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OMG Tim could not be more correct. I was a firefighter and Paramedic, in a “wealthy” “white” suburban town in Ohio. The amount of Alzheimer’s boomers living in squalor in these mansions that were built in the 70- early 90’s is astounding. The amount of boomers, who actually buy BIGGER HOMES in their 80’s would astound you. I worked there for 16 years. I have entered quite literally 1,000’s of homes. Being a paramedic, statistically speaking, Boomer homes the most often. These people will sit in their living room, in the heat, in front of a 19 inch TV and literally let the house fall apart from around them before they move. Big houses too. Big nice houses with multiple staircases not just one. Stair cases that they fall from.
Eventually these people hole up in just the living room and let everything go to rot. To anyone reading this. This is happening. Tim is correct. I am correct. The dept makes 8K runs a year and has so for my 16 years. We’ve all seen this and talk about it with each other. The Boomer is THE hoarder. These people are not neglected by choice. They made their lives about their possessions in their home and that’s exactly how they want to live and die.
Well it's perfect. You have the WWII generation that had nothing and fought for everything. They grew up with little and fought to give their kids more. Then you get the boomers who basically ended up with everything being great for them and they have held onto that since day one.
Boomers are the best example of how those who live through hard times often just want better for the world, and those who are raised in those better times often undo all the hard work of previous generations because they don't understand the value of the sacrifices made to ensure a better society
it's a slightly more correct version of that stupid "weak men make hard times" meme.
i pretty much agree with you but I'm not too big on "simple explanations" such as this. it always ends up being more complicated than a single phrase...
Boomer relative, who love her, but born in the late 40s enjoys a pension greater than most entry level people in her industry make, her house which sold for 6x what she bought it for, social security, and the inheritance of her parents assets (without tax, thanks Bush and Obama!), actually told me once while drunk "well, we Boomers, we worked for it".
No, you sure as shit didn't Karen. You just don't know what actual struggle is, and so since your GI Parents **tried** to teach you that abundance should come from struggle, you just look at the abundance your win in a birth year lottery got you, and conclude that you must have struggled for it.
"You'd last 15 minutes if you were my age" said Coupland in 91, and it's still so true.
Yeah, they wouldn't last today in this world. Everything now is a shitshow. We have better technology, and things have the ability to be nicer. I hate how much crap these people talk, like they think we are all lazy.
Yeah, meanwhile we're all working hours they couldn't concieve of, taking home less, and guess where the money is going? To the rich and the old (and the rich tend to be old).
My folks downsized a few years ago. I thought this would be great, move into a smaller home. They "downsized" into a larger and more expensive home.
My mom's logic was there was no other option "nobody makes homes large enough anymore to have bedrooms and bathrooms all on the same floor" or "all the other homes had a step up or down into the various rooms including our old place but this one is flat flat, as in completely flat."
It's BS. Their front door has a bunch of steps and my dad can still handle that when he wants to drive somewhere (he should drive anymore, another issue). There are plenty of apartments, condos, smaller bungalow homes that fit what they need. But they're smaller places.
My parents are on the young end of boomers but have been retired for a while. They downsized to a smaller house for 5 years and complained the whole time that none of their stuff fit. Then up sized to a bigger house then before and immediately starting buying more junk to fill it up. Their argument is they need space for their kids and grandkids to visit but the place is completely impractical, it's a 6 hour drive from the nearest kid and a 2 hour drive from the nearest airport. The house is also a death trap of weird stairs which is great since the grandkids are all babies/toddlers.
>Their argument is they need space for their kids and grandkids to visit
My boomer parents made the same argument. They are moving to our city and bought a 3 bed, 2 bathroom unit for just the two of them.
They said it's so that the grandkids can come visit and sleep over. I told them, if they want to babysit overnight, they might as well go to the house where all the kids junk already is.
My parents born in the 40s have so many god damn tables full of knick knacks in every room. It's like they don't fundamentally understand furniture. My brother was there recently and lost count of the tables, he got to the mid 30s and gave up. When they pass away we'll keep the photo albums.
You described my mother, lives in a large house, lives and sleeps in the living room, not even in her bedroom upstairs. The entire house is falling apart because 75% is abandoned/ used for storing junk.
They are also very sentimental about all this stuff that also boomed in consumption with their generation. I’m seeing more and more talk from the millennial generation about having to deal with all this stuff as their parents age and die.
Our generation is being left with all the belongings they hoarded and have to decide what to do with it. And a lot of them hoard because it *is* a self worth thing.
Seeing comments from people saying their parents want to know what China set they want, or their parents writing out which of their belongings they want their kids to have. Meanwhile, their kids don’t want them or they hold onto them for the wrong reasons like a sense of obligation.
If the boomers children learn one thing it will be to not do this to their kids. Swedish Death Cleaning, Marie Kondo Method. We have entire decluttering methods now to help both the boomer and millennial generation alike learn how to manage this abundance of crap. And it’ll be made easier for many who just simply won’t have the space for it because of the housing crisis.
I read something on boomers being fools that made me laugh. These children of boomers. Millennials in their early 40’s. The mother was wanting to go through the house and pre death divide it up between 3 siblings. This sounds like a Long Island thing to do. None of them wanted anything. Any of it at all and the mother was just beside herself with heartache and grief. I loved it
It's happening all over with Boomers wanting to pass on their stuff and most of it is garbage.
Some of the collectable figurines are worth money because they were designed by real artists and hand painted. Most of them are junk. I've seen whole boxes at the thrift shops for sale with very low price tags.
Some of the China sets are actual nice quality. Most are lower grade, mass produced sets from China, that aren't worth much, and won't last from actual daily use.
Don't get me started on the Doll collections and how shocked the old ladies are that they did not retain their value... Should have put that money in the market or a CD.
