From CNN:
Boomers are not moving out of their big homes. Here’s why
After 33 years and four children, Baby Boomers Marta and Octavian Dragos say they feel trapped in what was once their dream home in El Cerrito, California.
Both over 70, the Dragos are empty nesters, and like many of their generation, they’re trying to figure out how to downsize from their 3,000-square-foot, five-bedroom home.
“We are here in a huge house with no family nearby, trying to make a wise decision, both financially and for our well-being,” said Dragos, a retired teacher.
But selling and downsizing isn’t easy, appealing or even financially advantageous for many homeowners like the Dragos family.
Many Boomers whose homes have surged in value now face massive capital gains tax bills when they sell. This is a kind of tax on the profit you make when selling an investment or an asset, like a home, that has increased in value.
Plus, smaller homes or apartments in the neighborhoods they’ve come to love are rare. And with current prices and mortgage rates so high, there is often a negligible cost difference between their current home and a smaller one.
“For now we’re staying put,” Dragos said. “Better to hold steady than to do something we will regret.”
Fewer older homeowners selling is part of what is keeping the inventory of homes historically low and pushing prices ever higher in markets across the US. Empty nesters of this age own more larger homes — three bedrooms or more — than Millennials with kids do.
Dragos said she understands that, as homeowners, theirs are enviable problems. They own an asset that has soared in value, after all.
But as she and her husband sit at their dining table discussing the morbid math — what is left after capital gains taxes, what happens if he dies first, what if she goes before him — she says they see no good options for how to get out from under their home while keeping an acceptable amount of profit from its sale, which they’d like to use to fund their retirement.
Fries
They are about to die and their main consideration is capital gain taxes? Are they taking that money to the grave?
“But as she and her husband sit at their dining table discussing the morbid math — what is left after capital gains taxes, what happens if he dies first, what if she goes before him — she says they see no good options for how to get out from under their home while keeping an acceptable amount of profit from its sale, which they’d like to use to fund their retirement.“
F*cking cry babies.
“acceptable profit”
Yeah, the acceptable profit is what you have left after you pay your taxes. Accept it and move on.
Several of my friends have left NJ and complained about the “NJ Exit Tax”. My understanding was that it is not a “tax” but just a pre-payment of potential gains tax. However, my friends assure me I am incorrect, and they are in fact smarter than me, (true) and more successful (true).
Grim, can you set me straight.
Thanks!
Boomers being greedy. Who’d have thought that?
Grim, can you set me straight.
They are wrong, it’s nothing more than the collection of taxes due at time of sale vs. time of filing. It is a tax prepayment, and is held in escrow until tax time. When you file your taxes, that escrow is applied as a credit, and your taxes are settled. If a refund is due, it’s paid. If additional monies are owned, they are paid. It’s the same tax, either way.
Exit tax was enacted due to the number of individuals who were simply skipping out on taxes due when they left the state (or country). This model ensures that taxes owed are paid, and that the now non-resident, files the necessary tax forms for that year.
How much money on property taxes has that couple saved living in the same house for 33 years. Proposition 48? Is it that caps taxes.
Thanks Grim. That’s what I thought, although I could not convince my actuarial friends that their realtor was probably just using that term. I guess doing a google lookup was a bridge too far.
There are a number of exemptions to it as well, doesn’t mean taxes aren’t owed, just that they don’t need to be prepaid.
https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/pdf/other_forms/tgi-ee/gitrep3.pdf
“They are about to die and their main consideration is capital gain taxes?”
They’re 70, reasonably can have another 20 years times two people. Plus associated care costs.
I kind of get it….if you sit down and do the math and conclude that after taxes and the rapid increase in smaller home values you are essentially downsizing from the family home to a starter type home while taking little money off the table, why do that trade?
Like selling your GM shares with 3x gains to “re-invest” the after tax proceeds in Ford….
Same bank account balance, smaller less valuable home, no memories…
First thought through my mind was isn’t this the type of situation set for those reverse mortgage situations? Anyone know how those transactions work re: actual ownership transfer and cap gains?
Brock Farms in Freehold just sold 128 acres to Hovnanian.
“Brock Farms in Freehold just sold 128 acres to Hovnanian.”
Go Jersey Go!
