Older Americans with student debt are the fastest growing segment of borrowers, with the number of borrowers who are 62 and older surging 60% since 2017.
If someone can’t pay off their student loans over 40 years they’re an idiot. Taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook for others debt, maybe those with high student debt need to listen to Dave Ramsey.
1 Like
What about someone who got laid off their manufacturing job in their 50’'s and had to go to school to learn new skills as part of the bootstrap pulling program?
They don’t need a $100,000+ 4 year degree, just an inexpensive certificate or classes at a community college. Many times that will be paid for or subsidized by the former employer.
Nope;…but to shift from manufacturing to say…IT…they are now going against H1B visa holders who have more training and will work for less money. Can you make an entire career change at 50 with a couple of community college courses? I mean you are 50 and trying to get into an industry with a lot of much younger (read - they will work for less) kids that have a four year degree…so here you are with your community college certificates. You are the hiring manager - which one do you hire?
They don’t have to go into IT, plus there are less than 200k H1B people working here. There are plenty of jobs available with minimal training. Trucking companies will pay for your training and pay pretty well if someone is willing to work hard.
Are you suggesting someone layed off in their fifties go to college and get a 4 year degree?
I am saying that the bootstrap speech is easy to give when you are the one with the 6 figure income preaching to the guy who had his promises made to him 30 years ago ripped away. I mean, I loaded dairy trucks at 20 and was able to do the bootstrap thing fairly easily, but the older you get, the harder it is. And speechs on “you shoulda gone into a better industry” don’t help. Also, you have to factor in the today method of getting a job…running a resume thru a resume bot to find candidates…this guys resume will likely get passed over in a heartbeat. But it’s easier to give a bootstrap speech and cal him an idiot because you aren’t in his situation. And hell…this could be one of those folks who had to max out their credit cards because Bidenflation made it impossible to live. YOu had a lot of compassion for guys like that as little as 4 months ago.
The article is about seniors who’ve had student debt for years, not newly acquired debt. People losing their job in their 50’s is a different issue.
What promises were those, a guaranteed job at the same company for life?
But with your wide brush, they are lumped in the “idiot” category
Used to be everybody, back in the day. I have a friend who was a Flight attendant for United for 25 years. They promised her a pension and other things. They filed for bankruptcy and her pension was cut to $700 per month. The executive pensions were protected, but she found herself haviang to take a job after retiring in order to live. How many different companies did your dad work for
Lol…I didn’t call a guy getting laid off in their 50’s an idiot. I said if someone hasn’t paid off their student loans over 40 years they’re an idiot. You need to read better.
Lol…man, you are all over the place today. Was your friend promised a JOB and did the company take that JOB from her?
I’ve never been promised a job for life, I don’t think anyone I know has.
That’s why a 401K, IRA’s and other investments are better than a pension. The money is your’s and can’t be taken away. I have twice as much in my retirement accounts that I own than I’ll be getting from my pension. It’s called personal responsibility. My kid’s company doesn’t offer a pension, my kid puts $900 a month into his 401K and has a Roth IRA, being an adult isn’t that complicated.
I’m sorry…I broke my resolution. Allow me to offer this as an attempt to become less confrontational and more likeable and then step away. Democrats and liberals suck
Lol…just stay on topic, if you want to talk about guys getting laid off in their 50’s or pensions start a new thread. I’ll be glad to have a discussion on why 401K’s and IRA’s are better than the promise of a pension or what options a guy layed off in their 50’s have.
True, but personal responsibility isn’t a political thing, it’s common sense.
1 Like
This same post ws on the CH boards and there was another good response…a lot of college kids don’t have a very big credit record and college tuition as high as it is, parents often have to cosign. If their kids don’t pay, they come after mom and dad. But they have have inherited the student loan debt that they cosigned on right about the time the retire.
It all goes back to something you don’t understand, personal responsibility. If you agree to repay a debt YOU should repay it. Being an adult isn’t that fucking complicated.
@kcflyer : I have to agree with Bears here. Parents do not inherit student debt from their kids. One inherits something when somebody passes away and bequeaths that person an item.
If a parent is stuck with his kid’s student loan debt, it is because he made a conscious decision to co-sign in the first place. That is something that every parent co-signing for a student loan needs to think about in the first place, just like anybody who is considering to co-sign for anything. If you co-sign for a loan, you had better be prepared to be responsible for paying it back yourself.
As a personal example, my daughter is eighteen and my son is fourteen. I am also getting close to retirement age. My daughter has talked about wanting to apply to one particular private college with a sizeable tuition. I have discussed with her about how student loans can affect one later on. It may sound lousy, but if it comes to that point my wife and I will not be co-signing any student loans for her. To put it frankly, we are not in a position to take on such a potential financial responsibility without it affecting our retirement. My objective has been to have my kids in a position where they do not need financial support from us and where we do not need financial support from them. Being responsible for a sizeable student loan would seriously impact the latter.
Also, in reply to an earlier point you made, I had the same thought Bears did when he replied to you here:
I am in my late fifties. While I sincerely hope I do not end up in that position, if I did I would consider the costs of an educational program compared to what I would be expected to earn later. I am guessing that I would end up in a job that paid less than what I was earning before but which on balance will not leave me in debt when I am ready to retire.
1 Like
It doesn’t sound lousy, it’s smart and I believe Clark advises against it. I was on our sons $20,000 student loan, he paid half it off within a year after graduating and we paid the rest. The original plan before starting college was we’d pay half and Bears Jr would pay half for his education, which he did without loans except the $20k his freshman year. We paid the tuition which was a little over $20k a year and he paid his living expenses. I had him take out the loan freshman year so he had some skin in the game.
There are parents who refinance their house to pay for their children’s education without realizing the consequences of doing so.
1 Like
Yeah, not a good idea. I agree with WMJ that you want to help your kids, but not screw up your own finance’s. I co-signed for my kids small student loan because I knew I could handle it if he flaked out and couldn’t pay, I also was pretty sure that wouldn’t happen.