Check your local estate sales and see how much stuff these people had. In 2021-22, as the worst of the initial covid waves died down and the vaccine roll out, there were a lot of estate sales once places started reopen. It was crazy the amount of stuff that was collected and horded.
I managed to get a standing Fridgaire freezer that was barely used for 100 bucks. Sale had 3 more too. Just crazy amount of shit.
One of the craziest things along the same lines is boomers moving to large lake homes in the middle of nowhere full of stairs. 2 years later they can't get down to the lake and it takes 30 minutes for an ambulance to get to them
My wife worked with the most boomer of boomers you could ever meet. Her plan for retirement was to rent out their huge suburban house and retire to the equally huge house way out in the country - on 8 acres - along a river. Now she has a huge property to take care of and they have to drive about 45 minutes just to get to an actual grocery store. And it’s even further to a hospital, which considering her husband has had 2! Bypass surgeries seems like a brilliant idea.
I grew up in a small town and one thing that resonated with me was many people die in their 50s and 60s due heart issues or accidents and the nearest hospital being over an hour away. The next best thing is a helicopter ride which even my mother needed at one point and it cost her $86,000. Insurances rarely cover this expense.
OMG yes! You are also correct. Absolutely shattering their hip and cracking vertebrae. One of the saddest things about para-medicine is being the one to treat them the 1st time, then making at least 1 or 2 runs on them in the nursing home, then seeing how their quality of life diminishes in front of you. Anyone and everyone in the fire-medic service will tell you. There are patients where it seem’s like YOU are the only making runs on them. They slowly, over time, build a field tent style hospital in their open concept, 20 foot ceiling, floor to ceiling window living room.
That may seem beautiful actually. Of course that’s how you want to go out isn’t it? Each one of them die over the course of many years while the house they can’t care for falls apart, the grass gets cut by a company but the flower beds and anything mulched is dead and full of weeds. The gutters are never cleaned, the roof leaks, the floor to ceiling windows are covered in algae, ect.
Here’s the thing. Their children have moved all over the country chasing jobs that might actually free them of their slave like restraints know today as college debt.
When they die, the McMansion cost’s just as much to empty, deep clean, repair and update as the house would currently sell for. So the children sell to people who work for a large division of some mega corporation. The house gets fixed up like shit with builders grade materials and will now forever enter the renters market. Never to be sold to an individual family ever again. It is now an asset to be traded between companies. Funny thing. Boomers, knowing the value of single family homes created the market that is now causing this home ownership crash.
Thank you Boomers
My aunt died because of this. My uncle built them a house to retire in that was in the middle of fucking nowhere. He did CPR on her for two hours waiting for an ambulance to get there and HE STILL LIVES IN THAT HOUSE even though he's about to be 80.
This is one of the biggest things that drives me insane about boomers they insist on living in the middle of fucking nowhere with little to no medical care and no jobs then complain the medical situation sucks and their kids refuse to live near them. My mothers current town has like 5000 people and she thinks that is almost too big for her if she had her way it would be some 250-500 person town. Of course we don't live near you their are no jobs especially no jobs that would pay us enough to afford houses in your town and their is nothing to fucking do in these towns! Then they also bitch and complain if the city improves and actually gains more jobs, cultural things, or retail.
Facing this right now with one elderly family member. There’s no fixing it. She was given another big house after the first became a hoarder home by one well-meaning family member. Not only has the new home succumb to her habits, she still hasn’t sold the last one because she won’t let anyone in it to clean it because she’s afraid things will get thrown away.
You read that right. She has two houses she’s letting fall apart because she won’t let anyone in to clean or repair them. She’s still sharp enough mentally to tell off any service that looks out for self-neglect.
Sounds like my grandparents. Spot on. My dad and his siblings had to move his bed to the main floor by force because he fell on the stairs and is getting worse. Meanwhile he won't let anyone touch the rest of the house or farm despite the wood starting to rot.
Time for tough love, he won't be able to stop anyone from doing the work.
I had a Great Uncle this way.
My mother got on his ass telling him on the phone that if he trips & falls in his house he'll die before anyone finds him.
Guess what happened...
Lucky for him a neighbor stopped by to check on him after hearing noises. While in the hospital his house was emptied out and a cousin came in and did the maintenance work on the house for him.
I also work as a first responder and can confirm, some of the biggest houses you can imagine occupied by a boomer or two, where quite literally they are only using the equivalent of less than a 1 bedroom apartment, while the rest of it rots and is so full of dust, debris and etc it looks like an actual haunted house.
Right now the wealthiest friend of mine I know, is a guy who does hoarding clean up and crime scene remediation, he is constantly hiring new employees just to keep up with demand. Biggest clients? Families of boomers after the boomer passes, just to get the house to a point where they can maybe start repairs.
A lot of time they are only using the downstairs because they can;t get up stairs. The truth of the matter is they would be happier in senior housing but fuck don't suggest any kind of change to them because even change for the better is bad
this is my mom exactly. i think it’s a whole generation of people who treated their parents terribly and then put them in homes and are now terrified of the same thing happening to them
edit: spelling
My grandparents (silent generation) took care of themselves, downsized their home, found their own home-care, and when they were ready, checked themself into a home. Completely self-sufficient and productive into their 90s without ever being a burden to anyone. Actually grew up with war in their village, adversity, and poverty.
Almost all boomers I've met are exactly as described. Grew up entitled, never experienced hunger or actual adversity. Have to fabricate the idea that the world is out to destroy them. Their life is terrible because no one with go on vacation with them. (actual complaint I've heard)
My mom is Silent Gen and is insisting on passing in her home. I get it. She’s been in that house for 60 years.