Squeeze 300 [shitty Hov popsicle stick] homes on there, more if you can anchor a SFH development with a multifamily building. One and a half cars per household, another 450 vehicles joining the roads down there…
Just another day in indentured servitude paradise for you guys! Woo-hoo!
But if they don’t sell now and house keeps appreciating, their tax bill will be much bigger in 20 years. Will they downsize then?
leftwing says:
January 30, 2024 at 8:29 am
“They are about to die and their main consideration is capital gain taxes?”
They’re 70, reasonably can have another 20 years times two people. Plus associated care costs.
I kind of get it….if you sit down and do the math and conclude that after taxes and the rapid increase in smaller home values you are essentially downsizing from the family home to a starter type home while taking little money off the table, why do that trade?
Like selling your GM shares with 3x gains to “re-invest” the after tax proceeds in Ford….
Same bank account balance, smaller less valuable home, no memories…
First thought through my mind was isn’t this the type of situation set for those reverse mortgage situations? Anyone know how those transactions work re: actual ownership transfer and cap gains?
Many Boomers whose homes have surged in value now face massive capital gains tax bills when they sell.
What a joke , and you all took it hook line and sinker. The sky is falling watch out.
Reality is if they sell house for 1.2 million , they deduct their original cost( lets say $600,000) then they deduct another $ 500,000 ( amount of deduction allowed $250,000 per person) from the 1.2 million, leaving them with a taxable 100,000 the max amount of capital gains tax (20%) would be a lousy $20,000.That is hardly an amount to not sell your house. He is a retired teacher in Liberal California, cry me a river. I paid over $150,000 on a sale of one lousy multi unit, then took a $1,000 cut on SS for a full year. BLAME THE BOOMERS … WHAT A CROCK OF CRAP.
Watch out for that falling sky LOL.
Reality is the old goats lived their whole life there for free if they turned a profit of one thin dime.
Reality is if they sell house for 1.2 million , they deduct their original cost( lets say $600,000) then they deduct another $ 500,000 ( amount of deduction allowed $250,000 per person) from the 1.2 million, leaving them with a taxable 100,000 the max amount of capital gains tax (20%) would be a lousy $20,000.That is hardly an amount to not sell your house. He is a retired teacher in Liberal California, cry me a river. I paid over $150,000 on a sale of one lousy multi unit, then took a $1,000 cut on SS for a full year. BLAME THE BOOMERS … WHAT A CROCK OF CRAP.
Family Guy has the answer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x901kIoOnzs
leftwing says:
January 30, 2024 at 8:29 am
“They are about to die and their main consideration is capital gain taxes?”
They’re 70, reasonably can have another 20 years times two people. Plus associated care costs.
NJ’s replacement slogan from “The Garden State” to “The Apartment State.”
Or maybe “The Mixed Residental Use State” or TMRUS for short.
HEHE.
Boomer, pave more of NJ for your kids. They will enjoy the concrete jungle with traffic you built for them Scrooge Mc Duck. Hehe.
Kia Shows How You Can Fit 11 People In The New Carnival Minivan.
This will be a hot seller in Texas. Hehe.
There’s also a Senior discount for the Realty Transfer Tax in NJ.
Why are old people so massively angry and selfish?
They get socialist, universal healthcare.
They get socialist, universal minimum income.
They get socialist tax discounts.
Yet they call socialism any efforts to make the world a better place for all of us.
NJCoast says:
January 30, 2024 at 9:19 am
There’s also a Senior discount for the Realty Transfer Tax in NJ.
There is a senior discount for everything in NJ. A senior tax break as well.
What makes them so much more valuable than everyone else?
If you were in payroll, you would classify them as Non Productive, cause they ain’t working anyway.
Very Stable Genius
Very well said. But don’t forget they are from an era where they also got pensions.
Very Stable Genius says:
January 30, 2024 at 9:31 am
Why are old people so massively angry and selfish?
They get socialist, universal healthcare.
They get socialist, universal minimum income.
They get socialist tax discounts.
Yet they call socialism any efforts to make the world a better place for all of us.
UPS to cut 12,000 jobs. Raise the salary and benefits, and then lay them off!
UPS said it has about 85,000 managers as part of its global workforce of nearly 500,000 employees.
Lot’s of chiefs for that many Indians. Just about 1 manager for every 5 employees.
