The Coming Boomer Retirement Crisis

Fabulous conversation. Thank you for this, can’t wait to get the book. In another article it was discussed that the ‘have nots’ in China were starting to get restless, and many former farmers are migrating to the cities for better jobs. If the have nots start to protest more, as many people are protesting pollution, it would seem that China is heading for a lot more social problems. They have been on the fast track and moving so quickly that a collision is going to happen. They are on a natural resources hunt all over the world. Doesn’t it appear that they have problems that can cause slowdowns?

Biotechnology and life sciences will be huge this century. Innovation, and a commitment to biosciences and medical research are a few ways that America can compete. There should be some amazing medical discoveries in the years to come, such as progress in exploring how people can self-heal through the power of the mind, genetic engineering, and so forth . As with many of the other societal ‘crises’, it’s a race against the clock, and hospitals that do medical research need as much support as they can get, whether through government contributions or from public donations.

Insightful interview. Thanks for the comments By James Gemmell on a possible solution for the future of our country. I will pass it along to my grandchildren.

The life sciences I have been experimenting with for years. I learned through reading, and experiments I did with the power of thinking it, so therefore it is, or becomes. I just forget to keep doing it, and get caught up in life.

“If you ask me why didn’t I understand that any alternative to cutthroat capitalism and a society based on inequality and competitiveness not only wasn’t going to work but was going to turn into some horror, either of despotism or of economic catastrophe, all I can say is that lots of people didn’t understand this.”
Susan Sontag

Shanghai: Its name literally means, “on the sea.” Hardly more than 150 years ago it was a fishing village on a mud flat. Then the British won the battle to share the joys of opium with the Chinese. The Treaty of Nanking in 1842 opened the fishing village to foreign trade, and the mud flat of the Huanpu River became a port, drawing in opium and dispersing it to the mainland, gathering up products of the interior and sending them out on ships—tea, silk, porcelain and even workers kidnapped for the railroads and mines in the American West(hence the word “shanghaied). This Paris of the East—or Sodom and Gomorrah—abruptly devolved into a drab backwater after Mao’s peasant army took over in 1949. About 15 years ago, China’s leaders decided to make the city the showcase of the new economic policy, and Shanghai, money capital of China, burst into being.

“Zigging when the crowd is zagging” is the most important thing to learn in investing, and the scariest.
Thank you for a most insightful conversation. Perhaps I will buy the book for my 21 yr. old grandson.

How can we expect the majority of Americans to be financially secure in retirement when the cultural ethic is shopping until dropping? Rather we should again be a savings and investment society.

For Americans I don’t think there’s a more economically braindead policy than our support of globalization. Really pretty pathetic the common response to the loss of decent paying industrial jobs to moving production overseas is to open more casinos!

My elementary school in the mid to late 1940s had a savings program integrated into the arithmatic program. Once a week we deposited at least a dime in class in individual accounts set up by a local bank. The program’s motto was “Save your dimes and watch your dollars grow”.

Wow, of course you are going to push me off the fence I have been sitting on for some time. I will purchase this book to learn more about this deeply personal subject to me. Being a baby boomer, I realize these issues are staring me in the face and I am not sure which way to turn.

As an artist, I have always felt the person to invest into was myself. Creating is as important to me as breathing. Many questions enter my mind now with economic issues rising so quickly in this country. I would hate to think that this world could live without art. But when there are so many major issues to solve on this planet, what is the point? And if business has to be irresponsible to succeed, then I want no part.

Thanks for showing this book.

I am enjoying these articles more than I thought I would. Thank you wowOwow.

Thank you Phyllis for the brief history of Shanghai. It rang a few bells for me and plopped things in my lap that I hadn’t thought of in years.

My brother-in-law was born in Shanghai in the 30’s to a Russian mother and British father, who was in the merchant marine. I never thought to ask why they were there. Hmmm.

The reality of savings measurement in the US is that it is very flawed, and significantly underreported. It is inconsistent with the dramatic title of “The Coming Boomer Retirement Crisis,“ but nevertheless is a fact, not a guess.
The author’s assessment of the fact that Medicare payments are a problem is correct, but there is time to correct the flaws in the system before it goes bankrupt, and the likelihood is high that it will be a part of the overall health care system overhaul, high on both candidate’s list of priorities.
Chinese competition is real, but should not be feared. Competition for resources is an opportunity for entrepreneurial focus to alternative energy, already in force in the Silicon Valley and likely to grow as prospects for significant wealth in this area are realized. As alternative energy sources are adopted, competition for “old” energy will dissipate, and prices will equalize.
Nuclear energy is clean and relatively safe, until the consideration for storage of nuclear waste is considered. http://www.history.rochester.edu/class/EZRA/ Until these problems are solved, it is an unacceptable alternative to any energy source.
Baby boomers, particularly women who live longer and earn less than men, do need to learn the precepts of long term investing. That much is correct, and, while it is now not a crisis, it should certainly be a high priority. Given that, caring about wealth is a positive thing that I would encourage all women over 40 to do for themselves.