Boomers, 1946-1946 roughly speaking, had mostly nice, cushy lives, their benefits and standings in life owing very little to their own efforts. They were, wrote The Economist last year, "the luckiest generation in history."
Insert anger and outrage.
Most of the cohort, which numbers 270m across the rich world, have not fought wars. Some got to see the Beatles live. They grew up with strong economic growth. Not all are rich, but in aggregate they have amassed great wealth, owing to a combination of falling interest rates, declining housebuilding and strong earnings.
Now in retirement, having, you know, comfortably ridden the wave of stock market and housing booms, what are they doing with their exorbitant wealth?
The question matters for more than just suppliers of cruises and golf clubs. Boomers have deep pockets, so their spending choices will exert a huge influence on global economic growth, inflation and interest rates. And it turns out boomers are remarkably stingy—not just in America but across the rich world.
They are not spending their wealth, but trying to preserve or even increase it. The big question for the economy in the 2020s and 2030s will not be why boomers are spending so much, as many had anticipated. It will be why they are spending so little.
Some pretty insane stats there too: Boomers, 20% of population, own 52% of its net wealth.
Where is the inequality crowd on this?!
Also, this thesis has been in the works for a while but I haven't seen much on Pradhan/Goodhart recently:
A growing number of free-spending boomers will demand goods and services from a shrinking pool of workers, leading to high wage inflation. As boomers shift from accumulating wealth to spending it, the global balance between savings and investment will shift, leading to higher interest rates, suggest Charles Goodhart and Manoj Pradhan, perhaps the most famous proponents of this view.
These topics aren't unrelated to the baby gap (#872866).
Many boomers recognise how lucky they are to have accumulated such enormous wealth. They want to pass it on to their children, many of whom are struggling to buy a house or pay school fees.
Eventually, the dudes die, and hand over their outsized wealth to descendants/the government so eventually this all gets corrected huh?
Not so fast:
Many boomers will live to 100 and beyond, meaning lots will spend a third of their lives in retirement. This poses a financial burden, especially for those who may eventually need round-the-clock medical care.
OK, stackers—bring on the anger. Good/bad/unfair/none-of-your-business??
non-paywalled here: https://archive.md/6FvMp