https://www.investopedia.com/baby-boomers-are-carrying-debt-into-retirement-heres-how-much-12013027
I find this hard hard to understand since many baby boomers enjoy the benefits of a pension or a deferred compensation plan while they worked
I still have a mortgage because I am the nicest guy a girl could ever divorce. Thatâs the only debt I have. I know it would be better to not have a mortgage, but I actually wanted to retire so I factored the mortgage in my plans. But yes, I have a small pension that made it possible to retire. I paid cash for my car in 2019 and while itâs 7 years old, it has less than 50k miles on it so there is no need for a replacement anytime soonâŚheck - it still seems new to me.
True, but even with a pension a lot of boomers never saved for their own retirement and average social security is a little over $2,000 a month. Those same people most likely drove a new car every 5 years, bought more house than they could afford and have had debt all their life.
Most retirees I know are doing pretty well and are wealthier than they thought theyâd be, their money will out live them.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/17/great-wealth-transfer-estimates.html
One problem, retired widows have is that is they pay
a a widows penalty for both Social Security and income taxes although my Social Security payment has gone up in the last few years my my premiums for Medicare have gone up more and my net Social Security. Itâ is now less than it was three years ago. fortunately, I can still afford to live in a nice assisted living facility near my daughter.
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Iâve suspected that for a while, that you made things easier for her, for some reason.
You need to read No More Mr. Nice Guy, by Robert Glover.
Thanks, but thatâs the past and I canât change it. Iâm retired and Iâm happyâŚjust the way things are.
You did say âIâm the nicest guy,â not âI was the nicest guy.â
Glad youâre happy, but keep it in the back of your mind, just in case. IMO should be required reading for every male in the modern era.
Can we quote this line back to you sometimes?
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I have zero plans to ever remarry
AhâŚI know I might bitch about some things in the past, but itâs usually to illustrate something. Like the behaviour of a man who lost an election by 500 votes in one state compared to the behaviour of a man who lost an election by tens of thousands of votes in 4 states.
Itâs not about marriage.
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Lol⌠seriously, whatâs the longest youâve gone without thinking about Trump? You probably dream about him.
Talking about retirement, my friend. Somebody else brought up memories.
Weâre boomers, but we retired 26 years ago. The youngest boomer today is 62, and I suspect that 90% of boomers who were working have already retired. I know the âdataâ for this article was collected in 2022.
We took out a new mortgage when we retired and moved cross country. We later took out another mortgage on a 2nd home. We would not have done eother if we thought we couldnât afford it. We ended up paying off both early. We never incurred education loans because we paid as we went. Other than mortgage payments, we havenât incurred any debt interest in about 35 years. We did incur pre-medicare medical debt, and paid it off.
The article says 38% have credit card debt, which means 62% do not. 7% have education debt, so 93% do not. 28% have an auto loan, so 72% do not. Other household debt is high. I donât know what that is, but If it is medical related and the retiree is 65 or older, they need to understand the options available to them and adjust their coverage.
For a lot of these reasons, articles like this one annoy me. Like everyone, boomers should have known what was coming and planned accordingly. I have little compassion for those who could have, but didnât.
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We are, Iâm trying to figure out what elections and Trump have to do with the topic of this thread. Maybe you can connect the dots for us.
Sorry you went through that, I am being serious.