Hehe.
But hey, still better run than your State, Federal, or local municipality. Hehe.
Phoenix says:
January 30, 2024 at 9:44 am
UPS said it has about 85,000 managers as part of its global workforce of nearly 500,000 employees.
Lot’s of chiefs for that many Indians. Just about 1 manager for every 5 employees.
Hehe.
Very Stable Genius says:
January 30, 2024 at 9:31 am
Why are old people so massively angry and selfish?
They get socialist, universal healthcare.
They get socialist, universal minimum income.
They get socialist tax discounts.
That is so funny, I have paid into SS since I was 17 until 72, and you call it socialism?? I have watched dirty Joe allow way too many illegal immigrants flood our country , then escape to our cities and get free medicaid, food, clothing, housing and more. That is socialism, majority of Boomers have paid their way without handouts.
Every Saturday I meet with 10-12 guys for breakfast, we discuss world affairs and we are happy and content ( we have many different professionals teachers , professional golfer, policeman, landscaper, banker, contractor all over 70). Actually you are the one that seems angry and selfish and always trying to start trouble. Why so bitter?
Jim, agree, this ‘blame the boomers’ chorus is tedious…every generation has its issues and challenges…pick a crises or market event (mid 70s anyone?) and there’s a cohort of young adults that needed to deal with it.
The boomer shit really bothers me personally because I’m often grouped with them (close enough, and I’m quite far away from the ‘median’ GenX in age)…yet I spent my entire life inhaling boomer fumes at the back of their massive slow moving demographic traffic jam….real estate values in the late 80s, yeah, as sucky as now on a relative basis….oh yeah, start a job on Wall Street and have the market crash unlike anything since ’29 with 33-50% employment cuts across the board after every piece of value (ie, compensation) has been extracted from it through LBOs….that’s a way to start your career….
On this specific couple your math may hold that it’s 100k of 1.2m subject to cap gains but that assumes an entry price of 600k…article says they’ve been there 33 years, their cost basis is likely closer to that 100k than the 600k for a current market value of 1.2m….so there may be a pretty big hit there when combined with the skyrocketing value of smaller homes could very well leave them with not an appreciable amount of net proceeds to make it worthwhile.
who knows….sounds like they plugged it into a cash flow model modified for lifestyle and passed….everyone should give many thanks to our brilliant leaders for turning the fiscal ignition switch on the world to the ‘off’ position with all the foresight of the common housefly.
“Reality is the old goats lived their whole life there for free if they turned a profit of one thin dime.”
Stick to medicine…there’s this funny little thing called time value of money…..
They are about to die and their main consideration is capital gain taxes?
I think they’re simply running “what if” scenarios. But, larger picture, don’t we all want to maximize our gains? Isn’t investment strategy discussed on this forum every day?
I have been paying Social Security taxes since I was 14. Just saying.
VSG,
As I have to deal with end stage elderly. Might observation is simple and is if you have had a decent life vis a vis family and have attempted to do the right things – even if things did not turn out well, you accept the end.
Have seen the concentration camp tattoo in 3 patients. Two of them a catholic polish woman and an old hasidic man were on ventilators. The third one was and end stage cancer patient with frequent family visit and we talked a lot.
He was born in NY to german family, parents let him go at 10yrs old with relatives to visit other relatives in Germany in ’39. War broke out got stuck over there. No relatives wanted to deal with him after war with US was declared as they were afraid of Gestapo. Eventually got picked up at 13 and sent to Dachau until US Army liberated. Spoke to GI’s, got send back stateside to his parents by Red Cross at 16yrs old. Later drafted and served in Korea.
It does not have to be so dramatic as above. But generally most boomers have led empty selfish lives. The couple that refuses to sell their house and arrange for their end does not realize that the money is going to go to some Private Equity owned nursing home chain.
So they rage on, like it was in the drug induced 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, the prescription induced 90’s, 00’s, and now the dementia induced 10’s and 20’s.
Do not go gentle into that good night
Dylan Thomas 1914 –1953
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
“But generally most boomers have led empty selfish lives.”
Simply one of the most sweepingly unsupported generalizations on here recently.
Or, more directly, likely the dumbest, most obtuse comment here in a while. And that’s saying something given your competition for that crown.
I say,
“Viva Las Vegas!”
