Wow! When I started doing research for this blog post I realized that there is a lot of information regarding this subject. Often when I am in conversation with a lot of my customers or personal friends or just starting up a conversation with a random stranger the general climate goes dark and south. It seems everyone talks about how difficult the "times" are. Unless you are independently wealthy or expecting a windfall from an old relative the outlook is somewhat dire. Baby Boomers are now at the point when their plans for their retirement are of upmost importance and if they planned well...GREAT. If they kept thinking they were going to work and make income forever...well maybe not so GREAT. I'm not sure if the political climate is transforming peoples future outlook or if they just truly didn't plan and feel somewhat panicky that their retirement date is coming or their health is making working difficult or impossible. However during my research I found out that Millennials are the surprising group.
One important issue over the last 15 years or so is the unemployment rate. Here are some statistics I found from the U.S. Department of Labor (Bureau of Labor Statistics). https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm
It appears unemployment has been gradually going down since 2016. January of 2015 the rate was 5.7%, in 2016 the rate dropped to 4.9% and in 2018 the January rate fell to 4.1. How this falls in demographics and ethnic groups could differ in averages but for my purpose for this subject it gives a general idea. The point being if you are unemployed for the last 15 years saving isn't possible. One reoccurring theme in my research and personal connections to the Baby Boomer group is that they were more likely to get laid off and less likely to find comparative new employment. I think this unemployment rate plays a significant role in the ability for Baby Boomers to plan sufficiently. The Baby Boomer problem may still lie in the idea that they didn't plan well and thought the booming economy of the past would always continue or that their health would never factor in. Either way I found a great article talking about different age groups and the average savings they have accumulated. https://www.retirementincome.net/retirement-planning/average-retirement-savings-by-age/
It seems to show that Millennials are gaining wealth through savings and the Baby Boomers have lost. In another article I discovered
Another great site I visited https://www.gobankingrates.com/saving-money/americans-savings-state/
This site gave a state by state comparison. Very interesting.
Enjoy these articles and find out how you compare.