Why Boomers Don't Have the Right Stuff
Boomers have lots of stuff - just not the right stuff.
That's why Boomers have gotten a bad reputation. People think they grew up grasping and greedy. They spent a lot of time acquiring stuff. The stuff they've got is what was left over from money they didn't spend indulging themselves on big houses, fancy cars, expensive vacations and trendy restaurants. They spent that leftover money on "stuff."
Not all Boomers lived like this. But enough did.
By the way, here's something ironic. A lot of Boomers are now contending with old parents who have tons of stuff. They're either trying to whittle down all the collected stuff of a lifetime while their parents are alive, or they've got to deal with it after their parents die.
(If you're a Boomer trying to deal with all this, there's a decent article in the Wall Street Journal that provides some good info and links that might be helpful. Click here.)
But there's a difference between what the Boomers have acquired and what their parents have acquired. A lot of these old Boomer-parent folks acquired stuff because they either lived during or were the children of people who lived during the Great Depression. They developed a "hoarding" mentality. Of course, some hoarders are just crazy, but I think a lot of the hoarding we're talking about here comes for the Great Depression. People saved everything then. And after the Depression passed, these people still had the saving/hoarding habits that served them well during the Depression.
So those really old pre-Boomer folks fell into their hoarding as a defensive measure - a way to protect themselves from the tough times of the Depression days.
The Boomers, on the other hand, acquired a lot of stuff for the opposite reason. They lived in good times, for the most part (at least until recently). They made lots more money than their parents. They enjoyed their money and acquired stuff along the way (at least a lot of them did).
So while they're stuck dealing with their parents stuff, they're also sitting on top of a lot of their own stuff.
In the end, stuff is stuff, whatever the reason that makes you acquire it.
But there's a special problem with the Boomers buying up all that stuff, vs. their parents just hoarding it. Studies show that, for the majority of Boomers, the stuff they've got doesn't include savings and investments. That's going to present problems as these guys get even older. And those problems will probably fall on the shoulders of younger people.
If you're younger, you'll probably be called on to pay up and help these folks out. You may see your FICA taxes go up, your Medicare withholding increase. Then again, maybe Social Security and Medicare will be reformed and you won't see any of that. Maybe.
So while the Boomers are faced with sifting through tons of the hoarded stuff of their parents, that stuff didn't create a burden for the rest of us. If Boomers have to deal with their own parents, that's a personal thing. If the rest of us have to deal with Boomers who blew their money on stuff and didn't save enough, that's a bigger social problem. And come to think of it, it's also personal - meaning you and I might have to personally fork over more money to support these people.
No wonder Boomers gave gotten a bad reputation! In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see more resentment building towards Boomers. That would be a sad, maybe even a tragic thing to see happening, but it's not unreasonable to anticipate this.
Maybe a good lesson for all of us here is to first save our money, invest some of it wisely and then - AND ONLY THEN - buy stuff. You'd think this would just be common sense, wouldn't you? Heck, somehow I learned this growing up.Of course, we didn't have a lot. Maybe that's why I learned early on not to blow my dough.
I hope you understand this. If not, just step back and use your common sense. You'll see the light.
A personal note: my Mom and Dad whittled their own stuff down as they got older. They didn't leave a big mess to deal with after they died. (Of course, they weren't rich or even all that prosperous, but I've known plenty of geezers who weren't rich but who were swimming in stuff - like a lot of their neighbors.)
So here's a special "Thanks" to Mom and Dad for being so considerate.
In fact, here's another special "Thanks" for the fact that we didn't have a lot growing up. Not that being poor is something you want to shoot for. But maybe that's why I never developed the desire or the need to have lots of stuff. We somehow managed without it.
That's why Boomers have gotten a bad reputation. People think they grew up grasping and greedy. They spent a lot of time acquiring stuff. The stuff they've got is what was left over from money they didn't spend indulging themselves on big houses, fancy cars, expensive vacations and trendy restaurants. They spent that leftover money on "stuff."
Not all Boomers lived like this. But enough did.
By the way, here's something ironic. A lot of Boomers are now contending with old parents who have tons of stuff. They're either trying to whittle down all the collected stuff of a lifetime while their parents are alive, or they've got to deal with it after their parents die.
(If you're a Boomer trying to deal with all this, there's a decent article in the Wall Street Journal that provides some good info and links that might be helpful. Click here.)
But there's a difference between what the Boomers have acquired and what their parents have acquired. A lot of these old Boomer-parent folks acquired stuff because they either lived during or were the children of people who lived during the Great Depression. They developed a "hoarding" mentality. Of course, some hoarders are just crazy, but I think a lot of the hoarding we're talking about here comes for the Great Depression. People saved everything then. And after the Depression passed, these people still had the saving/hoarding habits that served them well during the Depression.
So those really old pre-Boomer folks fell into their hoarding as a defensive measure - a way to protect themselves from the tough times of the Depression days.
The Boomers, on the other hand, acquired a lot of stuff for the opposite reason. They lived in good times, for the most part (at least until recently). They made lots more money than their parents. They enjoyed their money and acquired stuff along the way (at least a lot of them did).
So while they're stuck dealing with their parents stuff, they're also sitting on top of a lot of their own stuff.
In the end, stuff is stuff, whatever the reason that makes you acquire it.
But there's a special problem with the Boomers buying up all that stuff, vs. their parents just hoarding it. Studies show that, for the majority of Boomers, the stuff they've got doesn't include savings and investments. That's going to present problems as these guys get even older. And those problems will probably fall on the shoulders of younger people.
If you're younger, you'll probably be called on to pay up and help these folks out. You may see your FICA taxes go up, your Medicare withholding increase. Then again, maybe Social Security and Medicare will be reformed and you won't see any of that. Maybe.
So while the Boomers are faced with sifting through tons of the hoarded stuff of their parents, that stuff didn't create a burden for the rest of us. If Boomers have to deal with their own parents, that's a personal thing. If the rest of us have to deal with Boomers who blew their money on stuff and didn't save enough, that's a bigger social problem. And come to think of it, it's also personal - meaning you and I might have to personally fork over more money to support these people.
No wonder Boomers gave gotten a bad reputation! In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see more resentment building towards Boomers. That would be a sad, maybe even a tragic thing to see happening, but it's not unreasonable to anticipate this.
Maybe a good lesson for all of us here is to first save our money, invest some of it wisely and then - AND ONLY THEN - buy stuff. You'd think this would just be common sense, wouldn't you? Heck, somehow I learned this growing up.Of course, we didn't have a lot. Maybe that's why I learned early on not to blow my dough.
I hope you understand this. If not, just step back and use your common sense. You'll see the light.
A personal note: my Mom and Dad whittled their own stuff down as they got older. They didn't leave a big mess to deal with after they died. (Of course, they weren't rich or even all that prosperous, but I've known plenty of geezers who weren't rich but who were swimming in stuff - like a lot of their neighbors.)
So here's a special "Thanks" to Mom and Dad for being so considerate.
In fact, here's another special "Thanks" for the fact that we didn't have a lot growing up. Not that being poor is something you want to shoot for. But maybe that's why I never developed the desire or the need to have lots of stuff. We somehow managed without it.
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