A lot of young folks talk about all the Boomer money, etc... But the truth is, a lot of them have us mixed up with the Silent Generation, who were able to take full advantage of those pensions, when they were worth a lot more. In that generation, even Black people could retire off their pensions, without a spouse. However, it wasn't always that easy for Black people in the Silent Generation, as I remember a lot of people still had to help at least one parents, or let an uncle take an upstairs room etc... This was the life of one of my younger uncles, who worked with me on the guard force. He barely made the Silent Generation. He served during the Vietnam Era. He always told me to look out for myself, and that there weren't any safety nets out here for Black men. Wow, was he right. Unfortunately, he didn't live long enough to fully retire. Hopefully, they gave him disability retirement for the 4 months he left sick, before he passed. Btw, I had come to the guard force the same year they switched us from CSRS to FERS, and I had no idea of the retirement nightmare I was heading for, if I tried to retire on my guard salary, and still pay my bills. And nobody my age was putting in to their TSPs. Most of us still needed a roommate just to pay rent, unless they were married. I caught a break, and was one of the few who could afford their own apartment, without having to live in the ghetto, like most of the guards had to, who lived on their own. But I came very close to having to get that apartment in Southeast, with a roommate. I could also afford a new car note, although it was a Yugo, then a Hyundai. I wasn't even supposed to have that. But that Yugo, although it didn't last a year, was the first car I had that always started up on the first try. Yall probably don't remember when most cars couldn't do that, especially on those cold winter mornings. Then you'd have to let the car warm up.
I've been saying all along that it was bad out here for the Black boomers, especially the young Boomers. I'm see this all around me. But to be honest, I didn't know it was this bad out here for almost half of all Boomers period.
As most here probably know, I retired well below the average retirement age. The people who were nearing retirement when I started working for the feds, or who wound up retiring around the time I did almost 20 years later, were in the Silent Generation. Some who retired back when I was a guard, did have to come back to work because of finances, especially if they were single. Unfortunately some would pass not long after retirement. But when I switched over to my IT job, those who retired from these positions, rarely ever had to come back to work. I only knew one who talked about returning, and he was a brother about 18 years older than me. He only complained that he was struggling more than he expected. He had a spouse, but she probably didn't work. He never really returned though. However I do remember one that actually came back. He was this White man in his 80's, who just didn't want to be home with his wife. He may have been in the Greatest Generation. He had already retired and came back, before I was even highered.
Those folks I worked with at my IT job, who are now at their retirement age, or retired, you thought would be TSP millionaires, with pensions, and SS. They may have all three off these vehicles, but I'm not sure those TSP plans really fanned out the way they were predicted. Then when I think about how much lower these present FERS pension are than the previous CSRS pensions, done away with thanks to Reagan, these cats may not being doing as well as most think. They're just doing better than most of those cats who left the feds, over to those private sector jobs to double, or even triple their salaries, and got caught up in the 401K plan hype. I had no idea most of these private sector jobs were totally fading out pensions. I thought most of these private sector jobs never had pensions to began with. Based on what I already learned from the old timers at the guard force, I already knew how important a pension was. So I would have been disturbed if I had left the feds, to double my salary in the private sector, then watched them totally replace my pension with a 401K. At least the feds let us keep our pensions when they came out with the TSPs, although they were tremendously reduced. Plus I was once a part time member of Primerica, when it was formerly known as A.L. Williams. They always preached about how bad it was for seniors when they retired. Our main presentation mentioned that 65% of 65 years olds, retired in poverty in America. I wish I could remember exactly what the presentation said, because being young, I always got the 65 year-old, confuse with 65%. But now, I know it was 65 year-olds. I think the poverty rate for them when they retired was actually higher than 65%. Anyway, I was only 23 at the time, so they immediately got us started with a mutual fund. Making barely above minimum wage, I was only putting in the $25 a month minimum. Then I wound up taking out the small amount I accumulated, when I got fired from the private sector guard job I had at the time, for no reason. When I got that guard job with the feds, the pension was one of the most important reasons I cherished that job, and of course the job security at that time...because I was sure on my way to becoming a part of the 65 year-olds who retired in poverty. But it looks like that almost happened anyway, even after I switched over to that IT job...smh.
I always thought about what I learned with A.L. Williams, concerning 65 year-olds retiring in poverty. I also always wondered why none of this was even making the news at the time. I can't remember if those retiring in poverty were projected numbers, or average present numbers. It was probably the latter. My father was already a retired veteran, and doing very well at this point. And my mother had a government job with a pension. With them both being only in their mid 40's, I was hoping A.L. Williams wasn't predicting my parents would be living in poverty at 65. It sure didn't seem that way. But the parents of our friends we grew up with, it looked like a better possibility with some of them, and they were in the Silent Generation, like my parents. But most of them did ok in retirement, and never wound up homeless. But you have to remember, this was the Silent Generation. Believe it or not, I thought these were the Baby Boomers. I had no idea until years later that I was a the Boomer, however a young Boomer. When I look at how a lot of Boomers came out as far as retirement, one big thing A.L. Williams was right about was, this country really don't care about their seniors. With the threat of homelessness, it looks like today's seniors have it even worse, because a lot of them can't afford to even retire at 65. But do you hear any of them blaming the Silent Generation. That wasn't in us.
You know what's so messed up. A lot of people I knew way back with A.L. Williams, had all this knowledge, degrees, ect..., and still became, or are very close to becoming, a part of that 65 year-old population, who can't afford to retire. I even read that 56% of workers over the age of 50 experience involuntary job loss before they plan to retire. With that said, it appears those 65 years-olds who were retiring in poverty back then, where forced out, more likely because of a medical condition, or they just couldn't keep up, and employers wanted young blood...so what else is new. Anyway, these people at A.L. Williams didn't have police records, or anything. They were mostly well educated family men I went to college with. The one who got us in A.L. Williams, had graduated college, and left his IT job to quadruple his salary, but wound up divorce. That divorce is no joke, but a lot of people can still bounce back. But leaving a government job, and getting a divorce, shouldn't determine whether you can retire comfortably or not. Something about these good intelligent brothers, some who I followed coming up, ending up like this as seniors, isn't adding up. These brothers played a very big part of how I ended up today. I don't even wanna talk about the rest of the brothers I came up with, nearing retirement age. I'm almost scared to even be around them period.
To finish, how did the retirement issue get divided into a Baby Boomer problem. a Generation X problem, a Millenial problem, a Generation Z problem, and a Generation Alpha problem, when it's always been an American problem? With all said, you should know this retirement issue didn't happen because of the Boomers, it happened to the Boomers
