What the meltdown means to me, a boomer with grown children
Filed under: Retire, Recession
My husband has a great job in a stable industry, but he's 63. Two years ago, we thought by this year he'd be officially retired -- doing a little consulting, but taking the winter off so we could spend the cold months somewhere warm. I have a home-based business that has always offered flexibility. Together, we were looking forward to a more leisurely life.The economic slowdown has made us rethink our plans. My husband continues to work at his old job -- usually 50 or 60 hours a week -- and I'm not slowing down either because we and those who depend on us need what we earn.
We're not alone in this. A survey conducted for AARP found that nearly 20 percent of the people in our age group have postponed retirement. In most ways we're lucky. Overall, 66 percent of people older than 55 are having trouble paying for essential items such as food, gas and medicine. Fortunately, we don't have those troubles.
But we do worry about our grown children who have found this tough economy a drag on independence. Our two oldest children are economically solid citizens. They got their careers off the ground before the economy soured. But our younger ones face bigger challenges.Our youngest son graduated from college in May with a degree in computer science. He's had a hard time finding a job. He wants to stay in Pittsburgh, which makes it more difficult. We're paying many of his bills until he lands.
The 25-year-old graduated from college three years ago with a degree in music. He works for a production company in New Orleans. The money's not so great, but he plays in a hot band and gets by. He's considering buying a duplex, but needs cash from us to seal the deal. The good part about this is the State of Louisiana will give him $4,000 toward a down payment, and the federal government will kick in $7,500 in tax credits after he closes on the house. A boon for him -- and indirectly -- for us.
Our 28-year-old is still bumping around, works in restaurant kitchens and may find himself someday. In the meantime, we buy his health insurance. He had cancer four years ago and we want him to be insured no matter how expensive.
We also kick in with other family members on efforts to keep my husband's mentally handicapped sister afloat. The State of Florida, where she lives, just kicked her off the Medicaid roles in a purge to save money. She's five years away from Medicare, and we're not sure what we're going to do. It's unlikely any company will sell her health insurance.
We're not complaining. We're blessed to be able to help. And my husband likes what he does. His decision to keep working may be a blessing in disguise: Rocking on the porch really isn't his style.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-09-2008 @ 6:51AM
tt-rexxx said...
Too many kids dummy Your killimg your husband and when he dies you'll live off his insurance.
Reply
10-09-2008 @ 7:01AM
Eli said...
tt-rexx you are either a jerk or some dumb kid who is living off your parents.
10-09-2008 @ 7:10AM
tt-rexx said...
no just a boomer who's mother said don't have a bunch of kids their expensive
Reply
10-09-2008 @ 8:26AM
Pamela Griffiths said...
Oh come on aol readers are you all really that dumb. None of these people wrote those articles. For instance you can tell in the third of fourth para that the Baby Boomer is being ghost written: the voice suddenly changes to a statistical summary of the situation.
Its all done by some out of work hacker who ghosts for AOL and you suckers seem to actually believe the stories. They are just fantasies that are linked in to the prevailing public issues which at present are the financial crisis.
Reply
10-09-2008 @ 8:27AM
tt-rexx said...
Yes this may be a fake artical ,but trust me there are real people out there just like the people in this artical.
10-09-2008 @ 8:28AM
Pamela Griffiths said...
WHEN YOU GET BACK FROM WORK TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT THE ARTICLE BY THE SO CALLED BABY BOOMER WITH ALL THE KIDS. YOU CAN TELL ITS BEEN WRITTEN BY SOME OUT OF WORK HACKER ON THE AOL PAYROLL IN THAT THE VOICE CHANGES ESPECIALLY IN THE STATISTICAL SUMMARY OF THE FORCES PREVAILING IN THE ECONOMY AGAINST RETIRMENT. THEN TOO, NO MOTHER TALKS ABOUT HER KIDS IN THAT MANNER OOOH AND THERE IS JAMIES I FORGOT HIM SOME OUT OF WORK GUY IN BATON ROUGE AND OH YES THERE IS SUSY A BANKER IN LONDON ..COME ON YOU KNOW ITS ALL A BIT OF ELECTRICITY RUNNING THROUGH A SYNAPSE!
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10-09-2008 @ 8:42AM
tt-rexx said...
I don't work. I'm married and rich with no kids Thanks MOM
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10-09-2008 @ 11:48AM
Lynn said...
Stop bailing our your kids, let them fend for themselves.
She obviously doesn't have a job; so go out and get one!
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10-09-2008 @ 1:14PM
OTER said...
All the young people should not worry to much, they have age and health working for them. How about showing more of the
retiree who lost mostly all of there 401K by now? Does anyboyd care about the elderly who ran out of money and will eventualy be on the Gioverments payroll? Youth has an advantage called TIME
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10-09-2008 @ 1:19PM
wers said...
FINALY this country's people care catching on that to many kids cost money. Wow what a revelation that is, what IQ does this country have to begin with?
Europe has been the smartest of all (always was) they know for 30 years already and cut on there producing. what planet is this
country living on? IQ ZERO ?
Reply
10-09-2008 @ 1:20PM
Rita Baisley said...
Jennie Phipps:
I am pretty much in the same boat; although my husband did get to retire early (age 54) three years ago. Had worked 36 years in the ironworker field. I still work because his annuity fund has dropped dramatically and we are helping our two grown kids out also.
