worthless stereotyping

It's basically an ad for the "Dallas-based executive recruiter", i.e. corporate propaganda.