#BabyBoomer = #Debt

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a baby boomer is a person who was born during the demographic post-World War II baby boom between the years 1946 and 1964.  In terms of age, baby boomers are therefore between 49-66 years of age.

The financial crisis of 2008/09 was perhaps one of the most significant negative contributing factors to boomer savings and wealth, sending the economy into a recession.  It was also one of the primary causes of crippled boomers’ retirement accounts.  It forced many pending retirees to stay in the workforce or significantly alter their retirement lifestyle plans.  

One of because… Controllable, contributing factors included out of control spending (unaffordable homes, college tuition fees for children, etc.) and a lack of planning, saving and investing.  Both spurred by the ridiculous notion that the government would somehow take care of us in our old age.

And now, the 60+ boomer generation who are receiving Social Security checks, are receiving these checks alongside notices from bill collectors.  Boomers are the first generation in American history to be entering retirement saddled with all types of debt, not limited to unpaid balances on credit cards.

Last year, public policy organization Demos published a report entitled The Plastic Safety Net. Their findings showed that Millennials (the generation born after 1980) carried an average credit card debt of $2,982.  But for those 65 and over – who arguably should know better – the average credit card debt was $9,283.  A generation trapped, financing their lives on credit cards.

Traditionally the highest levels of compensation are achieved, working during one’s 50s and 60s.  But boomers have entered these supposed golden years during a period that carries with it the burden of being an ever-increasingly difficult time to build, protect, and grow wealth.  

The decade – especially between 50 and 60 – is usually a time when working people manage to increase their investments and retirement plan balances, striving to settle into a financially-secure retirement.

Without any doubt, the financial crisis that brought down the stock and housing market was one major blow to baby boomers' retirement savings.  According to a YEAR report (National Center for Public Policy), nearly 60% of baby boomers provide financial support to adult children.

Many boomers have simply accepted carrying debt into retirement.  A 2012 poll by the large Canadian bank, CIBC, found that 80% of boomers are not anxious about carrying debt, or even the amount of it.  In addition, CIBC found less concern among the respondents of getting their finances in order to be able to pass on an inheritance to the next generation.

Recent reports have focused heavily on the growing amount of student loan and credit card debt students are graduating college with, but will they learn from their elders and work to shed the debt before entering retirement?   

After all, they certainly can’t count on an inheritance from boomer-aged parents and grandparents, to help them pay down the debt. 

As much as sitting is the new smoking cause of disease for the working class, the unsustainable boomer debt epidemic continues unabated, mostly out of control, and unashamedly.  

People keep electing political ‘leaders’ who promise to save the middle class.  The solution actually lies within each and every one of us, individually, to change our ways, to stop allocating blame, and start to take care of our own financial destiny and sustainability.