I’m gonna keep on the run
I’m gonna have me some fun
If it costs me my very last dime
If I wind up broke, oh well
I’ll always remember that I had a swingin’ time
I’m gonna give it ev’rything I’ve got
Lady luck please let the dice stay hot
Let me shoot a seven with ev’ry shot, ah
Viva Las Vegas, Viva Las Vegas
Viva Las Vegas, Viva, Viva Las Vegas
Hehe.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1751510307233505782
“Reality is the old goats lived their whole life there for free if they turned a profit of one thin dime.”
Stick to medicine…there’s this funny little thing called time value of money…..
Hehe.
Time value of money. Money doing work so people don’t have to. It’s amazing how people with money think that they should sit on their “proverbial azz” and live off something they may never have even earned-maybe just inherited.
When money is doing work so people don’t have to, that just means that they are transferring the work that needs to be done to someone else who is actually doing it-and doing it for far less than what they should receive for it.
BRT could probably write a physics equation that would work for that scenario.
Well, one thing you can say about boomers that is accurate. They did, and continue, to add to the deficit of the United States coffers. Trillions and trillions of debt they add and leave behind-they should be so proud of themselves.
leftwing says:
January 30, 2024 at 10:14 am
“But generally most boomers have led empty selfish lives.”
Simply one of the most sweepingly unsupported generalizations on here recently.
Or, more directly, likely the dumbest, most obtuse comment here in a while. And that’s saying something given your competition for that crown.
But generally most boomers have led empty selfish lives.
I have 12 varieties of chex mix in dispensers at my front steps to ensure teens walking to the school bus have had breakfast! That came out of my own pocket so don’t tell me boomers are selfish! I even go out and help them when they struggle to figure out how to pull the lever or when they’re too engaged in a Tik Tok video to use their hands! I’ll put the mix in little recycled paper bags for them (you know, they’re climate conscious) to eat on the bus on the way to skrewl.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Rodney Dangerfield.
Haha. Best scene was still the business classroom. So perfectly American.
And the Sam Kinison part. Some real laughs there.
https://youtu.be/k9DO26O6dIg
“But generally most boomers have led empty selfish lives.”
I feel sorry for those whose most valuable possession is money.
I got the impression you were older than me. Guess I was wrong.
My skinny on this: it says 70’s not 70, so you don’t know their health and exact age. If they die, there is a step-up in basis, so bear in mind that issue.
All that said, at this stage of life, their debt should be paid off and they would be mortgage free, so a downsize should have no impact. Regardless, as we know Cali has wrecked the dynamic of their real estate due to massive and ill conceived property tax regulations. Unless it is a Cali publication for Cali readers, it is a stupid example to cite because it isn’t applicable anywhere else.
From government standpoint, Sacramento or municipal CA govts need to be incinerated.
leftwing says:
January 30, 2024 at 9:58 am
Jim, agree, this ‘blame the boomers’ chorus is tedious…every generation has its issues and challenges…pick a crises or market event (mid 70s anyone?) and there’s a cohort of young adults that needed to deal with it.
The boomer shit really bothers me personally because I’m often grouped with them (close enough, and I’m quite far away from the ‘median’ GenX in age)…yet I spent my entire life inhaling boomer fumes at the back of their massive slow moving demographic traffic jam….real estate values in the late 80s, yeah, as sucky as now on a relative basis….oh yeah, start a job on Wall Street and have the market crash unlike anything since ’29 with 33-50% employment cuts across the board after every piece of value (ie, compensation) has been extracted from it through LBOs….that’s a way to start your career….
On this specific couple your math may hold that it’s 100k of 1.2m subject to cap gains but that assumes an entry price of 600k…article says they’ve been there 33 years, their cost basis is likely closer to that 100k than the 600k for a current market value of 1.2m….so there may be a pretty big hit there when combined with the skyrocketing value of smaller homes could very well leave them with not an appreciable amount of net proceeds to make it worthwhile.
who knows….sounds like they plugged it into a cash flow model modified for lifestyle and passed….everyone should give many thanks to our brilliant leaders for turning the fiscal ignition switch on the world to the ‘off’ position with all the foresight of the common housefly
3b says:
January 30, 2024 at 10:03 am
I have been paying Social Security taxes since I was 14. Just saying.
