Over the past year, I have watched my investments plummet then make a feeble attempt at recovery, only to nosedive again this past week. The economic news mirrors my concern. We might be in an economic bubble or we might be on the road to recovery. Who knows? Apparently no one can say for sure, despite their educational background or their position of power. I question whether my IRA will ever be healthy enough for me to retire on. Then, I tell myself not to worry, retirement is highly over-rated and what would I do with all that time on my hands anyway, especially if I can’t afford the lifestyle I want to become accustomed to. See? Even my sense of humor is suffering from this financial burden.
I am not sure who is to be trusted anymore. I was struck dumb, when I heard that the bank executives who put us in this economic tsunami must be given their million-dollar bonuses or they will go some place else to work. I say, “Let them go!” These people have proven to the world that they are the epitome of incompetency. I don’t understand why they kept their jobs in the first place, and I really don’t understand, knowing their history, who would hire them now. We have finally reached that point where the world has turned upside down, common sense has been abandoned and logic is non-existent. Hey folks, Nero is back, and Rome is burning.
I’m not one for idly standing by and yet, where my finaces are concerned, I must confess, I have taken the passive road. I have trusted strangers to turn my hard earned money into a comfortable nest egg. I hypnotized myself into believing that since the investmenet firm had an old, established name, it was a safe place to invest. Silly me. Over the years I have learned that the only one who can take care of me the way I want to be taken care of, is me. And if I want to see a safe, secure financial future, than it is up to me to take the necessary action to make it happen. I have made a commitment to handle my own financial future. I have enrolled in investment classes and when I am done, I will have the knowledge I need to chart my own path.
Wish me luck and follow my progress here.
We have accepted the fact that in lieu of a stimulus check in the mail, we should be seeing more money in our paychecks. And that is fine and good. In fact, rumors abound throughout this country that Obama will seek major tax cuts in his stimulus plan, and there are several tax breaks under consideration right now. All this talk makes taxpayers feel like relief is finally on the way. But what can we really expect? One plan is to provide a tax credit that would allow companies to reduce the tax they withhold. However, if that is only $500 for individuals and $1000 for a couple, as proposed on CNN.Money, I don’t see how that is going to impact the way I spend my money. If I break $500 down by 26 paychecks a year, I will only see an increase of about $19 per payday. I do understand the economics behind this but it doesn’t make me feel any better. A mere $19 is not really enough money to increase a credit card payment and it’s not enough money to stash away in a savings account so I probably will spend it without thinking, which is exactly the intention of this tax cut. The problem is, $19 every other week is not going to make me feel very hopeful that the economy is turning around and this feeling will probably lead me to continue living as frugally as possible. I wonder how many others will feel the same way? Read more »
Downsizing, Upsizing and Rightsizing. Boomers were the first generation to be able to graduate from high school and enter the job market expecting to earn a living wage. Now, they are the first group of employees that are perceived by management as ‘LESS’ valuable than younger, entry level, lower paid Gen Xer’s entering the job market today. You probably know of at least one baby boomer who was forced to take early retirement or who was forced out of the job market due to cut backs and streamlining. These boomers find themselves too young to receive any social security benefits and apprehensive about going back to school to acquire new skills. But, without a college degree or high technology skills, many are currently working in lower paying jobs or sitting home frustrated that they want to work but can’t find employment. Compound this situation with the current inflation and a failing economy and the question arises, will our generation, the one that was promised a better life than our parents, end up worse off than our parents? Read more »
I just read some really harsh and little known statistics about the Baby Boomer generation that I want to share with you. A quarter of the more than 1 million Americans who filed for personal bankruptcy in 2007 are 55 and over. They are the fastest group of bankruptcy filers in America. In fact according to an AARP study conducted last year, personal bankruptcy filings soared by nearly 151% among people 55-64 and by almost 178% among those 65 to 74. People 75 and older saw the highest jump in filings, a whopping increase of 567% from 1991 to 2007. These are astonishing statistics, especially for the generations of people who grew up thinking that bankruptcy was a shameful occurrence. The reasons for bankruptcy and financial crisis are different for those over fifty compared to those who are younger. Most often it’s not due to excessive spending, but rather the bankruptcies may be attributed to high health care costs due to serious illness and expenses not covered by insurance. Also, some seniors go into debt trying to help their children or grand children during these difficult times. No matter how old we get, it is in our nature to take care of our children first. Those over fifty also tend to use their credit cards to charge necessities like groceries, unanticipated home repairs and especially medical expenses and prescription drugs. Read more »
Well, it’s official. According to MSNBC the U.S. economy began the fall into recession back in December of 2007, just about a year ago. The National Bureau of Economic Research panel, made up of academic economists, finally declared what most private economists, lawmakers, business people and common everyday folks already knew. At least, I have know this for quite some time and that’s why it boggled my mind why all of a sudden it made the news. Anyone who has been the least bit attentive is aware that unemployment has been on the rise and the stock market has been on the decline, major financial institutions are crumbling under the weight of bad debt and, in my mind, the biggest indicators of all: cars aren’t selling and people are using their credit cards less. Despite the fact that President Bush is not ready to acknowledge that this isn’t a full-blown recession yet, Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson finally agreed and actually used the “R” word Monday. This is really an omen that things are bad. Read more »
