Peter Levitan & Co.
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We are going to spend the next few months arguing over the middle class. What’s good for them and what’s not. Who are they? Where do you fit?
In 2011, 50.7% of adults (ages 18 and older) lived in middle-income households. That’s 117 million adults out of the U.S. household population of 231 million adults.
David Ewing Duncan discusses the opportunity and issues surrounding our increasing life expectancy in “How long do you want to live?” that’s running in today’s New York Times.
Here is the comment I posted on the Times site:
“I am just now finishing writing the book, “Boomercide: From Woodstock to Suicide” in which I discuss my decision to use suicide as a life planning tool. In my research, I have discovered that I am not the only Baby Boomer thinking this way.
Mr. Duncan mentions some of the issues that will confront society if people have extended life expectancies. For me the biggest issue of them all is — who is going to pay for all of these extra years? Retirement funds won’t last; Social Security can’t last; Medicare will end as you know it today (it will end as you know it any way) and your kids probably don’t want you and your spouse, and maybe the in-laws too, mooching for another 50 years.”
How long do you want to live? I agree with most people that 80 years sounds about right.
A picture is worth… well, you know the rest. We are inundated these days. Yes, I am an abuser and am doing so right here in this post for good reason.
OK, “never” might be too strong. But, not by much according to a new AARP study:
72 percent of non-retired boomers believe they will probably be forced to delay retirement, and 50 percent have little confidence that they will ever be able to retire.
65 percent have little confidence that they will have the means to live comfortably in retirement.
Clearly these finding belie the standard image of happy Baby Boomers that are safe and secure in their third stage of life. (That’s why I wrote my book.)
From the AARP website:
“The poll results show that “people in this age group are facing a difficult transition, and they’re worried about whether they can do it,” says Jacquelyn James of the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College. “Most people had planned for a three-legged stool that would give them a happy, healthy retirement: a pension, their own savings and Social Security and Medicare.
“But over the past 15 years, pensions have been disappearing, and their investments have been hit hard by the downturn. Now, they’re worrying that politicians are not going to continue to support the entitlement programs. That’s why some are feeling that they need to add a fourth leg to the stool: continuing to work.”
I’ve been thinking about getting my first tattoo for over a year. My book has a chapter on what everyone should have (advance directives, DNR, will, some savings cause Social Security isn’t going to cut it, etc.) I thought, hey, why not get inked. Plus, I live in Portland one of the most tatted cities in the country.