So the questions you need to ask are:
#1 Then why is it going bankrupt, probably before you get to use it?
#2 How is it that a 18 year old is paying into it, but never going to collect anything?
Answer those two questions and you will know who stole a disproportionate amount out of the money that you have put in.
Well, I shouldn’t say stole. Maybe more like voted in cretins who “legislated” a bigger amount to themselves leaving a massive deficit. Just like donkey teeth is doing to NJ right now.
I don’t see the problem with what they said. If you don’t reduce your monthly expenses or bank some money from the sale then why downsize. It’s basic economics.
The question should be why there is so much inflation in housing. It’s ridiculous. The median price in Morris county is now 700k.
You feel sorry for about 97 percent of Americans then. Including the young girls I work with that need 7k purses and handbags to feel good about themselves.
America is a country with a black soul. Religion tries to cover it up with it’s bull shite but once you shine a light on all of these religions you will see them scurrying like roaches behind the stove.
“Religion is the stove the roaches hide behind.” Phoenix.
Very Stable Genius says:
January 30, 2024 at 10:48 am
“But generally most boomers have led empty selfish lives.”
I feel sorry for those whose most valuable possession is money.
Boomer greed. Well, American greed in general. It is one giant corporation after all.
The question should be why there is so much inflation in housing. It’s ridiculous. The median price in Morris county is now 700k.
I am a tail end Boomer, and not all Boomers are bad. And to Lefts point, the early 80’s we’re not a great time to start a career. I remember the market crash Oct, 87, young guy, recently married, House, and child on the way. It was scary. However, we got through it, but it still was easier back then in my view vs young people s situations today. Housing was still relatively affordable, property taxes were reasonable, and many myself included could have a nice suburban life on one income. Want go through it all again, as we have done this multiple times on the blog. But, I will say honestly, that there is a certain selfishness in many Boomers today, not all of course but certainly a fair number in my view. And for Boomers to not be symbolic to the younger generations today is just selfish, and to say we had it just as hard as them I don’t believe is correct. If we complain about young people today, remember it is the Boomers and Gen X people who raised them.
“Phoenix says: January 30, 2024 at 10:38 am…”
I don’t know what to say other than maybe re-iterate a suggestion from couple of others here that you delete the TikTok and Youtube apps from your phone to take a break…it really is a little disconcerting watching your arc recently….
On time value of money, has zero to do with your screed and is as inviolable as many of the physical laws your patients so unsuccessfully attempt to overturn…often with same result.
200k thirty three years ago needs to be 1.0m now to ‘breakeven’, and that’s at a very non-strenuous 5% annually….
Jump the rate to 8.5% (market rate) and 200k thirty three years ago needs to be 1.475m to ‘breakeven’.
Maths. So very similar to physics…
I feel sorry for those whose most valuable possession is money.
Says the person bragging about $4,000 suits, $175 shirts while shopping for a personal chef.
Hehe
Fast Eddie says:
January 30, 2024 at 11:35 am
I feel sorry for those whose most valuable possession is money.
Says the person bragging about $4,000 suits, $175 shirts while shopping for a personal chef.
Fast: I have a personal chest; his name is Monsieur Take Out.
“Answer those two questions and you will know who stole a disproportionate amount out of the money that you have put in.”
Incompetence and malfeasance in the public sector on a such a scale that should have resulted in jail terms for certain politicians.
“The question should be why there is so much inflation in housing. It’s ridiculous. The median price in Morris county is now 700k…Boomer greed. Well, American greed in general. It is one giant corporation after all.”
Blame it on the everyone-gets-a-trophy, just-do-something recent culture and generations and the same public sector incompetence and malfeasance.
Blatantly in 2008 the entire population (businesses and individuals) were protected from the ramifications of their own poor decisions. By 2020 we locked up the vast majority of the population and turned the world off because a small minority of our population may be critically vulnerable to a disease state.
The inescapable requirement to effect those actions for 15 years was to give money away for free.
When money is given away for free the entirely predictable results are what we suffer now.
If you had assets going into that period you have now hit a once in two century lotto…if you didn’t, well, then you didn’t.
Cuts through every generational cohort…it’s not about age, it’s about how ‘established’ one was going into ZIRP.
Which, btw, is why I have a near visceral hate of the Establishment and especially establishment ‘compromise’ politicians.
