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Health & Fitness

The Plight of Today's Older Generation

Unfortunately for the "Baby Boomers" and pre-Boomers, the luster of the Golden Years has been tarnished by an economy that has taken its toll on 401( K) plans, pensions and savings.

Once upon a time retirees could face their “Golden Years” secure in the knowledge they had built up nice little “nest eggs” through the fruits of their labor. They were free to enjoy the pleasures of retirement, doing what they wanted, when they wanted or do nothing but sit on the back porch and enjoy a beautiful sunset to close out another carefree day.

Unfortunately for the “Baby Boomers” and pre-Boomers, the luster of the Golden Years has been tarnished by an economy that has taken its toll on  401( K) plans, pensions and savings. And that’s a shame because seniors, past and present, built this country with their sinew and the sweat of their brow.

A recent report written and published by John Mauldin entitled: “The New Labor Force,” puts, I think, into perspective the plight of today’s older generation. He reveals that the employment level for those over the age of fifty-five has risen by four million jobs jobs since the beginning of the recession, three million of which have occurred since the third quarter of 2009. Mauldin points out that if you take the end of the third quarter as the reference point, the Boomer Generation has seen its job levels jump by three million, while overall jobs increased by just two million.

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Burrowing inside these numbers one can easily see that older workers, willingly or not, are opting to stay in the work force longer to make ends meet. This has made it more difficult for younger workers to find jobs.

The plain, unvarnished truth is that many older workers are not only choosing to work longer, but many who have retired, thinking their retirement savings would carry them through to the “Golden Years” are finding it necessary to return to the labor force in some capacity, not because they want to but because they need to for financial reasons. 

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