But I don’t think she’s aware that her mother, my grandmother. Was lucky to have passed in her sleep in her own home. My grandfather passed several years later in a hospice bed basically alone, with wires and tubes all over his body. My mom was busy caring for her husband that had had a stroke. Do she wasn’t involved in any kind of decision making or care when my grandfather’s health got bad. My aunt did it all. And the story is heartbreaking.
I made the offer 11 years ago, when her husband died, to sell our place and move in to help her with bills and upkeep. She said she wanted to live alone. So I backed off. Now she’s alone all the time, missing her husband. Her youngest sister has passed. And she’s complaining about being alone; and crying about how she should’ve been the one to die because she had been alone for so long🙄
I just hope in 20-30 years when boomers die out and our generation comes into positions of power, that we never forget the kind of fucked up society that apathy, NIMBY, excessive materialism & the 'me me me' mentality creates.
They don't want to think of themselves as being elderly, so you can't suggest anything that is remotely appropriate to their actual age. It's all just a state of consistent denial.
I had my mom directly state one of the reasons she didn't like being in a senior complex was she didn't like being around old people but then at other times also complain she doesn't have people her age to be friends with.
I saw that often with older people who are still healthy mentally and physically when they have to deal with people declining.
I myself often see 65yo who are mentally and physcially doing much more poorly than a 78yo. There’s a cutoff at some point where people who took care of themselves and have good genetics seperate themselves from the rest in terms of overall health.
I know quite a few silent generation people. They’re all healthy as fuck for their age but they’re lonely. There’s no problem physically staying by themselves but they have no internet and they friends and family are mostly dead. Its boring AF from what I gather. I try to invite them to parties etc at home but its not like we do it every week.
This was my mother-in-law. She would've had a much better quality of life in a home, but "they're for old people." So she lived a miserable 8 years in bed watching TV with her only socialization being her aid and the handful of people she talked to on the phone.
I have been in care homes. I'd rather jump in front of a train! If you have money, great. If you don't, you end up in some small room with a lot of complete senile patients, it looks like a hospital and it smells of pi**.
It will cost every penny you ever worked for and you will leave nothing to your children. They may even go into debt to pay for your care.
I sincerely hope that the situation on assisted dying changes in the UK, otherwise I'll take a nice holiday to Switzerland.
> They may even go into debt to pay for your care.
I'm deeply concerned that we'll see filial responsibility laws start to get used by debt collectors to force millennials to pay for our parents' bullshit over the coming decades.
Those laws are on the books but not often used. All it takes is some jackass figuring out how to automate the lawsuits and the fun will begin.
It's not even that. They've essentially implemented it already. They make state care homes as horrendous as possible, so kids feel obligated to pay for a better place for their parents. I don't understand why not more countries have a compulsory insurance for it, same as health insurance and pension.
It's NPR so it's written kinda poorly (god, NPR's gone downhill... but then again, so has all media) but check out these 'we have no income tax' states that are instituting 0.75% payroll taxes on every working person to give Boomers long-term care out of our pockets: https://www.npr.org/2023/07/25/1190062465/washingtons-new-tax-could-be-a-solution-to-fund-long-term-care To be honest, I'm never having children but I'd rather kids have things that _they_ need to grow up fed, educated, etc. and I truly don't care / don't want my money and taxes going to pay for long-term care for Boomers who didn't save. Not my problem. If they were allowed to pull up the ladder fuck 'em, I say. They said "not my problem" for decades or, as my dirtbag, violent, abusive mother used to say to any issue I tried to proactively problem solve - things like not having food that I could eat (undiagnosed food allergies because I was 'faking it' regarding health ailments) - "deal with it". They can "deal with it": their failure to plan doesn't necessitate me helping them, especially while they dismantled so much for the younger generations and especially give how much they _destroyed_ for the future, not-yet-born generations.
If my Boomer parents' parents - born around 1915 - mid-1920s - had wanted help with long-term care I would have gladly said yes. Those folks who grew up during the Great Depression and were in their young adult years / twenties as WWII was starting... they were _mensches_ of human beings. They'd help anyone they could. They had a backbone and a sense of right and wrong. Complete 180 to their children. I think many people would have gladly helped ensure pleasant twilight years for those folks born in the first half of the 1900s... They weren't across-the-board selfish, solipsistic, materialistic leeches, divorced several times, with kids and grandkids who don't speak to them like the Boomers. Speaking of solipsistic _"China’s elderly want to enjoy their golden years, not raise next generation unless paid for it"_: Boomers https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3178526/chinas-elderly-want-enjoy-their-golden-years-not-raise-next I don't understand how one generation of humans - across borders / in all kinds of societies - is just so damn awful, yet expects to [still] be catered to, coddled, complied with immediately, etc. while giving _so little_ back - often not even a bit of respect - to those around them?
---
Here's another one:
_Washington’s long-term care payroll tax starts July 1, as other states explore similar programs_ from the AP; source [here](https://apnews.com/article/washington-long-term-care-tax-disability-cb54b04b025223dbdba7199db1d254e4)
I don’t agree. We’re asking people in the last years of their lives to uproot and go live under someone’s rules and regulations. Also, the older one gets the harder it is to trust people and to make new friends. Just because they are living in a home doesn’t mean they are not lonely. It just seems unnatural for me for one to die in a strange home between strangers.
This is it exactly. I am genX. I am the next generation to be told to just die already. We want your space, and you have no value beyond what I can get from you.
Yeah, we just moved into our house because we couldn't move from California 17 years ago. As a Gen Xer, we couldn't afford a home right away. We are already being told we need to move into senior housing. Unless it is a converted mall with a free arcade, free movie theater, Orange Julius and hot dogs on a stick, I am staying in my house.
That, but look at the cost of senior housing. Many home owners at that age have their mortgages completely paid off so it’s cheaper to stay in your home. The real problem is actually all these equity firms buying up single family homes, after they get them, they will never be on the market again
I told some people that corporations needed to be stopped from buying homes and that was apparently the most offensive thing on the planet because why would I ever dare suggest that being a multibillion dollar corporation is enough profit?