The big three automakers went to the hill this past week to ask Congress for a bridge loan of twenty-five billion dollars. Believing that they could not be denied, these CEOs were ill-prepared to face the inquistion of lawmakers and too arrogant to be shamed by Congressional remarks and comments to show humility. LA Times reported that the CEOs of Chrysler, GM and Ford ran into a wall of skepticism from a broad cross-section of lawmakers concerned about the environment, unions and Japanese auto plants in their home states; all topics that the Big Three seemed to dismissively sidestep with a fancy dance. As I watched this story unfold over the last few days on television, I couldn’t help but wonder, what were they thinking? These are very highly-paid, highly compensated CEOs of the three major American automakers. These are men who are responsible for making dynamic decisions that affect not just their employees, but support businesses, educators, home builders, politics, environment and the list goes on. The tentacles of the auto industry are many and deep and they are embedded in just about everything that is American. Yet, these Autogods were totally clueless. In fact, I see a whole new genre of dumb jokes that has nothing to do with blondes, on the horizon. Why did they fly in on their private jets and face Congress without a new and improved game plan? Read more »
Financing the Retirement Dream
Just when I thought my nest egg was about ready to feather my retirement, the bottom fell out of the economy and within days, what was once egg is now just shell. I believe that, despite this recent set back, my investments will again grow and prosper. I know that I must wait patiently and continue to invest, and I also know that there are times that I need to rant, re-evaluate and look for wisdom. This Section is dedicated to just such rantings and moments of wisdom. I hope that you might find something here that you can identify with or offers a moment of solace in these difficult times.
The elections are finally over and the United States, with much help from our generation, has elected a new president. With this new president comes the pro-offered promises of change and hope and a new vision of America; but what impact will this new administration have on retired and near-retiring baby boomers? Just like everyone else caught up in the economic woes, baby boomers are facing their own set of problems. Not only have we taken a big hit on our investments, but some of us now find ourselves helping out with family members who have lost jobs or gone into mortgage default. En masse, those of us still working are rethinking early retirement and looking at the prospect of working two to five more years just to recoup our investment losses. Many of those baby boomers who have retired are now looking for part-time jobs in order to make ends meet. So, President-elect Obama, what do you have in store for us? One campaign promise that you made was that seniors making under $50,000 would no longer pay income tax. However, many Democrats think that this is not only a bad idea, but low on the list of things that need to be done. Read more »
To add a little more fuel to the already flaming meltdown, I am now hearing rumors around the Internet about a covert monetary coalition between the U.SA., Canada and Mexico that will virtually render all of our hard earned but depleted savings and investments to pennies on the dollar and that these three nations would be trading in a new currency called the Amero. Here is a little info about it from Wikipedia. It was Polish economist, Mateusz Machaj who pointed out that the Amero theory is a Canadian pipe dream that is going nowhere, and that the images you see all over the web are actually the designs of a private artist named Daniel Carr. I think back to when European nations banded together to create a common currency. According to my memory, the reasoning behind the Euro was that these countries were small and people could conceivably travel between them in a short matter of time making money conversion a headache, especially for tourists. It took years of working out the details and votes by the people of those countries to make it happen. During this time, there was much talk on the news and in fact, before it was common knowledge to the masses, one of the soaps (I think it was General Hospital or Guiding Light) picked it up. Read more »
Here’s a news flash! According to AOL Money & Finance, consumers ratcheted back their spending by the largest amount in 28 years and tougher times are still ahead. Clobbered by pink slips, shrinking nest eggs and falling home values, consumers are holding on even tighter to their wallets while party members argue about which political candidate has what it takes to lead us out of this meltdown. Personally, I am not sure any one really knows the solution to this problem because I think we are in familiar but uncharted waters and it will take a series of trial and error attempts to figure out what is going to work. For most of us, we will have to continue to watch our spending and wait it out. How can we benefit from these tough times? For one thing, we can make a list of those things that are most important in our lives and post it where we can see it every day; an overt reminder that there is more to life than money. Another thing that we can do is find more creative and less expensive ways to spend time with family and friends. The joy is in the company we keep, not the events we attend. Remember pot luck dinners and card/board game nights? Just because the economy is dismal, does not mean that our lives have to be too. When faced with the clouds on the horizon, seek the silver linings and who knows, these just might turn into the “good old days” that everyone talks about. Please help make it easier to get through these difficult times and share your ideas or reminiscences of simple but significant memories.