Why the baby boomers shouldn't feel guilty

BobQ

ruggedtoast wrote: »

I think it is time to bring Paxman into this, one of the chief boomers.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2055497/JEREMY-PAXMAN-Baby-Boomers-selfish-generation-history.html



Paxman has told it like it is. At least there is one boomer out there with the decency to appreciate how lucky he has been. Shame he appears to be the only one.

Oh for heavens sake! Paxman has never been in touch with the man in the street. He was born into a upper middle class family, educated at an exclusive private school, and then Cambridge.

Nothing wrong with this, but as wealthy broadcaster from a privileged background his perception of the lifestyle of the average baby boomer is somewhat untypical.

Itismehonest

Every generation has it tough in its' own way.

Do you know what, rugged? Some of us boomers & some of the X generation actually have quite a bit in common.
We've managed to get through our lives so far without having an obsessive & bigoted need to find someone else to blame for the fact that we haven't necessarily reached our aspirations. Nor do we use others as an excuse to not continue trying to improve our lot.

BobQ

ruggedtoast wrote: »

The first honest post from a boomer in this thread.

It's what most of them think as well.

This is one person's view, to generalise it is absurd. There are many of the BBG who care about those that follow them. The problem comes when some of the younger generation maintain that there has been some kind of a conspiracy to exploit and impoverish them. In reality events just pan out in a certain way.

When I was 20, I expected the sort of poverty that that was still commonplace for the elderly to be a thing of the past as everyone in my generation would retire with a good occupational pension. I am amazed that employees have so willingly given them up, that many of the self employed have so willingly failed to invest in them, and that both have failed to pressurise successive Governments to protect them. Its easy to blame internatiional competitiveness or trade union militancy for this, but the reality is that so many of us did not care enough about keeping them. Equally, no body set out to create a housing market that disadvantaged any particular generation, its just that we failed to regulate it to prevent individuals selfishly taking advantage of it. The tragedy as far as I can see is that the solutions to these problems lie in collective solutions yet so many people (young and old) favour more selfish me first solutions.

BobQ

WhiteHorse wrote: »

Ah, but it's not so simple.

Boomer investments depend for their continued viability on the work of the current, and probably the next, generation.

If younger people were to refuse to work, or if the system were to collapse to the point where there is not enough work, boomer investments would be worthless.

The concept of young people withdrawing their labour is something quite shocking in the modern era. I wonder if they would have the stamina to do it for more than a day. Maybe you could try and organise something?:rotfl:

ruggedtoast

These boomers are booming awful. And thats my final word in this thread.

WhiteHorse

BobQ wrote: »

The concept of young people withdrawing their labour is something quite shocking in the modern era. I wonder if they would have the stamina to do it for more than a day.

Ha. The strike as work. Now that's really existential ...:rotfl:

ILW

WhiteHorse wrote: »

Ha. The strike as work. Now that's really existential ...:rotfl:

Not really, you hear the unions going on about "fighting" for their cause. Fighting seems to be defined as taking a day off.

treliac

I don't think anyone should feel guilty. We're all floundering around, trying to do our best in the hands of a bunch of useless politicians, greedy bankers and all the others who influence our lives and economic opportunities at any point in time.

julieq

treliac wrote: »

I don't think anyone should feel guilty. We're all floundering around, trying to do our best in the hands of a bunch of useless politicians, greedy bankers and all the others who influence our lives and economic opportunities at any point in time.

And any other scapegoat du jour that prevents you taking personal responsibility for outcomes I guess?

What characterises successful people of all generations is that they play with the cards they're dealt, and they don't make excuses or look for other people to blame when things go wrong, whether that be the preceding generations, bankers, politicians, or the international lizard conspiracy and new world order.

Generali

julieq wrote: »

And any other scapegoat du jour that prevents you taking personal responsibility for outcomes I guess?

What characterises successful people of all generations is that they play with the cards they're dealt, and they don't make excuses or look for other people to blame when things go wrong, whether that be the preceding generations, bankers, politicians, or the international lizard conspiracy and new world order.

I blame the scapegoats.

The reason that baby boomers have most of the wealth is simple: they have had 40 years of compound interest and have only just started spending down their wealth in retirement. In 30 years, Generation X will have most of the wealth.

What I suspect baby boomers will also discover is that accumulating assets is one thing; selling them to produce a retirement income is quite different.

Generali's investment recommendation? Invest in assets that produce a yield as baby boomers will be looking all over for it. Senior corporate bonds and preference shares might be a good bet, ditto utilities. Even mortgage backed securities, although they are not for the faint of heart.