Market Fears: “There’s a terrified older population out there,”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/business/23retirees.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Retirees Filling the Front Line in Market Fears

By JOHN LELAND and LOUIS UCHITELLE
Published: September 22, 2008
Older Americans with investments are among the hardest hit by the turmoil in the financial markets and have the least opportunity to recover.

“There’s a terrified older population out there,” said Alicia H. Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. “If you’re 45 and the market goes down, it bothers you, but it comes back. But if you’re retired or about to retire, you might have to sell your assets before they have a chance to recover.

****

Today’s retirees have less money in savings, longer life expectancies and greater exposure to market risk than any retirees since World War II.

****

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

:popcorn:

JFK. I'm offended that you would lump all of us into one racist group. Next, I suppose you'll be blaming us for the financial meltdown.

Hope you can convince your peers.

to get off their lazy, it makes no difference...blah blah... asses and vote for a change. It's real easy to point fingers.

Maybe I'll become a terrorist if we get wiped out.
The poster you replied to has problems. He is insulting millions of Dems who would never vote puke; stupid, too, as it will take him many ballots to equal the times I have vote for Dems

I am not a fucking racist, I am registered independent, voting enthusiastically for Obama. My dh is a registered republican, voting enthusiastically, head over heels happy, for Obama.

Assumptions like the one you made are definitely true in some instances, and wildly off base in others. Don't get pigeonholed into stereotypes that aren't helpful to reaching the goal.

We can work for many years still if we need to. But I worked through all holidays and on weekends for many years to be able to not rely on SS, even though I pay into it. I just want a way to make the sacrifices I made over the years result in something other than me living in a damned tent, sharing food with the dog.

Although I do feed the dog home made food now, and it is pretty good. And I certainly own a tent.

but most mornings, I can see my senior status from here.

Some individuals, like yourself, are in a minority in that group.

Unless you get caught up in scenes like Palin talking to her 70,000 population, hard-core elderly republicans at The Villages in Florida. Otherwise, in my personal experiences, I am finding quite a few "seniors" jumping ship to Obama (esp if you define senior as over 50).

This definitely would represent a change in trend for seniors. Or just something unusual for this campaign, with a guy the quality of Obama, running against a guy with no character or brain. And during one of the nastiest economic times imaginable. Look, old people probably don't want their benefits fucked with - you wouldn't either, if your ability to earn a living was long past and you are leaning against a walker with your colostomy bag flapping in the breeze.

OTOH, the majority of seniors (McCain excluded) do have the ability to know what a depression is like, to listen to McCain's deregulation talk, to hear about the bailouts, and "get it" that under McCain, their SS is gonna be tossed to the wolves on Wall Street. And that this time, the seniors who lived the depression as kids growing up might get to do it again as elderly folks.

You might be surprised at how that is completely understandable to them and a game changer for their votes.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

But it's a very touchy subject around here. Someone posted a thread about this, and it got locked. It just can't be discussed here. You're right, but people are just very sensitive about it. I don't know if we can ever do anything about it if we can't talk about it, but apparently it's verboten. I do think we could be more sensitive in how we bring this issue up sometimes, though. It's important not to generalize. It just turns people off.

Perhaps you should be more specific for us "idiots" next time instead of painting all members of a very large group with the same brush.

Are you surprised much?
Pretty easy population to persuade maybe?
:sarcasm:

of rule by royalty, family connection and cronyism. This by definition makes me an anarchist, pigeon-hole me please so that I might recognize my errors and plan my retirement.

they voted for these scoundrels - they hurt everyone

I think their use of Geritol is getting them drunk.

I own no common stocks, but my preferred stocks and debt instruments that pay monthly and quarterly interest are suffering right along with the bad stuff.
My timeline for recovery is limited.
And BTW, the only repug I've ever voted for was a RINO.

If people over 60 in America are dumb enough to vote for another Republican president, they deserve to lose Social Security and Medicare benefits. I'm so tired of old farts who let their fears and bigotry rule their politics.

:wtf: is wrong with these people? Do they hate their grandmas?

Hekate