WE THE PEOPLE … (OF A CERTAIN AGE)
How we boomers live out our remaining years may very well influence how effectively our country and our planet outlive us.
One book from my summer reading that sticks in my mind has the very long title, “The Flag, the Cross and the Station Wagon: A Graying American Looks Back at his Suburban Boyhood and Wonders What the Hell Happened.” In the book author Bill McKibben relates how America has changed over the course of his lifetime, a roughly 75-year period of history that parallels this writer’s life.
His essays trace troubling trends in our nation’s rising political polarization (The Flag), a declining religious culture (The Cross), and widening gap between suburbanite “haves’ and inner-city or rural “have-nots” (The Station Wagon). Each of those trends makes up a sobering chapter full of statistics and salient observations about the problematic direction that many of us sense the country has taken.
It’s the book’s shorter final chapter devoted to “People of a Certain Age” to which this writer can particularly relate. McKibben contends that affluent baby boomers should bear responsibility for assisting younger generations dealing with the mess we’re in. The deteriorating environment, warming planet, and growing economic disparity all point to a significant problem, one to which we boomers have undeniably contributed.
One piece of good news is that over our lifetimes, baby boomers have accumulated a huge share of our nation’s wealth. According to a recent report from the American Association of Retired People (AARP), in 2020 nearly 22 million Americans 55 years of age or older had a net worth of $1.0 million or more, At a minimum, we hold $22 trillion in national wealth. That’s the money we have put into our homes, pension plans and individual stock and bond retirement accounts.
And that’s just the lower end of estimated boomer wealth; many are millionaires several times over. To put those numbers in perspective, boomer wealth is roughly three times the entire US federal government’s 2022 fiscal year budget; about equal in value to the US 2021 gross national product; and half the $46.0 trillion valuation of 2021 US stock market assets.
That’s not a trivial amount of assets.
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Boomers today have a range of options from which they can choose to make a difference with our money during and after our lifetimes. Among them:
Aligning our investments with our values. Consider sitting down with an investment broker to scrub our asset accounts of equities in firms whose products or services include fossil fuel extraction and use, gambling, guns, tobacco, private prisons, or those with low objectively measured corporate social environmental, social or governance scores. Also worthy of consideration are “green” mutual funds that perform equally well or better than their market benchmarks, even some with relatively low management costs and fees. Finally, many environmental and social justice organizations offer charitable remainder trust annuities that provide income while we live, and then assure that our savings go to good causes after we’re gone.
Applying pocketbook politics. Patronize green firms. Today, it’s easy to access online directories of environmentally friendly products manufacturers and service providers. Increasing numbers of such firms have gotten on board with steps to become carbon neutral. Just watch out for ‘green washing’ by firms which claim environmental creds when none are really there!
Bundling together experiences and material gifts for meaningful giving. Go “gramping” with the grandkids on eco-vacations, where they can get exposed to conservationists who can sensitize them to the fragility of living creatures and the delicate habitats on which they, and all of us, depend. Or gift them books, games, or puzzles about wildlife and nature conservation. Also consider donations in grandkids’ names to organizations providing, say, laying hens, milk cows, or breeding pigs to farmers in countries like Somalia or Haiti. In addition to transferring a little of our wealth to impoverished families in other lands, the practice sensitizes our new generations to the importance of helping those in other lands to survive, even to thrive.
Focusing our grouchiness. There are also opportunities for grouchy grandpa and meddling grandma to prod their kids and kids’ kids into being environmental and social activists. Over dinner, when grandkids come home from college for the holidays, start asking. “Are you and your classmates pressing your school to divest its endowment funds from fossil fuels or at least increase its share of investments in renewables? Let us know because it’s a good way to urge your schools to support socially responsible investment of their donors’ bequests.”
Practicing legacy peddling. Aside from the very wealthy who donate to our alma mater to have buildings named after them, explore opportunities legacy giving that supports academic programs that reflect our values. Scholarship funds for degrees in social and environmental fields are one obvious destination not just at the university level but also for trade schools, particularly for promising at-risk kids from low-income households.
