4 ms·

I don't know, maybe I am out of touch but almost all boomers I know are extremely well off, they started as scientists or other typical professional occupations

I don't know, maybe I am out of touch but almost all boomers I know are extremely well off, they started as scientists or other typical professional occupations and now own assets in the millions, basically housing in California and other areas. Prop 13 has helped them(their prop. taxes do not go up) as well as dirt cheap college costs when they went to college. Housing was rather cheap as well considering salaries, I remember my Dad looking at houses in Palo Alto in the mid 90's and they were in the 300's(they are now 3-4M). I feel like gen X and Millennials are really getting the short end of the stick when it comes to alot of essential life costs. Sure economists say inflation is not happening but I think the formula to look into inflation is incorrect as Housing/Medical/College has skyrocketed where a gallon of milk and bread has not jumped in cost.

bpt3 6y ago
The boomers you know (white collar professionals in the Bay Area apparently) are not a representative sample of the entire population. The group you mentioned has done well in every generation in modern times.
- subsubzero 6y ago
  Some are, some are not. They are all friends parents and some family, a few others are blue collar business owners or workers. One striking example is a friend who's Dad(in the construction business) owns multiple properties and his son(late 30's) rents. They are doing the exact same job and it shows how skewed things are based on 30-40 years ago(his Dad owned a house at his age).
  - bpt3 6y ago
    A "blue collar" business owner with multiple properties isn't really a great example either. I'm not arguing against your thesis that the boomer generation overall basically extracted resources from future generations (and their parents who lived through the depression and at least 1 world war), I'm just saying that there are lots of individual boomers who didn't have lucrative careers or happen to own property in the right places, and you don't seem to know any of those people (which is fine of course).
neutronicus 6y ago
I expect housing to get a lot cheaper when the boomers actually need to wring some liquidity out of the real estate they've been holding (hoarding) to pay for elder care. Even if they do something like barter free housing for live-in care instead of selling, you expect a big effect on the rental market and a corresponding effect on the value of investment properties.
- toomuchtodo 6y ago
  I think this’ll be governed by how quickly their health declines, how easy it is to borrow against their equity (and the bank liquidating the property after they’ve passed), and how aggressive local jurisdictions are with clawing at assets to pay for long term care (Medicaid, five year look back). The can keeps getting kicked.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > I expect housing to get a lot cheaper when the boomers actually need to wring some liquidity out of the real estate they've been holding (hoarding) to pay for elder care. Boomers are between 56 and 74, a lot of them already have either liquidated real estate holdings by downsizing even if not explicitly for care, or passed it on, whether inter vivos or by inheritance (because quite a lot of them have died, and you can't take it with you.)

bpt3 6y ago

The boomers you know (white collar professionals in the Bay Area apparently) are not a representative sample of the entire population. The group you mentioned has done well in every generation in modern times.

subsubzero 6y ago
Some are, some are not. They are all friends parents and some family, a few others are blue collar business owners or workers. One striking example is a friend who's Dad(in the construction business) owns multiple properties and his son(late 30's) rents. They are doing the exact same job and it shows how skewed things are based on 30-40 years ago(his Dad owned a house at his age).
- bpt3 6y ago
  A "blue collar" business owner with multiple properties isn't really a great example either. I'm not arguing against your thesis that the boomer generation overall basically extracted resources from future generations (and their parents who lived through the depression and at least 1 world war), I'm just saying that there are lots of individual boomers who didn't have lucrative careers or happen to own property in the right places, and you don't seem to know any of those people (which is fine of course).

neutronicus 6y ago

I expect housing to get a lot cheaper when the boomers actually need to wring some liquidity out of the real estate they've been holding (hoarding) to pay for elder care. Even if they do something like barter free housing for live-in care instead of selling, you expect a big effect on the rental market and a corresponding effect on the value of investment properties.

toomuchtodo 6y ago
I think this’ll be governed by how quickly their health declines, how easy it is to borrow against their equity (and the bank liquidating the property after they’ve passed), and how aggressive local jurisdictions are with clawing at assets to pay for long term care (Medicaid, five year look back). The can keeps getting kicked.
dragonwriter 6y ago
> I expect housing to get a lot cheaper when the boomers actually need to wring some liquidity out of the real estate they've been holding (hoarding) to pay for elder care. Boomers are between 56 and 74, a lot of them already have either liquidated real estate holdings by downsizing even if not explicitly for care, or passed it on, whether inter vivos or by inheritance (because quite a lot of them have died, and you can't take it with you.)