re: Great Wealth Transfer is going in the wrong direction

Rich get richer


Poor get poorer


If you aren't worth 100 million now you are poor and will keep getting poorer.

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This is honestly pathetic on the part of older Americans. The stock market went up like a rocket for most of their working careers. Where is all that money?


The fact they had a 20 year head start over every other generation and still managed to fumbled the bag proves their incompetence.

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Since you didn't read the article. Here is a little tidbit for you:

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Boomers' retirement savings are often smaller than those of younger generations because 401(k)s and Roth IRAs became widely available later in their workplace lives. Even those lucky enough to have workplace pensions (7) or annuities often receive modest payments. According to the Pension Rights Center, the median annual benefit from private pensions or annuities was $11,440 in 2024.

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You misunderstand how the financial system actually worked for Boomers. 401(k)s weren't created until 1978 and didn't become common until the 90s. Boomers spent the first 15 to 20 years of their careers without access to the tax advantaged accounts you younger generations take for granted. So Boomers didn't have the 20 year head start you think they did and a lot of them had their pensions frozen and slashed by the companies they worked for. And if you think it was easy to invest in the stock market, it wasn't. A Boomer had to set up an account which took the equivalent of $7500.00 in today dollars in the 70s, physically call a broker on the phone to place a trade and then pay the transaction fees which would be around $150 to $300.00 in today. Now anyone can download an app, open an account with a minimum amount of cash, buy $5 worth of a fractional share, and pay $0 in trading fees.

Not making excuses. Just pointing out it was not as easy to save for retirement then as it is now.

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Just pointing out it was not as easy to save for retirement then as it is now.

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Thanks for pointing this out. Excellent points.

Options were an even bigger pain in the arse to trade back in the day, the spreads were large, and the commissions astronomical. Today it’s like you’re on the floor but at home drinking your coffee.

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Not making excuses. Just pointing out it was not as easy to save for retirement then as it is now.

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Agreed.

The dollars back then didn't lead to a high need for huge sums of retirement assets.

In 1970, an 18 year old would love to live off of $10k/yr with assets paid for (home/car).
What type of retirement is that 18 year old targeting as he/she starts their employment path. $100k-$200k?

As they aged, the annual funds were still low by today's standards (even if they doubled and tripled).

A disciplined 22 year old, today, can start a path towards $100k so much quicker than I could back in the 2000s. Duh.
My 16/17 year olds are making more than my wife did 25 year ago.

I didn’t fail to plan. We will leave our two kids a sack of shekels.

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maybe a nice windfall on sale of his paid off house.


hopefully there's no reverse mortgage!

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on a similar note.

Reading Teech’s thread about the mother in law possibly needing long term care and moving in.

But several posters mentioned making sure to get a good elderly care attorney for a survivorship or whatever so the tax payers can ultimately pay for the Boomers care instead of selling off the assets they accrued over their lifetime for I assume to prepare to pay for the inevitable care.


Does that not sit wrong with everyone else?

How is this even a thing? No wonder our Medicare and Medicare expenditures are ungodly

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41% of boomers aged 65 to 79 still have mortgages,


Is this a product of the rising numbers of divorce? My plan was to have my house paid off at 48-50 years old, but had to refinance at 45 due to divorce property settlement.

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A lot of them, including this one, refinanced at such historically low rates that it makes no sense to pay off the mortgage. My mortgage rate is less than inflation. If we do get to a point that we can't pay it, then it in effect becomes an investment vehicle for the kids, but it is very unlikely that we will reach that point.