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Comment by yannis | Hacker News Reader

According to my own calculations very few of the baby boomers will retire. Most of us spent our lives fighting a losing war, the inflation of the eighties, the rising housing prices. Schooling for the kids from being a very small amount of a family's life to eating a major portion of one's work efforts. Personally add one wrong move where I lost all my capital and still fighting to recover.

Most of us are still supporting our kids as they are the kids of the recessions or helping them with capital for their start-up and hey we don't want to rust in the port like an old ship. Many other of us have build Companies where these X's are currently employed.

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What part of rising house prices did Boomers have to fight? Surely that's a burden you've handballed to X/Y.

// Says a Gen Y from Australia where house prices haven't crashed yet.

Rising (and then dramatically falling) housing prices destroyed the wealth a large portion of established families. If they bought a house in say 2005, they lost money and are saddled with a huge mortgage. Even families who own their own home now have less money as people often viewed their home as a major investment.

Which is entirely their fault. You don't treat basic needs(food, water, roof over your head) as investments, because no matter what the actual price is of those, you still need them. Instead, you should buy what's affordable for you, so even if the price drops, it doesn't matter.

> Which is entirely their fault. You don't treat basic needs(food, water, roof over your head) as investments, because no matter what the actual price is of those, you still need them. Instead, you should buy what's affordable for you, so even if the price drops, it doesn't matter.

This is a little harsh. Many families need to sell due to reasons other than treating their house as an investment.

Sure. But isn't that a Gen X problem?

The part that couldn't cope to save enough for a deposit due to inflation and when we managed we paid 26% (at the time living in RSA) interest plus currency instabilities. What this means is that most people's wealth was tied in their property. We also tried investing in stock markets and if you look up black Fridays and the like you will see the futility of it. To summarize at least for me the main characteristic of my financial life was that it resembled a snakes a ladders game. When you on the 98 go back to square 2! One lesson that I want to pass on, is at the end, the only worthwhile investment you can make is to invest in your children in the hope that one day they can make the world a little bit better than where you left it. This was what my father did for me by working in a sweat shop to assist me with my education and this what I am still doing. I don't divide a person's life by age but by landmarks. If my kids need support until they are 30 to stand on their feet so be it.

> According to my own calculations very few of the baby boomers will retire.

It is sometimes difficult to understand that infirmities of aging are not controllable. Or put another way: Many folks are forced into retirement by someone other than their company.

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