As the baby boom generation ages, it seems that more and more of them are having to file for bankruptcy. This is strange as it would seem that with a lifetime of savings behind them, most people age 45 and older should be in the best financial shape of their lives. Unfortunately, in most instances, this is far from the truth.
If you pore through many of the more recent studies that track court filings, you will see that more than forty percent of all consumers who file for bankruptcy are baby boomers. Specifically, they are in the age group of forty five through sixty five. And, the primary cause of much of the debt seems to arise from credit card misuse.
During the past ten or fifteen years, more and more jobs have been disappearing from the job market. Some are disappearing because of efficiencies in the labor force. Less people are generally needed to do the same job as someone did fifteen years ago.
Another sector of jobs have disappeared because their jobs have been shipped overseas. Our manufacturing base has virtually vanished. And, in the professional marketplace, many jobs have disappeared due to outsourcing.
Hiring a computer tech, database administrator, and software support are much cheaper when you outsource them to companies in India or China. And, when companies cut their workforce, they typically start with those making the larger salaries. And this, not surprisingly, is mostly the group of workers in the baby boomer age group.
So, as many of these baby boomers are laid off, because of their age, they find it harder to find replacement work. If they can get an interview with a prospective employer at all, they quickly find that they are either over qualified for the position or are not trained in the newer technology that has come to the business workplace.
In addition, many employers are wary of hiring older workers because they believe that they might incur more health costs due to their age. So, legal or not, real age discrimination is at work in the marketplace.
And when the baby boomers do manage to find work, it is almost always at a fraction of what they were making in their previous job. As a result, in order to survive, they begin to dip deeper and deeper into their savings. And as the savings disappear, they find themselves putting more and more of their essentials on credit cards.
Eventually, without enough income coming in, they begin to fall behind on their credit card payments. And, suddenly, they find themselves at a crisis point where the only way out is to fie for bankruptcy. So, unfortunately, as baby boomers begin to reach retirement age, many are finding it much more difficult to survive than they imagined.
If you pore through many of the more recent studies that track court filings, you will see that more than forty percent of all consumers who file for bankruptcy are baby boomers. Specifically, they are in the age group of forty five through sixty five. And, the primary cause of much of the debt seems to arise from credit card misuse.
During the past ten or fifteen years, more and more jobs have been disappearing from the job market. Some are disappearing because of efficiencies in the labor force. Less people are generally needed to do the same job as someone did fifteen years ago.
Another sector of jobs have disappeared because their jobs have been shipped overseas. Our manufacturing base has virtually vanished. And, in the professional marketplace, many jobs have disappeared due to outsourcing.
Hiring a computer tech, database administrator, and software support are much cheaper when you outsource them to companies in India or China. And, when companies cut their workforce, they typically start with those making the larger salaries. And this, not surprisingly, is mostly the group of workers in the baby boomer age group.
So, as many of these baby boomers are laid off, because of their age, they find it harder to find replacement work. If they can get an interview with a prospective employer at all, they quickly find that they are either over qualified for the position or are not trained in the newer technology that has come to the business workplace.
In addition, many employers are wary of hiring older workers because they believe that they might incur more health costs due to their age. So, legal or not, real age discrimination is at work in the marketplace.
And when the baby boomers do manage to find work, it is almost always at a fraction of what they were making in their previous job. As a result, in order to survive, they begin to dip deeper and deeper into their savings. And as the savings disappear, they find themselves putting more and more of their essentials on credit cards.
Eventually, without enough income coming in, they begin to fall behind on their credit card payments. And, suddenly, they find themselves at a crisis point where the only way out is to fie for bankruptcy. So, unfortunately, as baby boomers begin to reach retirement age, many are finding it much more difficult to survive than they imagined.
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