Older...Richer
An article just appeared, written by Dennis Cauchon of USA TODAY. He says that in the USA, nearly all new wealth since 1989 has gone to people 55 years of age and older. That seems surprising at first glance, but there are lots of reasons for it.
Cauchon goes on,
“Households headed by people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s have barely kept up with inflation or have fallen behind since 1989. People 35 to 50 have actually lost wealth since 1989 after adjusting for inflation.”
“Older people have always been wealthier than younger ones. What’s changed is the disparity between the generations. Older people have been racing ahead, helped by government retirement benefits. Young people are running in place…”
“…the wages of ordinary workers have stagnated. But the graying of wealth and income may be the most important twist in the new inequality.”
Younger people are not inferior to us - you know that because they are your children, after all - they have simply faced different financial circumstances in the past 15 or 20 years. Furthermore, due to the failure of older generations (and authorities) to adequately fund social security and public health care, younger people will bear that financial burden and will not be able to accumulate wealth later in life as current seniors have done.
Not only is this happening in the USA, but in Europe too, where rising house prices, the movement of jobs to cheaper parts of the world, and also a lost desire on the part of younger people to save for the future, are having a serious impact on personal wealth.
Many seniors are responding to this trend with compassion and generosity. They help educate and sometimes even end up raising their grandchildren; they take satisfaction in being able to pass on an inheritance to their children instead of spending their wealth on themselves. Layered on this is the increasing concern that unless global warming is addressed in a much more effective way, these efforts will be for naught.
Green Granny has this to say,
“The data in this article show that today, even when families make good choices, they can’t pull ahead in the way that my generation did. My parents never ceased their concern and caring for me, even as they declined in old age. Their generosity echoes down through the generations of our family to this day. It is natural for me to want follow in their footsteps. Today, that includes putting action on global warming at the top of my agenda as a grandparent.”
Younger people, particularly those with dependants and large mortgages, have lost touch with the great issues that we all face. The changes to the planet are as nothing compared to the burden of financing a lifestyle that they see all around them, but which is neither financially, nor ecologically viable.
Seniors may have the money, but they still know what it is like to reduce, repair, reuse and save when necessary. Green Seniors are a special breed who can lead by example, showing younger generations, their children, and the generations after them, how to live that financially and ecologically sustainable life that is so necessary for the future.
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