And of frightened little liberals who at every turn of a cloud on a horizon need ‘something done’.
O’Biden, 01/2020:
Former Vice President Joe Biden says President Donald Trump is leading the U.S. “dangerously close” to a war with Iran.
Any questions?
O’Biden has decided how he will respond to Iran’s recent attacks: He’s going to campaign in New Hampshire.
But really, why are you even publicly announcing that you’ve made a decision? Wtf is that? You’re supposed to say nothing. NOTHING!!
Whoever controls the teleprompter is making the decisions.
Well said 3b. (back at 11:04)
It is likely going to be so much harder for the current crop of kiddos to succeed. Where people get it wrong with the Boomers is not so much with their supposed selfishness, but with their ignorance of how much easier it was for them to succeed. I recall listening to my in-laws complain about how hard it was for them to buy a home with those >10% mortgage rates. Of course, their homes, inflation adjusted, were significantly cheaper and it helped that not everyone needed their own McMansion. And of course, they could refinance when the interest rates came down.
Leftwing,
You call yourself boomer adjacent, but I think you are full boomer. The other possibility is that you have TAHM AH syndrome. I think Phoenix might be suffering from it too.
That is Two And Half Men Allan Harper syndrome. But instead of living with your brother in a beach house, you live above a bowling alley in Paterson.
I feel for you, as your virtual anger management therapist won’t be available anymore, he had an incident https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/florida-anger-management-therapist-accused-of-murdering-a-homeless-man-after-a-dispute-say-police/ar-BB1hlxM6
Left: What alternative is there but to come to some type of reasonable compromise, if that’s even possible anymore!
Love it. Awesome. It’s like clot merged with Scarface.
Phoenix says:
January 30, 2024 at 10:56 am
“Religion is the stove the roaches hide behind.” Phoenix
BTW SS is not going bankrupt. Raise the full retirement age to 70. Problem solved. Next?
Also, boomers see what is happening to their kids. Many help no questions asked. If not, they better have a damned good reason for not doing so. That said, millennials need to sacrifice more and shove their avocado toast up their asses.
Not every 26 year old needs their own personal apartment, washer/dryer in unit and a new upscale car.
Chgo: Your post at 1:34, second sentence, not sure what you mean there.
The whole “boomer blame” thing is so childish. I notice nobody blames the boomers for their cellphones, cars, new drug breakthroughs, etc.
There’s plenty to complain about in government, society, etc, but intellectually, blaming a whole age group is on par with blaming the Bilderbergers, “the Jews,” pizzagate, or other conspiracy theories.
“The question should be why there is so much inflation in housing. It’s ridiculous.”
It’s not because of greedy boomers.
And it’s not because of hedge funds, or bailouts, or govt incompetance…
It’s a simple matter of supply and demand. As the US population grows more housing is needed, and we are simply not building enough housing to meet demand.
If you want to blame somebody, blame NIMBY homeowners (which is most homeowners) who seem to think that the single family zoning and minimum lot sizes in their towns is some sort god-given right, chiseled into a stone tablet and carried down to them from the top of Mt Sinai.
All those other arguments about who/what to blame for pricey housing are just massive examples of cognitive dissonance. (Who me? I’m not to blame for the lack of new housing! I just want my town to remain exactly the same as it was the day I bought my house 20 years ago!)
OC1: Reckless Fed policies had much to do with the inflation in housing costs. As for apartment construction there is a ton of that going on right now, in many north Jersey suburban towns. Interestingly enough, there was one completed in the Fall in the town north of mine, (one and two bedrooms) , and not one unit has been rented yet.
“BTW SS is not going bankrupt. Raise the full retirement age to 70.”
Worst case scenario, with nothing done, SS will still be able to pay out about 80% of promised benefits for many decades.
No One: Will the Boomer generation as in the decision makers, did get rid of corporate pensions, and did eliminate our manufacturing base, and did get us into unending wars in the Middle East, and did through the Fed Reserve engage in reckless monetary policies. Just saying.
As inflation rises again, a good bit of capital gains tax is really a tax on inflation creating illusory gains. Inflation over the long run pushes up the prices of stocks, homes. To tax those non-real capital gains is even more unjust and economically distortive than most taxes already are. To tax the inflationary rise in asset values creates an even greater incentive not to transact, making markets less efficient.