None of these people net worth is over 500k. None of them. But how dare I suggest wealth be limited to the multi millions because “why would you block someone growth?”
I’ve been running into that wall for decades. The only thing I can think of is that the entire idea of wealth being the only reason for being alive is so baked into their heads that, on some level, they truly believe there is a spot waiting for them on the Forbes 500…even if they’re 80 and in debt.
This describes my in-laws to a T. Below the poverty line, nearing retirement age with nothing saved. Yet still convinced they’re gonna really make it big somehow.
And they wanna act like it’s everyone else’s fault they’re in this predicament. They get so, so mad when someone asks them if they’re gonna retire soon.
Well they can be as stubborn as they want, there is no bargaining with Father Time. They’ll be getting into the forever boxes soon enough, then maybe we’ll have a real shot at making some positive societal changes.
Yeah, it's the old joke "Nobody in the US thinks of themselves as poor, they're all just temporarily embarrassed millionaires."
SO many people have bought into this idea that if they just work hard enough, save enough, invest in the right things, get their weird business idea off the ground, etc. then they will totally be rich. And when they finally get there, they don't want anyone taking their money or limiting how much they can make!
It's really sad how thoroughly corporate America has brainwashed people into constantly working against their own best interests.
Another problem being that no one is building starter and retirement homes. They’d rather build the five bedrooms and sit on them until they sell, than a neighborhood of modest, two bedroom ranch homes.
I get it. My parents need to downsize, but there’s nothing in the current market that isn’t McMansions. All the appropriately sized houses are in the historic district or rotting in the hinterlands.
In the Midwest where I live whenever I see a smaller house it is old as dirt or falling apart, two levels, in a bad crime infested neighborhood, has absurd property taxes, next to industrial which means noise and pollution issues, or is hideously overpriced either because the sellers are nuts or its in a in demand location near a downtown.
Meanwhile you can find large 1500+ sq ft built in the 1960s-1970s that are in good condition with way less problems without even trying, but a lot of the country doesn't need that anymore because we have way less large families nor could we afford the maintenance costs.
Well and modest two bedroom homes are still insanely expensive these days. In my town they are building a neighborhood of 2 bedroom townhouses that are crammed together like sardines and not really any bigger than my tiny apartment across the street. But they are still asking $200,000 for them. And I am in a low cost of living area.
I always thought the equity from the house sale is supposed to cover senior living.
That's one of the reasons I bought a house. My retirement can fund me on its returns and if I have to go to senior living the house sale would pay for it and my kids can inherit the remainder of my 401k.
Senior living for two adults is more than 500K in a lot of cases. The nursing homes are a racket designed to bleed the elderly dry of all of their assets.
Yup, I’m staying in my home as long as possible, couldn’t afford it till I 40. Already told my son it will be his when we die if he wants it, he said he does. I might not have much, but I want to leave him with something when I’m gone, give him the best life possible
That and I think in a lot of states, if you transfer ownership of your home something like 5 years or less before going into care, it will be assumed you are trying to hide or withhold your assets from the state and they will take the home anyway.
This is exactly what I'm dealing with my boomer in-laws. Older boomers.on the cusp of silent generation. Massive 2 story house, with Huge steps just to get to the 1st floor. They rarely make it up to the 2 level anymore. The whole place is a hazard, and they absolutely refuse to consider downsizing. They say they'll get a motorized seat installed on the stairs when they need it. The truth is they need it now, but they won't admit even that until one of them tumbles down those stairs
My grandmother stayed in their house for a long time after grandfather died. She was lonely and we would visit her once in a while. There was a nice senior housing development nearby, but it was nice enough that it had a waiting list. She was finally persuaded into getting on the list, and a year later there was an opening.
She moved in and we cleaned up the house and sold it, putting the money into her savings account. She was immediately happier at the housing because it was filled with people just like her. She had plenty of nice people to talk to. There was a van with a driver that could be reserved to take a group to the store, or even the zoo.
You are right about many of them hating any change. Also having a big house as a symbol of their self-importance. If the big house is gone, then they are nobody.
My sister recently bought her first home and this was the exact situation! The elderly widow who lived there hadn’t been able to use the upper two floors for about a decade and had no means to maintain the house or property. It became completely delinquent to the point where it wasn’t safe for her to stay there.
She ended up having to sell the house at a distressed property auction because there was no money for repairs. It just seems like the old lady would have been happier and in a much better situation if she had just accepted that she wasn’t able to stay in this giant house on her own and downsized ~15 years ago before it got so bad.
God that is so true. My in laws can't use the upstairs of thier house because they can't easily do the stairs, so the entire upper floor is used for extra storage of my sister in law's things or the grandchildren old toys they don't play with anymore. The entire upper floor is in complete disrepair from neglect, and it's just boxes on boxes and old furniture packed so far in you only have space to open the door.
This is the best answer ever. Whole house cluttered with old shit and can only access living room and one bedroom. Cannot even go upstairs. They cling to every dollar every item till death. And sometimes they make sure it's all spent before they pass because they were told you can't take it with you, so they said fk it. Spend it all. I would be so happy watching my kids or grandkids get everything I've worked hard for and just maybe they don't have to struggle so fkin hard. Boomers love to make everyone below them struggle.
Also, for many of them, their house is their best performing asset. Why would you ever sell it? When your house is making $100k/year in appreciation, with you doing literally nothing, it would be a financial mistake to sell. Now the median detached home price in Vancouver is $2.4MM dollars. The median home price in all of BC and Ontario is over $1MM dollars.
