What was baby boomers

This was good for savers and terrible for homebuyers. This long decline in interest rates provided a great return to bond investors. The boomers are facing the very opposite situation. Instead of an ever-declining interest rate, they are facing the likelihood of steadily increasing interest rates during their retirement. The greatest generation might have had a lower per capita income , but many of its members also had corporate or union pensions, which could be a considerable amount after working for a lifetime for the same employer, as was once common.

But the economy changed, many large corporations merged or disappeared, and unions dropped from Bureau of Labor Statistics. What's more, traditional corporate pensions have been largely phased out now, giving way to k plans, IRAs , and other investment vehicles that put the onus on saving on the individual.

Because they were the first generation to encounter these changes, most boomers didn't start saving enough or early enough. The IRS allows for increased contributions to retirement accounts for those age 50 and older, known as "catch-up contributions. As for the federal pension known as Social Security , there is concern that it could fall short. The problem is that the baby boomer generation is much larger than previous generations; Generation X, which follows it, is much smaller; and even the larger-than-the-boomers millennial generation isn't large enough to offset the increased longevity of boomers.

Unless there are changes in how Social Security is structured, estimates are that there will not be enough tax-paying workers to support full Social Security payments to the retiree population, starting in During the years baby boomers began joining the workforce, the ratio of workers to retirees ranged from 5. As of , that number fell to 2. In addition to many not saving enough money, boomers experienced the Great Recession at a crucial time for their retirement savings. Many boomers jumped into expensive investments, mortgages , and startups in the late s, only to find themselves struggling to make those payments a few years later; many found themselves completely tapped out or their mortgages underwater.

The subprime meltdown of in the mortgage industry and the following stock market crash left many boomers scrambling to piece together an adequate nest egg.

Many of them subsequently turned to borrowing against the equity in their homes as a solution. While real estate prices rose again, some boomers still can't profit substantially from selling their current home in order to find a cheaper one.

For those with such debts, savings have been put on the back burner. Meanwhile, wages have not increased significantly for many parts of the population. Taking some of these steps could help baby boomers manage retirement. One idea might be the most non-traditional of all: don't retire. Or at least, delay doing so beyond the proverbial age 65, 66, or 67 depending on birth date. Whether that means working longer, consulting, or finding a part-time gig, being part of the workforce can help boomers financially and emotionally.

Finances permitting, boomers could also wait to take their Social Security benefits until they reach age This, combined with the increased income and savings from continuing to work will ease retirement. Boomers, who came of age during the freewheeling s and s, often project an image that they will stay active forever; and indeed, many are in better shape than their forebears at the same age.

Still, the human body isn't invulnerable. Obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol are inevitably all on the rise in the boomer population. Cancer and heart disease are the leading cause of death.

The eldest boomers are still in their early 70s. That's the time to make decisions about healthcare and also about who should be in charge of their life and finances, should they be unable to make responsible decisions due to illness or incapacity.

The movement promoted legal equality and led to greater tolerance during the adulthood of the baby boomers. In , Sputnik was launched into orbit, and the world marveled at the accomplishment. The Sputnik could be seen whizzing across the night sky.

This achievement induced a radical change in the education system in the United States. Many felt that the education system had fallen behind, and a new emphasis was put on science and mathematics. The government began investing huge amounts of resources into research and developing new technologies. This investment opened new opportunities for baby boomers to innovate and change the world of technology.

Over a decade later, they witnessed the moon landing. During their lives, many baby boomers saw almost the entirety of the Cold War. They were born during a period of high tension between the United States and Russia. Many would also later witness the destruction of the Berlin Wall in November Baby boomers were born into a world of black and white television and now live in the age of Wi-Fi, smartphones, and machine learning.

Another example, a member of Generation X who turned 18 in would now be over In that time, he or she cares about vastly different issues and is receptive to a new set of marketing messages.

Regardless of your age, you will always belong to the generation you were born into. They're currently between years old They are currently between 25 and 40 years old They are currently between 9 and 24 years old nearly 68 million in the U. Gen A: Generation Alpha starts with children born in 2 and will c ontinue at least through , maybe later approximately 48 million people in the U.

Originally, the name Generation Z was a placeholder for the youngest people on the planet — although Generation A has now taken over that distinction. However, in the same way that Gen Y morphed into Millennials, there is certainly a possibility that both Gen Z and Gen A may adopt new names as they leave adolescence and mature into their adult identities.

While the label Gen A makes discussion easier, it may not be the last word on this group of humans. It started with Generation X, people born between The preceding generation was the Baby Boomers, born Depending on whom you ask, it was either sociologists, a novelist, or Billy Idol who cemented this phrase in our vocabulary.

From there on it was all down-alphabet. The generation following Gen X naturally became Gen Y, born give or take a few years on either end. The pair coined the term in when the impending turn of the millennium began to feature heavily in the cultural consciousness. Generation Z refers to babies born from the late 90s through today.

While some say Generation Alpha is named for the first letter of the Greek alphabet and denotes the first of a series of items or categories, Generation Alpha may also just be an easy way to round the corner into a new alphabet.

While all Millennials were born around the turn of the century, some of them are still in early adulthood, wrestling with new careers and settling down, while the older Millennials have a home and are building a family. You can imagine how having a child might change your interests and priorities, so for marketing purposes, it's useful to split this generation into Gen Y. The younger group is just now flexing their buying power. The latter group has a more extensive history and may be refinancing their mortgage and raising children.

The contrast in priorities and needs is stark. The same logic can be applied to any generation that is in this stage of life or younger. As we get older, we tend to homogenize and face similar life issues. The younger we are, the more dramatic each stage of life is. Consider the difference between someone in elementary school and high school. But in the late s through , boomers gave their lives a slightly better rating than younger adults gave theirs. A table at the end of this analysis shows the trend in quality of life ratings for each of these age groups since Worried About Money.

That majority makes them the exception among all adults. The anomaly here is that boomers are in their peak earning years. In the Pew survey, boomers also are more likely than younger or older adults to own stocks or bonds, and to have retirement accounts.

Even so, boomers are more anxious than other Americans that they will have to cut household spending in the coming year because money is tight. By other measures, boomers are less fiscally strained than younger adults. Asked to compare their standard of living with that of their parents at the same age, boomers are more downbeat than younger or older adults. Peering into the future, most baby boomers do not believe their own children will have a higher standard of living than they do.

They are more likely than younger or older Americans to believe that it is harder to make progress, and easier to lose ground, than it was in the past. Two-thirds of baby boomers say it is harder for people to get ahead now than a decade ago. That is a more downbeat assessment than other age groups give. On this, they also have bleaker views than other age groups.

Most Americans say it is more difficult for middle class people to maintain their standard of living than it was five years ago, but baby boomers are especially likely to believe this. The baby boom generation is not monolithic. One way that economists and so cial scientists look at its differences is to compare younger boomers, ages , with older ones, ages