Baby Boomers Losing it all Or Are They?

Baby Boomers Losing it all Or Are They?

I am part of Generation X and I am a child of Baby Boomers.   As I grew up, I witnessed first-hand the Baby Boom Generation ride repeated waves of wealth generation.  At the moment their average standard of living has easily surpassed that of their parents and has done so for most of their adult lives.

Let’s review: they partied in the 70’s; rode the buyout waves of the 80’s; rode the technology craze in the 90’s and the housing boom at the beginning of the 2000’s.Then just as they were all set to retire, what happend?  The rug got pulled out from under them.  As a result of all the chaos happening around them, their home equity shrunk or disappeared entirely, their 401K’s look like 201K’s, their parents and their children need help with monthly expenses, and their jobs are less secure. 

A sharp downturn as you get set to retire is the ultimate wealth killer — especially if selling begets more selling and everyone rushes to the door at the same time.Things went from easy street to “oh my god what are we going to do” within a heartbeat.  I am afraid if Baby Boomers (My Parents) are not careful, things will become unglued in a hurry, turning all the years of hard work, saving and investing into a big pile of smoke.I suggest all Baby Boomers make one fundamental change today.Given that time is no longer a friend of the Boomers, I suggest all of them stop focusing or even worrying about net worth, and instead focus on creation of passive income streams.  

They need to create dependable and secure income streams that pay them every month without their having to work in a conventional way.  Obviously the larger the income stream they create, the better.They have a couple of options to achieve this. Here is my analysis of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.The Ugly:  Have you noticed how low Money Market, Savings or even CD interest rates are these days?  Can you say Ugly?  It gets much worse when you factor inflation into the equation.    Inflation has to be running at north of 4%, regardless of the officially published number.  Ask yourself this question, if you earn 1% and lose 4% to inflation are you really winning the battle? Answer: NOT that Bad:  It has been decades since the average dividend yields on stocks exceeded the 10-year treasury.

   Boomers could buy high yielding stocks to secure the dividend stream and deal with the ups and downs of the stock market.  Buying dividend paying stocks certainly could turn out to be a viable solution, but then again what happens if something really goes sideways?I call buying dividend paying stocks “The Bad” due to the headline risk of stocks. When you are living off a limited stream of income, high risk does not translate well. In addition, let us not forget that it is not uncommon for companies to stop paying dividends, which will kill cash flow if things get really bad.The Good:  Everyone needs a roof over their head and a place to call home.  Baby Boomers should  take advantage of the current real estate market.  They should think about  becoming either active real estate investors buying their own rental properties.

Read the full post here…