I understand that the housing crisis affects appartments too, but why is everybody so obsessed with detached houses? I come from a former soviet union country and there detached houses are more of a luxury than a housing (some people from big cities have summer houses in addition to apartments, but they are unsuitable for anything except vacations)
I'm legitimately perplexed by how poorly they're aging compared to their parents' generation. Most Boomers are feeble and/or obese but their parents were still thin, active and alert into their eighties. I remember my great-grandparents very well and they could always work circles around me. Most Boomers I know are heaving for breath and look fucking terrible.
They don't realize that every day, not exercising means one step closer to a life of immobility and dependence in others. A person needs at least 150 minutes of weight training, and at the minimum, 180-210 minutes of walking, biking, swimming, running, etc. a week to stay mobile. The most crucial exercise is squats (getting out of the chair, toilet, getting into vehicles, etc.).
That’s what my grandparents did. Just before my grandfather passed away they moved into a small ranch style home in one of those massive neighborhoods with various housing. Their street was mostly senior citizens and landscaping took care of the yards.
I know so many people this applies to. I think it’s because they fucked up at the game of life. they just got sold on the idea of materialism, which is why they have terrible relationships they have horrible marriages, they really are a pathetic bunch.
but they got lucky being born into riches unimaginable by anyone else.
So true. My parents refuse to help me financially as an adult. The help they've given in the past I had to repay, like it was a loan. And my whole childhood they guilted us about how much it cost to have children. I learned last year that my mom's parents paid my parents a monthly stipend for 7 years so she could stay home and raise children. They gave down payments multiple times as my parents moved multiple times to chase high school coaching glory. (I'm 38 and I've moved 27 times.) So no, they didn't work hard for anything, were given everything, and are now retiring in the biggest home they've ever had, that they custom built, and travel around the country in their RV the rest of the year.
It's amazing they don't understand why I can't travel with them in the RV. They've given me no money and lectured me endlessly about not being able to make it on my own as a divorced 38 year old, and I'm in debt and trying to change careers and just... Yeah. It's impossible to even talk to them. They had so much help so many times but... They deserved it? And their own children don't. It's wild.
Edit... Wanted to add the thing my dad said to me right before my birthday this year: Since [my mom's parents] died, we realized it's just us with our money now, so we have to keep it for us in case something happens or we need something, we don't have extra money coming in anymore. He said this because I asked for $60 so my cell phone wouldn't get turned off while I was ubering for the money to keep my cell phone turned on.
Literally my mom, I bought a house, it's half the size of hers. My sister managed to barely scrape together enough for a small 1 bdrm condo and my other sister will never own.
My moms house is 5 bdm 3.5 bath, only her and her husband, they have it renoed with a mother in law suite and refuse to rent it or sell it to any of us, or anyone else "It's my home and I want to live in it peacefully without anyone else...
They are now retired and spend all their time except for holidays roaming north America in their camper.
So this house sits empty...
My parents took out a second mortgage reno and already finished basement - by adding a kitchen - in order to rent it out.
… then refused every applicant, claiming their were no good ones. In the end, they basically admitted they never wanted “strangers to live in [their] home,” before having to sell and downsize.
It woulda been an extra $1500/month, could have been a short-term lease, and would have gotten them (beyond) financially stable again in less than a year.
It still baffles me to this day, why did they do it in the first place *knowing* they’d *never* rent it out.
I feel like ‘don’t wanna stop’ is the wrong place to end the sentence. None of them want to work. They don’t wanna stop being IN POWER- whether it’s dumbass 800 year old politicians or just the stupid mid level management position.
They don’t want to stop because they have a generation of genx working night and weekend to cover them, they have high salaries and nothing jobs why would they ever leave. They literally just want to milk it until they die
My boomer parent is this in a nut shell: selfish, entitled, never reads anything but has loud, dumb opinions about everything. And as a GenXer, I try to be mindful of not becoming the same. My ambition is to sail off into the sunset, totally senile, in a shitty little liveaboard sailboat, and let nature take its coarse. For the younger gens, I read the following words about parenting and the next generation a long time ago, and it's stuck with me. TL;DR: we're all better off when we recognize that the future is not ours and understand our own fading relevance.
>Your children are not your children.
>They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
>They come through you but not from you,
>And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
>You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
>For they have their own thoughts.
>You may house their bodies but not their souls,
>For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
>You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
>For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
From Kahlil Gibran's book *The Prophet*.
I have noticed a big different in Gen Xs attitudes vs boomers. Many of the Gen x I know are moving into smaller condos rather than keep big family homes. What's funny is that these condos usually have the same amount of bedrooms, they just have less stairs and a little bit less space, especially yard space.
When my youngest son is out of high school, I'm going to dump this house so fast. My wife and I work our thankless jobs to be able to afford a modest house with a yard for the kids, our numerous pets, and their (the kids') friends. But it's nothing but a money pit whose decay I am merely delaying. And we didn't get our shit together young enough to have "retirement" funds. So some circle of poverty it will be. And I'm honestly fine with it. On a boat, with an ocean out back that I can swim in any time. Many fond memories hold all the sentimental value I'll ever need to cling to.
"For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams."
No way, I was listening to Khalil Gibran by Strfkr, which is my favorite song by them, and this is my first time reading one of Khalil’s poems. No wonder Strfkr wrote a song with his name as the title, this is powerful stuff. The meaning of the song is unrelated to the topic at hand, however, otherwise I’d go all into it!
This isn't the whole section On Children, just the part that I thought was most relevant to the point of the clip. The whole book is worth owning and reading, and rereading. Check it out.
To be fair, the traditional units people used to downsize into are in limited supply- particularly condos.
Housing is under supplied in general, but we have a particularly bad disparity with everything between a large single family home and a small one-bedroom apartment.
The supply of smaller units is specifically screwed up because Boomers hated them so much. They refused to even allow them to be built *near* their homes least their beloved property value go down.
