Comments on: What If Boomer Don’t Retire? http://www.boomercafe.com/2008/12/20/what-if-boomer-dont-retire/ The online magazine for baby boomers with active lifestyles Thu, 17 May 2012 01:17:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Rob Perhamus http://www.boomercafe.com/2008/12/20/what-if-boomer-dont-retire/#comment-2085 Rob Perhamus Mon, 22 Dec 2008 03:07:47 +0000 http://www.boomercafe.com/?p=1604#comment-2085 Below is the 2008 population by age group. The BLS shows 2008 total non farm employment of 136,167,000. The % of each age group that works varies, but there is generally higher employment rates for those in the boomer cohort. This is a difficult time, as jobs are actually shrinking, while the population is growing about 3,000,000 per year. If all the 60-64 year old people were to postpone retirement, by choice, or necessity, for 5 years, it would add a requirement for creating about 4 million new jobs per year, for youth that is entering the job market. Historically, higher unemployment for youth may lead to political unrest, or at least a few extra couch potatoes. It will be quite a feat of magic to create the new 333,000 jobs per month to keep boomers working longer, while at the same time trying to reduce unemployment by 3%. This would require a total of new jobs created by an incredibly high 600,000 new jobs per month. Some advocate, that older people should volunteer- this means retire, work, but not get paid, but many cannot, based on their current expenses. My solution to this dilemma is that boomers should return to full time university life, where consumption is less. We need to right size in our life, get rid of the houses that are too big for us, and the extra cars, we do not need. At school, boomers can get out of the way, stay relevant, retool, remain in an inter generational environment, without causing age rage. The old formula's that say you need to have an income that is 70% of your current income is in many cases ridiculously high, and makes people think they cannot retire. Financial people created this myth to generate a portion of your income for them. What if your total living expenses were reduced through shared housing and transportation costs(walk, bike, bus, public transportation to that of a college student, ie $15K-20K per year. What if you had a part time job on campus while you were there. College students live for less than $20,000 per year, including all living expenses. What if you could do the same? How would this change your opinion of what to do? If you went back to school full time, would you be able to do something different, more meaningful for the next 30 years? United States/2008 Total, all ages 304,228,257 0- 4 20,766,100 5- 9 20,369,394 10- 14 20,446,080 15- 19 21,958,177 83,539,751 20- 24 21,069,744 25- 29 21,113,662 30- 34 19,541,885 35- 39 20,938,983 40- 44 21,378,665 45- 49 22,769,597 50- 54 21,400,926 55- 59 18,589,830 60- 64 15,193,879 181,997,171 65- 69 11,393,141 70- 74 8,815,732 75- 79 7,314,372 80+ 11,168,090 38,691,335 Below is the 2008 population by age group. The BLS shows 2008 total non farm employment of 136,167,000. The % of each age group that works varies, but there is generally higher employment rates for those in the boomer cohort. This is a difficult time, as jobs are actually shrinking, while the population is growing about 3,000,000 per year.

If all the 60-64 year old people were to postpone retirement, by choice, or necessity, for 5 years, it would add a requirement for creating about 4 million new jobs per year, for youth that is entering the job market. Historically, higher unemployment for youth may lead to political unrest, or at least a few extra couch potatoes. It will be quite a feat of magic to create the new 333,000 jobs per month to keep boomers working longer, while at the same time trying to reduce unemployment by 3%. This would require a total of new jobs created by an incredibly high 600,000 new jobs per month.

Some advocate, that older people should volunteer- this means retire, work, but not get paid, but many cannot, based on their current expenses.

My solution to this dilemma is that boomers should return to full time university life, where consumption is less. We need to right size in our life, get rid of the houses that are too big for us, and the extra cars, we do not need. At school, boomers can get out of the way, stay relevant, retool, remain in an inter generational environment, without causing age rage. The old formula’s that say you need to have an income that is 70% of your current income is in many cases ridiculously high, and makes people think they cannot retire. Financial people created this myth to generate a portion of your income for them. What if your total living expenses were reduced through shared housing and transportation costs(walk, bike, bus, public transportation to that of a college student, ie $15K-20K per year. What if you had a part time job on campus while you were there.

College students live for less than $20,000 per year, including all living expenses. What if you could do the same? How would this change your opinion of what to do? If you went back to school full time, would you be able to do something different, more meaningful for the next 30 years?

United States/2008

Total, all ages 304,228,257
0- 4 20,766,100
5- 9 20,369,394
10- 14 20,446,080
15- 19 21,958,177
83,539,751
20- 24 21,069,744
25- 29 21,113,662
30- 34 19,541,885
35- 39 20,938,983
40- 44 21,378,665
45- 49 22,769,597
50- 54 21,400,926
55- 59 18,589,830
60- 64 15,193,879
181,997,171
65- 69 11,393,141
70- 74 8,815,732
75- 79 7,314,372
80+ 11,168,090
38,691,335

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