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retirement savings don't affect day-to-day decisions or welfare, and most folks will not be selling their home, especially not in a recession, so those are both

retirement savings don't affect day-to-day decisions or welfare, and most folks will not be selling their home, especially not in a recession, so those are both non sequiturs. long-term assets, particularly for the middle class, are relatively recession-resistant.

vorpalhex 5y ago
~17% of people right now are living off their retirement and that percentage will increase as baby boomers hit retirement age. Remember 2008 when a bunch of houses were underwater, cash strapped poor families could neither make payments nor sell to get out, and the whole thing was awful? Yeah that didn't really help wealth inequality.
- clairity 5y ago
  most households at/near retirement (55+, according to the fed reserve) are doing fine with an average net worth over a million (note that that's all the boomers), and almost none of them are still paying off mortgages. they aren't losing houses nor going without meals. moreover, social security income is inflation protected, as essentially is medicare, so poor elderly are no worse off. again, that's a disingenous argument, the kind often made by politicians seeking political gain, not general welfare.
  - vorpalhex 5y ago
    Please avoid accusing opponents of bad faith, it's distasteful and childish. If you have "enough" for retirement and then we have a depression where your retirement significantly drops.. that sort of seems like you may no longer have enough. That money needs to last you 20 some years. Also your claim that most retirees have "an average net worth over a million" appears to be flatly untrue [1]. Please provide a citation. Significant amounts of retirees are still paying on their mortgage [2] and are affected by changes in the housing market. This especially is important for reverse mortgages. Social security income does adjust for inflation, but it does so infrequently and is not always a major part of many peoples retirement plans. A depression or recession would be worse for the common person than any 1%er. [1] - https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/010616/whats-average-401k-balance-age.asp https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/01061... [2] - https://www.aarp.org/money/credit-loans-debt/info-2018/retired-paying-off-mortgage-fd.html https://www.aarp.org/money/credit-loans-debt/info-2018/retir...

vorpalhex 5y ago

~17% of people right now are living off their retirement and that percentage will increase as baby boomers hit retirement age. Remember 2008 when a bunch of houses were underwater, cash strapped poor families could neither make payments nor sell to get out, and the whole thing was awful? Yeah that didn't really help wealth inequality.

clairity 5y ago
most households at/near retirement (55+, according to the fed reserve) are doing fine with an average net worth over a million (note that that's all the boomers), and almost none of them are still paying off mortgages. they aren't losing houses nor going without meals. moreover, social security income is inflation protected, as essentially is medicare, so poor elderly are no worse off. again, that's a disingenous argument, the kind often made by politicians seeking political gain, not general welfare.
- vorpalhex 5y ago
  Please avoid accusing opponents of bad faith, it's distasteful and childish. If you have "enough" for retirement and then we have a depression where your retirement significantly drops.. that sort of seems like you may no longer have enough. That money needs to last you 20 some years. Also your claim that most retirees have "an average net worth over a million" appears to be flatly untrue [1]. Please provide a citation. Significant amounts of retirees are still paying on their mortgage [2] and are affected by changes in the housing market. This especially is important for reverse mortgages. Social security income does adjust for inflation, but it does so infrequently and is not always a major part of many peoples retirement plans. A depression or recession would be worse for the common person than any 1%er. [1] - https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/010616/whats-average-401k-balance-age.asp https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/01061... [2] - https://www.aarp.org/money/credit-loans-debt/info-2018/retired-paying-off-mortgage-fd.html https://www.aarp.org/money/credit-loans-debt/info-2018/retir...