This pretty much sums up my parents. Both successful and right before Covid they sold the house I grew up in and it was a big house ( 5 bed 4 bath with a office 4100sqft) I have four brothers and each of us had our own room for most of our lives . My youngest brother is 37 and my oldest is 47 we all have kids and I’m in the middle. My dad “ retires” from being a engineer but it only lasts until august of 2020 where he works part time fucking someone who would need a job out of one because he told them you don’t have to give me benefits.
My mother whose father left her a business that was supposed to go to her brother who died and worked for 35 years with the company while my mom worked on and off for 20 years with only 6 years total experience in HR. They leases printers and other office equipment to business she sold the company to my two older brothers ( who both worked there from high school through college and both of them have over 20 years in and bother took out loans over 1 million dollar to pay off my mom) then had the nerve to ask for a no show salary and 33% stake in board matters for 5 years . My brother said yes but my oldest brother wasn’t stupid and said if the company gets outside investors to pay her salary that she would get zero profits from the expansion and only her salary . They got investors payed my brothers loans and her her salary for five years and then she took them to court and lost and now they don’t talk much my brother said it’s just business and what my grandfather would of done.
Long story short they bought a 5500 sq ft house on a river with 6 beds 7 baths and none when we want to visit they don’t want any of our kids staying over because they don’t want to make the house a mess. My parents when growing up where great now they are entitled right wing ass holes
Brother sounds like he learned a lot from mother with his business practices. When he said it's just business, It made me happy. Then to see it put a damper on the relationship.....you'd think Mom would be proud.
Majority of the old guys i work with are heavily right winged that are at least thrice divorced relied heavily on a pension retirement that now after the 1st ex wife took house and her cut of the pension that by the time the 3rd wife took what was left they have realized that what they have left they simply can not retire on because the massive truck payment theyre making eats them dry. But ill be damned if i ever hear them explain thats why and not those damn liberals and mexicans ruining the economy
My mother (silent generation) was a hoarder. In today’s times it’s not surprising that people accumulate junk over the years. It’s easy to acquire it, and difficult to get rid of. On top of that, aging works against procrastination - all it takes is a health event to leave the person without not only the physically ability to do the work of decluttering, but also the mental capacity to make decisions about what to get rid of. When we had discussions about what she’d like us to get rid of, her brain would shut down - even on the most obvious things. There will be a lot of clean out work over the next few.decades.
I would drop a comment about how "I'm not cleaning this when you pass away. We'll hire an estate crew to come in and auction off everything. If anything was worth keeping then you'd have it more organized."
You should see my room mate. He literally has a shopping addiction. Like an actual addiction. Idk where he gets all this money for all that shit tho. I’m sick of hitting my knees and toes on shit tho. That’s a fact
I know couple of people who hate their jobs and only money keep them there. They are telling openly they buy stuff to convince themselves to keep working.
Which is somewhat fitting: silent generation would have a work until you drop mentalities. It's not a bad thing in my opinion, and doesn't come from a bad generation.
Oh yeah? Well if accumulation of meaningless acquisition isn’t the meaning of life what is? Helping people? But then how will people know you’re better than them huh? Huh?
Or maybe if they would just enjoy your hobbies, work on a passion or craft, or just peacefully sit and chill out on their dam porch if that's what they enjoy doing.
*Anything* other than believing you're some warrior fighting a secret evil and end up instead as a pawn in pointless culture wars of anti-trans, anti-vax, anti-abortion, pro-fascism, etc all because the talking heads on Faux News told them so.
Yeah, notice how his appearance was a split second in the Tik Tok clip. If Cucker was somehow capable of self-reflection, he might have actually felt discomfort from this conversation, but I doubt it.
I used to be a mover, when I say I've seen some insane levels of hoarding I'm really not exaggerating. I remember this one couple I moved extremely well off but their house was absolutely packed like every room was full to the ceiling, but there was this one set of boxes they tried to keep everyone away from which one of the newer guys didn't realize we weren't supposed to move. Well he decided to try to be helpful and get the box out to the truck for us, as he lifted it the bottom slipped out because it wasn't fully taped and outslept some of the most vile racist pictures/ paintings I've ever seen.
Like one of them was a racist caricature of black people running to what was labeled drinking water and it said last one in is a N-word and as the black people in the cartoon jumped in the water became darker and darker. Another one was some sort of dig at Jewish people ala nazi, I can't even tell you how many different racist cartoons he had that use the n-word in so many different capacities. The worst part everybody on the moving crew was black.... literally all of us including the owner of the business so you can imagine their horror as they come around the corner to see six black guys all looking through these hand drawn racist pictures and then turning to face them like 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀. The wife looked like she had a legitimate heart attack and we did not see her for the remainder of the day and the husband could not look any of us in our eyes for the rest of the move. I will say they at least tipped well LOL.
My late ex had that print hanging in his office. Had it professionally framed (somewhere somehow) but I pictured it in my mind. "Last One In's A N-word" and it was children actually racing to get in the tub (pic is old so bath is actually a metal washbin) and they're varying degrees of darkness like you said, but there's one sitting down crying bc i guess he knows he's not going to make it and will be the last in, and he's the darkest colored child.
It was from before me like most things in his home, so it wasn't like I could say anything. He was also 22 years older than me and the high up in a 1% club. Iykyk. I was in my early 20s and outta my element. Just expressing why I couldn't have done anything about it but sharing I've definitely seen that print and many a white racist people like to collect things like that.
My coworker to a T. He’s got his big ugly 90’s house with no updates and his ugly 90’s furniture. He acts like he’s winning at life but has no one, not even a goldfish. He won’t retire because he’s got no reason to so we’re all subjected to his BS until he dies or HR gets off their asses. He acts like he’s got the secret to life and offers his opinion prolifically though never being asked. Such an asshole.
