"...I don't think boomers will retire. They may do what you're doing--i.e. they may work part-time, consult, or whatever, but they will keep working..."
I think they will have to work - just to make ends meet. We'll see all the senior citizens with their blown-up IRAs taking orders at McDonald's I'm afraid.
Seriously, there has never been a social experiment where humans have lived so long, and expect a mass retirement. In the past, only those who had real savings, and I mean the net remains borne out of a personal philosophy of earning more than one spends (delay consumption, as they say in Econ world) had the option of retiring in their old age anyway. There is no reason for this to change. I retired due to making more money than I spent. Lots more. But I don't know if it is true for the others. The idea that we could consume more than we make and still spend our Golden Years aboard the Love Boat courtesy of the Stock Market was always a pipe-dream.
If you want to read some interesting things about printing money, Trader Vic's books are good. On the Net, you might wish to start your research here:
FAME:
fame.org
Then there is also Jim Grant:
grantspub.com
Cross-currents:
cross-currents.net
As for investors, they are all kinda underwater now anyway...perhaps I will write my next essay on "The Quagmire" but I won't, since it would be too depressing. Anyway, I did write about it a while ago:
204.244.168.151
Teresa
P.S. I will ask Kacy, our residence Ph.D. Economist, and partner of the site, to ponder this a bit... |