3b,
Identify the policies you don’t like, and argue against them and their advocates. A whole cohort of people by age didn’t do that. Your list of grievances does not have a conceptual common denominator driven by an age cohort.
If corporate pensions were still ubiquitous, people would be blaming “the Boomers” for shackling them to the jobs and locations they hate, just so they could get reach their pension age. Then they would blame them for not having a generous enough pension. Australia, Chile, Singapore instead moved to at least a semi-market oriented mandatory savings scheme that channeled savings into actual investment assets, rather than the mythical social security “lockbox” with a government IOU in it, supplemented by limited 401k opportunities.
“…the early 80’s we’re not a great time to start a career. I remember the market crash Oct, 87, young guy, recently married, House, and child on the way. It was scary…It is likely going to be so much harder for the current crop of kiddos to succeed.”
I was finance in NYC on graduation. My housemate EE at Motorola. Both of us with salaries of $28k on hire. Top of pay scale around that time. Other mainstream industry guys going to NYC were around 16k or so. They would go to after hour client gatherings literally to get fed dinner for free.
Buddy in my training program bought a NYC studio, family money, for 87k. Blew my mind at the time.
That studio was 3x top end pay back then. Reasonable, but unreasonable unless you were among the top comped. For others it was nearly 5x.
Top end kids coming out today around $140k or so, finance and CS. Some more (my CS son’s alma mater is graduating non-AI students into 175k and up jobs). Use the $140k. Run of the mill NYC new comp for mainstream decent students call it $80k.
That same studio is just shy of $500k now. That’s 3.5x the high end, and 5.5x the midrange. Very little variance from when I graduated.
Life is hard for everyone. Deal with it rather than looking for bogeyman to relieve you of your responsibility.
3b-
Look at this chart of single family housing charts from the fed:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/HOUST1F
Despite super low interest rates, the number of housing starts over the past decade is lower than in any decade going back to 1960 (In 1960, US population was 179 million. Today it is 333 million.)
OC1: I don’t know where you live, but in Bergen Co, most of it is fully built out already; there is no land left for development of single family homes in a large scale. Builders simply buy tear downs, and throw up a Mc Mansion to replace the modest house that was there for 50 plus years. There is as I said a lot of apartment building going on, all on busy / commercial streets .
It is wrong to blame all boomers also remember to critique those that generalize all younger people
No One: As I noted, I am a Boomer, I am just pointing out positives that in many ways my generation did have it easier than today’s young people. The items I noted are things that happened under the reign of the people in power, who are from the Boomer generation. I have benefited from items I noted, so certainly not grievances on my part. As for pensions they usually vested after 5 or 10 years of service, so nothing shackling anyone to their corporate employers.
BARA, whoever you are….
Thanks for your concern but I’m fine. No anger or syndromes here. I wake up and go to bed each day smiling. Think you have me confused with someone else.
” What alternative is there but to come to some type of reasonable compromise, if that’s even possible anymore!”
Saw some Congressman on CNBC this morning elated that there is a tax bill in Committee coming out that will have the support of ‘most Democrats and Republicans’.
Translated to Taxpayer language, you should hear ‘you all will be paying for the something we stuffed for every politician into this bill’.
Alternative to whoremongering compromise?
A hard, supermajority ceiling that total spending outside of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security only increases by inflation. Make it an Amendment.
Social Security, move it up to 70 if you want and means test it.
Medicare, palliative care only for a broad range of ultimately terminal diagnoses. You want grandma kept alive for four months on a vent at age 92 with five-figure courses of treatment go for it but it’s on you. Not society.
Medicaid, able bodied recipients are assumed to earn a base minimum compensation (no different than divorce courts assume for me and Phoenix). Earn it, or not. If you don’t, your body your life. Regarding kids, pay a fixed amount for, say, two. Any children over do not increase compensation. Children not well taken of, remove them. Same for the other poverty programs.
You do the above and the three big programs will move from deficit to surplus quickly. For the remainder of the budget divvy it up but no increase above inflation. More than manageable.
SBUX running a little into earnings, especially in options.
Missed my opportunity, tried to shave a few pennies and the position I’m looking at is now 15% higher….so may not enter but just throwing it out there FYI….