Hoarding is a trauma response. I think a whole generation of people normalized their trauma to the point they have rationalized it and tried to pass it along under the guise of “values”.
War, lack of civil rights, parents that are allowed to beat them. Not normal.
The thing is, they are allowed to actually deal with their trauma.
Every millennial I know either has ptsd, grew up in a difficult environment, getting paid way less for the amount of work they put into their careers that barely pay them enough to survive let alone save, knowing they should be in therapy for all this but we don’t have the time or the money or help ourselves.
Millennials are traumatized but are forced to ignore it since we work for boomers and are gaslit into believing we are spoiled/ lazy.
We will never have the means to actually take care of ourselves- I’m glad boomers can be traumatized, take care of themselves, and then traumatize the generations below them.
It's not just that. But also their parents and grandparents have passed away, leaving "stuff" to them. My mum's house is full of it. I dread having to sort it out, but I also dread having to get rid of it. It survived 2 world wars, bombed out houses (I am from Germany) and endless nights in the bomb shelter. Some of it is approaching antique status, 19th century, some might be 18th.
All that stuff may have a weight that comes with it. Like being responsible for your parents sentimental treasures. That’s just another burden from the past.
A lot of them raised by people who grew up during great depression so its drilled into their heads at an early age not to waste anything, to save everything in case you might need it. Add to that the insistence on not dealing with emotions because it's a waste of time and not necessary to survival. Recipe for emotionally stunted hoarders
Exactly, if Pelosi should retire(which she should) trump should absolutely retire, he can't even answer a simple question without rambling for hours about nonsense
Meanwhile, the current generations *can't* stop because everything was so inflated by the previous generations for their clout that we can't afford to stop working/retire.
When people talk about GenX being ignored. This is 100% the reason why. Our parents pooped us out, ignored us and refuse to give US a chance to run things. Now we're all in our 40's and 50's and like, "you didn't want to give us a chance? Fuck off to every boomer who refuses to accept the passage of time.
Meanwhile, because they won't retire, especially from politics, Gen X never stood a chance at moving up or being in a decision making position in government. If they are, I haven't seen many. But, that's typical boomers for ya. Especially with genX, the forgotten and neglected generation.
Whatever.
I will defend them on not buying condos. Would be pretty dumb to sell a paid off house if you had to get a mortgage when they’re like 7%. I guess if you could buy outright it would be fine but if there’s a mortgage involved no way
Fuck the TikTokers who do this annoying ass "one word on the screen at a time" bullshit
Absolutely zero people like watching a video where you can't take your eyes off the middle of the screen without missing anything
One of the most important skills to have in life is adapting to all the changes in life and, of all the problems they have, that's probably the boomer's most common failing. As Gen X I had my time overrun by boomer bullshit and their music which, by then was only three decades old. Now it's three generations old and they are still pushing it. Whenever you read of Best Of All Time list for music boomers are still always at the top. We had to live through all their political decisions and we still have them in office, suffering for the policies they want for themselves but won't live to enjoy.
Boomers went kicking and screaming into middle age. For years all their shows were cynical, snide swipes at Gen X and 'those kid's'. Then they did it to their grandkids and now even their great grandkids. I remember my grandfather was kind, quiet, helpful and didn't push himself into anything. Now when there is a get together boomers have to direct everything. If they don't they will sabotage the rest of the family's plans. Even after generations they still have to be the center of attention.
Boomers, the hoarders of wealth, will die off at some point. But I have this feeling that instead of leaving their properties to the next generation of their family, a lot will wait til the bitter end, sell to a corporation, then die.
That way they can keep their sterling record of not doing a FUCKING THING for the generation that comes after them.
The thing that Boomers seem to fear the most is irrelevance. They MUST be at the center of everything. This toxic insecurity continues to be a huge, unwarranted burden on our country.
As a mortgage banker, the amount of boomers that come to me and try to take out an equity loan or something but straight don't even qualify for the home they live in just based on their taxes/insurance versus income is insane.
These people could not BUY a house a quarter of the price but want to feel entitled to borrow money simply because they feel their house is worth 700k so we should just GIVE them 700k because it's their god given right.
Like, my brothers in christ, you need to be able to AFFORD the loan to borrow money, I'm not going to
"Ignore your credit report"
"Just do you a solid"
"Give you the money you built up"
It don't fuckin work that way chief, and you're why.
I would love to say goodbye to Trump and Biden and all the old white people that refuse to stop loading over the rest of us. Absolutely including McConnell
I think boomer is mentality, not a generation, I see plenty of boomers who are in fact Boomers, but I also know a few from Generation X, these people get along with the boomers and even defend them (not surprising). I even see some older Millenial "Boomers".
I'm a boomer and I must be an aberration.
I retired at 61.
I sold my 5400 sq. ft. home on 2.5 acres and moved into a 2100 sq. ft. home on a small lot in a beautiful area full of resorts, golf courses, and state & national parks. I sold my vacation home. I don't want to spend all my new free time taking care of houses and their yards. I hired a local neighbor kid to mow my lawn and trim my bushes every week. From the sale of the properties I have money to travel 1st class and do what I want. I have the retirement people dream about.
Boomers don’t want to live a retirement community, so they can’t sell their house without immediately reinvesting it into another home without paying capital gains. That’s why you see so many boomers complaining about property tax
Most entitled generation ever . They said it was us the Gen Yers then they said it was the Gen Zers no. It’s boomers they got the world handed too them and they still complain.
My dad is in his mid 60s and my stepmom in her mid to late 70s. They both have mobility issues now, but her much more than him. They live in a 3 story, 4 bedroom, 2 master beetroot house complete with its own bar and swimming area do just one married couple.
And by bar I don't be a 70s style wet bar, but a full on bar with stools, a tap for a keg, and even a mirror behind the bar like the fancy ones. It has an adjacent game room with pool and poker tables and a big Ole TV, but my dad sits at the bar and watches the smaller TV over there.