Reaching out from the grave. Finally, set up an irrevocable trust with assets that your heirs can manage that directs a share of its interest and dividend income towards beneficiaries like environmental organizations, groups supporting at-risk youth in education and employment. And make your kids the trustees. Maybe, just maybe, such stewarded giving will serve as an example for them to emulate.
These are a few of the options for putting our country back on a sustainable pathway toward broad-based prosperity. And none of them require us to make dramatic lifestyle adjustments that preclude us from enjoying a secure and comfortable living out our golden years.
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While it’s feasible to tap some of those trillions of boomer dollars for such causes, to be realistic there are some cultural, political, and economic headwinds confronting boomers willing considering how much of their accumulated wealth they can afford to addressing our nation’s and planet’s needs. Among those headwinds:
A swollen sense of entitlement. Many of us boomers are comfortably and tenaciously ensconced in a mindset of “I’ve earned it, so now I’m going to enjoy it.” This writer has seen a reflection of that mindset in the “We’re spending our kid’s inheritance” bumper stickers on campers and mobile homes stopped at highway rest areas. Examples of indulgent boomer lifestyles include what many of us consider retirement indulgences like second-home vacation properties, exotic recreational travel and cruises, luxury senior living communities, and pampering our kids and grandkids with stuff. Practicing frugality into retirement is hard; but the urgency to do so should be a driving force.
Illiquid assets. Boomers have much of our accumulated savings tied up in illiquid assets. They are often house-rich and cash-poor. Seniors often want to age in place, in the homes and communities where they raised their families. That’s understandable. However, it constrains the ability to transition to retirement lifestyles.
The high costs of growing old. The everyday demands of aging work against seniors’ taking steps to re-allocate their wealth toward addressing our nation’s and our planet’s needs. Anxieties of outliving our savings make many of us overly conservative donors to needy causes. Add to that the amounts of money boomers spend on medical interventions and medications to address the afflictions of aging bodies.
Despite these headwinds, we people of a certain age still have both abundant financial resources and personal perspectives that can help posterity restore and sustain the environment and society we’ve enjoyed.
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Finally, our generation can point to success stories during our lifetimes that should make us confident that we can facilitate more accomplishments in the future. Consider a few positive advances we’ve lived through.
On the environmental front:
The application of fuel efficiency standards that are gradually weaning American drivers from gas-guzzling vehicles;
Measures to restore the quality of our rivers and waterways by regulating the industrial, agricultural and urban waste;
Adoption and enforcement of national standards and international treaties to reduce acid rain and restore atmospheric ozone;
The global banning of DDT in response to awareness of the ‘silent spring’ endangered wildlife.
On the political, economic and social fronts:
Internationally, the founding of global organizations aimed at resolving disputes and preventing open conflict through dialogue and negotiation; formation of international institutions to transfer of financial resources and technical know-how to emerging developing nations – think, the green revolution in agriculture which prevented starvation of millions.
And domestically, ongoing work on restoring and protecting human rights and civil liberties; and technological advances in manufacturing, transportation, medicine, and communications on which cleaner industries are now base
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In 2076, a little more than a half-century away, America will celebrate its tri-centennial. Steps we boomers take now can help our progeny achieve a nation worthy of a 300-year celebration. It’s even within our nation’s grasp to restore its carbon footprint to what it was when America started its second century as a country. It’s an achievable and worthy goal.
Our baby boomer generation is anything but anachronistic and irrelevant in setting a course of action for the future direction of our nation and the planet. Our hold on much of the nation’s purse strings ensures we can bring about change, either wisely or foolishly, if we decide and engage to do so. We have the financial resources to begin the restorative process as well as entrust future generations with the financial capacity for responsible stewardship of our planet and society.
We’re still relevant.
So, people of a certain age! Let’s get busy at examining how we can adjust our lifestyles and boost our planet saving bequests! How we live out our remaining years may very well determine how well our country and our planet outlive us. ###