I was hoping to retire at 59 1/2 but I know that won't happen. I'm 58 now. My job is pretty much no stress (receptionist) but the pay in not so great. What bothers me the most about the economy is the medical, dental insurance; we pay $600/month for Kaiser Permanente for the two of us out of pocket. My company does not have Kaiser and I have a pre-existing (diabetes). Thanks for letting me vent also. Rita
Reply
10-09-2008 @ 1:39PM
Dennis said...
It seems to me we are again seeing how intelligent idiots with no common sense have no clue on how to save the economic situation we are in. What benefit is there to bail out power mungal profitiers who don't give a da.....m that its our tax money saving their butts. Has anyone thought about bailing out the american tax payer????? Why don't the Fed's divy up the $700 billion to us who file income taxes ( that's about $4000,000 for a single tax payer and $800,000 for married tax payers) and allow us to become dept free by paying off our mortgages to save the banks from going under. Why heck, that would probably enough for some of us to also pay off our credit card dept and get out from under those outragous interest rates. This probably make too much sense for our political idiots to understand.
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10-09-2008 @ 4:23PM
Paying TOO MUCH said...
Not only should these "Golden Parachuters" have their ( STOLEN FROM CITIZENS ) income distributed to failed mortgage holders but THEY should be treated like a poor disabled person receiving gov't assistance & somebody mails them a $100 check! If they did not report the GIFT they would be prosecuted, then lose part of their tiny subsidy to reimburse the taxpayers for the $100 someone tried to assist them with (from their own pocket)!! Artificially Increased INTEREST RATES (up every month?) combined w/ Fraudulently Structured Mortgages (adds income to banks pockets) are behind MOST foreclosures! So YES take it BACK from their GOLDEN PARACHUTES! Make them pay back or suffer like the poverty stricken. I almost became a Loan Officer. After study knew how misleading the industry was! CREDIT CARD INTEREST? If someone does not STOP their freedom to make all the rules & destroy their clients credit ratings over 1 mistake & if someone does not stop them from changing the fine print ANYTIME they want JUST WAIT to see how this TOPS the $700 billion plus problem we have right now! Yes WHY NOT help the individual with that bailout cash? Don't give cash to individuals to possibly misuse. Just apply all that cash to their credit cards, mortgages, etc and require that in exchange they not use credit cards again for 5-10 years to benefit from the Bailout. Once homeowners are truly homeowners and their labor benefits their own families ( not banks who issue credit cards & mortgages ) it would be amazing to see how that would help this economy. Ever notice how many banks are built? Guess who's paying?
10-12-2008 @ 8:47AM
WJ said...
Great idea, but if the government does that then inflation would skyrocket. A loaf of bread costing $2.79 now would then cost $50 to $100 bucks! And gas? I wouldn't even want to think what a gallon would cost. Unfortunately, money speaks and everyone in the market will have both hands out.
10-09-2008 @ 7:00PM
not surprised said...
thank god u dont have kids tt rexxx. at least we know there wont be anymore asses like u running around to carry on ur name. even if it is a ghost story and i agree it sounds like it there are ppl out there in that situation. maybe not with so many kids but at least one or two. all i can say is hold on tight cause its gonna get rough.
Reply
10-11-2008 @ 10:39AM
Susan in FL said...
Tell your fledgling computer science grad to get a job, even if he has to leave Pittsburgh. Loan the 25 year old music grad (3 years out of college) a few thousand from your savings if you must for the duplex purchase, make him sign a promissory note for the loan and tell him he's on his own from now on. You'll probably be supporting the 28 year old 4 year cancer survivor for the rest of his life in one way or another. Help him apply for Medicaid on his dishwasher salary (he'll surely qualify) which will get you off the hook for his medical nsurance. And while you're at it, help hubby's mentally handicapped sister to appeal being dropped by Medicaid with the help of her State representative in Florida. If she is truly needy, Florida Medicaid will take her back. You and your hubby have earned your retirement. Don't let the slacking of others spoil it for you.
Reply
10-11-2008 @ 4:55PM
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Reply
10-12-2008 @ 11:47AM
mark said...
To the original article regarding health insurance in florida, during the month of august, there is what's call " open enrollment ", meaning any insurance company offering health insurance in the state of florida, regardless of pre-existing medical conditions, has to be extended coverage upon application. The premiums will certainly be higher than someone in good health, but it beats a huge bill for something major, i.e. $75,000.00 for a hip replacement, etc. Check with any carrier registered to operate in the state of florida.
Reply
10-12-2008 @ 7:18PM
George said...
I can see it now, the old man will expire and the kids will put their mother in a nursing home when the going gets rough and she has major health problems. Happens all the time!
Reply
10-23-2008 @ 3:05PM
Anthony said...
I believe this article this women wrote. This sounds exactly what my parents just went through. The govenment did something right when they pumped funds into this FHA Home Equity conversion line of credit(reverse mortgage). My parents just closed on it. They paid off their mortgage(80k) in NY and took another 200k out of their house with this line of credit and bought a condo in SC for cash. Now when this housing market comes back(god willing) they will put their house up for sale then. They are truly worry free and ready for retirement. I suggest this women does the same.
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