They have been a complete and utter disappointment. It’s 2024 and due to their lack of leadership we still have unsolved key issues like women’s reproductive rights, racism, mass murdering in our schools, coup d’etats, etc, etc, etc.
No SBUX for me, did go long some VIX, insurance these days is uber-cheap.
“OC1: I don’t know where you live, but in Bergen Co, most of it is fully built out already; there is no land left for development of single family homes in a large scale.”
Are you kidding? Those lots in Bergen County are huge.
When I was a kid the lot for our house was 40’x100′. Most of those lots in Bergen could fit 2, 3, 4 or more lots that size, with room to spare.
OC1: There are areas in northwestern Bergen with large lots, but not in the older towns, where most lit sizes are 50×100.
Leftwing ~2:51pm
The issue I have is that you are punching down. Punch up, everyone always forget to look up. Is always easier to look down than up.
In this list, except for the millionaire next door type which many here probably are, all others need to pay their fair share of taxes.
https://www.joshuakennon.com/the-hierarchy-of-the-rich-in-the-united-states/
https://youtu.be/t6V9i8fFADI?si=mkAFD2NytS261bNG
re: “no land left for development single family homes”
Plenty of golf courses left to be paved over and heck that giant parcel of land in Alpine owned by the Boys Scouts that is 700 acres of luxury 2 million dollar town homes just waiting to be built.
Juice: I agree on that, but all the old towns like Bergenfield, River Edge, New Milford, Dumont, Westwood and many more, have houses on small lots, and close together, some really close. There are parts of south Bergen Co ( South Hackensack, Little Ferry, Garfield, Wallington and others) that have houses as tightly packed as Queens.
Finally found a positive use for a Tesla over a hybrid or ICE.
https://twitter.com/historyinmemes/status/1752437025918320864
Several Democrat Senators are demanding Fed rate cuts this year to make housing more affordable including rents, and to spur more housing construction. Will it?
The scouts don’t own that land, if they give it up, it goes back to the Palisades Commission. Rockefeller wrote some strict provisions into its use.
While Bergen has its share of towns with 25×40 type lots, a lot of the bigger lots cannot be developed without tearing down the house that is usually smack in the middle. Also most of the towns up here have restrictions on lot sizes to stop subdivision.
Rumor has it that Biden is the first recipient of Elon Musk’s Neurolink brain implant.
Just like after the missile attack in January 2020 Iran claims they will retaliate with thousands of missiles if we strike back. US bases nearby are supposed to be protected by C-RAM, Patriot and other equipment. I am not sure how that drone even made it. Must have been a tiny one. Nobody is saying…
Some are saying the soldiers in these small bases are left unprotected are actually bait…We are telling the public we are out of there, when that is not reality. We rotate troops there all the time.
What is interesting is we now hear of conscription again. Brits and others. Seems the British navy cannot sail, carriers and support ships are now in port perhaps due to lack of sailors. If there is going to be action again in the middle east we may be going it alone.
“Coalition of the willing perhaps not this time? Who else worldwide can forward deploy and strike targets anywhere in the world?
Nobody but your sons and daughters folks.
6:35 I got one in my wee Willie & now I can do cock pushups.
My most recent trip to Bergen County, I went through Teaneck, Apline, Tenafly, Bergenfield, Hackensack. Bergenfield can’t have any new homes, same for Teaneck. There’s no room. Alpine, sure there’s room, but the value in that town is that there is room and they’ll never let go of that.
Hackensack had put up a ton of new residential buildings, all on old industrial land. I noticed in places like New Milford, River Edge, etc…they built on the thinnest available portion of land in the most awkward spots. Regardless, why would you want to add people to Bergen County? It hit maximum density 30 years ago.
Juice: US Navy is eliminating the requirement for HS graduate or GED, as long as a person can pass the entrance test.
The entrance test is can you operate a Tec-9 and how fast you can reload a 9mm magazine.
Hehe. Conservatives fear TayTay. Looks like some acetone has spilled on the glue holding America together.
Conspiracy theorist conservatives fear Taylor Swift is trying to BRAINWASH Americans into voting for Biden, as Megyn Kelly predicts star will soon be torn from her pedestal
They are prepping for war. Friend of mine just got sent to the middle east again. New Jersey Army National Guard.