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I don’t like Burns’s stuff. His voice-overs are soporific – has readers use the same cadence for every line so he can edit it easily & not follow script so he can change it to match re-edited film sequence.
MM – agreed – but perhaps those ads are geared towards folks who are “well to do” and have lived in big cities or suburbs of big cities where naturally they could sell the “big house” and settle down south or in Florida in a retirement village off of the sale of their house….
slopefarm: “…it recounted the tale of Bernard Baruch who apparently sold out before the crash after his shoeshine boy gave him a stock tip. Apparently he said “when shoeshine boys are giving stock tips, it’s time to get out.” Any of you finance types know how true/apocryphal that story is?”
I have heard that EXACT same story for Joe Kennedy and J. Pierpont Morgan. Possibly others. There are so many people who have been inserted into this story I think it must be apocryphal.
“American middle class expectations about retirement are ridiculous. We are being told that retiring wealthy is what we should expect.”
I hate to go there again, but I have to agree with Lech again. If you watch the commercials on tv, see print ads in newspapers and magazines, the baby boom generation is primed to believe that retirement means a new house on a bay somewhere, or you and your spouse walking hand in hand through some exotic foreign city. That’s not the expectation of a regular retirement fund, that’s the result of some big time savings, maybe even a bump up in lifetime income levels.
Now Dave is also right, that only comes with diligent savings and investment, but the IMPRESSION, not the reality given, is that anyone, especially those of middle class means, will be able to live like that, and that is just not true.
I don’t like Burns’s stuff. His voice-overs are soporific – has readers use the same cadence for every line so he can edit it easily & not follow script so he can change it to match re-edited film sequence.
MM – agreed – but perhaps those ads are geared towards folks who are “well to do” and have lived in big cities or suburbs of big cities where naturally they could sell the “big house” and settle down south or in Florida in a retirement village off of the sale of their house….
gemini, have you any idea what SS will pay you a month???
no retirement here – bankin on getting a sweet wal-mart job
slopefarm: “…it recounted the tale of Bernard Baruch who apparently sold out before the crash after his shoeshine boy gave him a stock tip. Apparently he said “when shoeshine boys are giving stock tips, it’s time to get out.” Any of you finance types know how true/apocryphal that story is?”
I have heard that EXACT same story for Joe Kennedy and J. Pierpont Morgan. Possibly others. There are so many people who have been inserted into this story I think it must be apocryphal.
ATTENTION:
For all of you who are accostomed to purchasing your weekly drugs at Gowanus Houses, you need to find new suppliers. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
“American middle class expectations about retirement are ridiculous. We are being told that retiring wealthy is what we should expect.”
I hate to go there again, but I have to agree with Lech again. If you watch the commercials on tv, see print ads in newspapers and magazines, the baby boom generation is primed to believe that retirement means a new house on a bay somewhere, or you and your spouse walking hand in hand through some exotic foreign city. That’s not the expectation of a regular retirement fund, that’s the result of some big time savings, maybe even a bump up in lifetime income levels.
Now Dave is also right, that only comes with diligent savings and investment, but the IMPRESSION, not the reality given, is that anyone, especially those of middle class means, will be able to live like that, and that is just not true.
Slopey, your critique may be true (hadn’t really thought about it in such deep terms as you 🙂 ), but I still really love that Ken Burns’ series.
when I retire, I’ll retire to my crown heights pad. think by that time, it should look like BK Heights – tons of boring old (but rich) retirees