When’s the Right Time to Start Selling?

November 3. 2011 20:03

I am a long time watcher and I just thought I'd stop by and say hello there for the very first time. I truly take pleasure in your posts. Thank you

Madison Mitchen

February 2. 2012 13:36

I'm a boomer (born in 1953) who couldn't afford to finish college (and my parents couldn't afford to pay for it), stayed home to raise my kids so we lived on one income, and got laid off from my part-time job in December 2008. I am painfully aware of how hard things are for my kids' generation (they are 29 and 30) and my husband and I have done our best to help them out, with college, with health insurance, and whatever else came up. We have always lived moderately  no pricey vacations, new cars, big houses for us.
I am NOT happy with the way things have turned out  this is not the world I wanted to give my kids, with wars, racism, sexism, and stupidity in the form of Fox News and teabaggers running rampant, not to mention the devastation that will be wrought by climate change. The one big investment we did put into our house recently was solar panels on the roof, if nothing else but to show other people in our middle-income neighborhood that it was do-able. Unfortunately, so far, nobody else has followed suit, but we did ours right before the economy went into the toilet.
Which, by the way, turned our 401k's into 200 1/2 k's. I sure hope we can get social security, because if we don't we are really screwed. And no, I really don't want to be a burden on my kids.
Just writing this so you know that not everybody in my age group feels "entitled" and happy that the world has gone to shit. I know there are a lot of people out there who feel that "I got mine, screw you"  and some of them are the people my kids' age who work with my husband and voted who for McCain in 2008 because they didn't want that "redistribution of wealth" thing. My husband and I both worked for Obama. Yes, I know Obama's not perfect and there have been many disappointments, but it's better than the alternative would have been.
Characterizing an entire generation as being a certain way is as unfair and prejudiced as characterizing by race or sex. I have heard people complain about the younger generation, because their kids have made bad choices, screwed up, and acted irresponsibly, and have a sense that everybody owes them everything and nothing is their own fault.. I remind them that not all younger people are that way. My own kids have worked hard, gone to school, faced really tough conditions, and come out on the other side admirable human beings. They don't feel entitled to anything, and they just want to make the world a better place. I know a lot of their friends who are the same, who strive under adverse conditions faced with an uncertain future. I am immensely proud of all of them.
So just know that some of us boomers are just as unhappy as anyone about the current state of affairs. None of us is perfect, but there are a lot of us who did not turn out to be selfish fucks and weren't the ones driving the car off the cliff.|

robert shumake