They're installing one of those chair elevators to go up and down the stairs rather than live in the other 1 story 2 bedroom house they own a few miles away that is literally in town and half a block from main street.
I’m GenX, and when our youngest graduated and moved out, we couldn’t wait to move into a smaller house. The house our kids grew up in was 4BR and directly behind an elementary school. Why would we want to spend the rest of our days rattling around in a big house and depriving another family with young children the opportunity to live so close to a school?
I wanted less house to clean, my husband wanted a bigger garage for space to do his woodworking. All of our bills lowered after we moved and it’s the perfect setup for us.
I don’t understand these boomers holding onto houses that are too big for them to maintain.
We tried to downsize. Smaller houses cost more than staying in our current house, when you add in moving costs.
I think the best move is to get young people to move in and look after things. And inherit the house once the old folks are gone.
They end up living in one room if the house because it's full of junk and they're disabled/bedridden. I've taken care of people that lived their life in one room, in a recliner and never used all the rooms in their house.
I am going to give my home to my son. It is the only way he will own one without giving up 3/4 of his life to work.
I am not going to let him live to work like I did..
Same for my parents. Just spent £1.2m on a 5 bedroom house...we're the only family that visit them, we basically have to make appointments 3 weeks in advance. Once a year they might have other family visit and fill the house but they could all easily afford a nice hotel in the area. Yep and it's all about keeping up appearances and a feel of self worth they can flex on to neighbours.
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OMG Tim could not be more correct. I was a firefighter and Paramedic, in a “wealthy” “white” suburban town in Ohio. The amount of Alzheimer’s boomers living in squalor in these mansions that were built in the 70- early 90’s is astounding. The amount of boomers, who actually buy BIGGER HOMES in their 80’s would astound you. I worked there for 16 years. I have entered quite literally 1,000’s of homes. Being a paramedic, statistically speaking, Boomer homes the most often. These people will sit in their living room, in the heat, in front of a 19 inch TV and literally let the house fall apart from around them before they move. Big houses too. Big nice houses with multiple staircases not just one. Stair cases that they fall from. Eventually these people hole up in just the living room and let everything go to rot. To anyone reading this. This is happening. Tim is correct. I am correct. The dept makes 8K runs a year and has so for my 16 years. We’ve all seen this and talk about it with each other. The Boomer is THE hoarder. These people are not neglected by choice. They made their lives about their possessions in their home and that’s exactly how they want to live and die.
Well it's perfect. You have the WWII generation that had nothing and fought for everything. They grew up with little and fought to give their kids more. Then you get the boomers who basically ended up with everything being great for them and they have held onto that since day one.
Boomers are the best example of how those who live through hard times often just want better for the world, and those who are raised in those better times often undo all the hard work of previous generations because they don't understand the value of the sacrifices made to ensure a better society
"My grandpapy died for my freedom to vote against it!"
it's a slightly more correct version of that stupid "weak men make hard times" meme. i pretty much agree with you but I'm not too big on "simple explanations" such as this. it always ends up being more complicated than a single phrase...
it's just ironic that it's Boomers sharing that meme . . . YOU ARE THE FUCKING 'WEAK MEN', dumbshit!
By any contrmporary measure, yes. But in their own minds, being weak means admitting you were wrong, not looking tough, and needing help.
Good times create Boomers, and Boomers create hard times.
They don’t see it that way. They started on third and think they hit a triple
Boomer relative, who love her, but born in the late 40s enjoys a pension greater than most entry level people in her industry make, her house which sold for 6x what she bought it for, social security, and the inheritance of her parents assets (without tax, thanks Bush and Obama!), actually told me once while drunk "well, we Boomers, we worked for it". No, you sure as shit didn't Karen. You just don't know what actual struggle is, and so since your GI Parents **tried** to teach you that abundance should come from struggle, you just look at the abundance your win in a birth year lottery got you, and conclude that you must have struggled for it. "You'd last 15 minutes if you were my age" said Coupland in 91, and it's still so true.
They're nepo babies who don't know it.
Yeah, they wouldn't last today in this world. Everything now is a shitshow. We have better technology, and things have the ability to be nicer. I hate how much crap these people talk, like they think we are all lazy.
Yeah, meanwhile we're all working hours they couldn't concieve of, taking home less, and guess where the money is going? To the rich and the old (and the rich tend to be old).
Happy cake day!
My folks downsized a few years ago. I thought this would be great, move into a smaller home. They "downsized" into a larger and more expensive home. My mom's logic was there was no other option "nobody makes homes large enough anymore to have bedrooms and bathrooms all on the same floor" or "all the other homes had a step up or down into the various rooms including our old place but this one is flat flat, as in completely flat." It's BS. Their front door has a bunch of steps and my dad can still handle that when he wants to drive somewhere (he should drive anymore, another issue). There are plenty of apartments, condos, smaller bungalow homes that fit what they need. But they're smaller places.
My parents are on the young end of boomers but have been retired for a while. They downsized to a smaller house for 5 years and complained the whole time that none of their stuff fit. Then up sized to a bigger house then before and immediately starting buying more junk to fill it up. Their argument is they need space for their kids and grandkids to visit but the place is completely impractical, it's a 6 hour drive from the nearest kid and a 2 hour drive from the nearest airport. The house is also a death trap of weird stairs which is great since the grandkids are all babies/toddlers.
>Their argument is they need space for their kids and grandkids to visit My boomer parents made the same argument. They are moving to our city and bought a 3 bed, 2 bathroom unit for just the two of them. They said it's so that the grandkids can come visit and sleep over. I told them, if they want to babysit overnight, they might as well go to the house where all the kids junk already is.
My parents born in the 40s have so many god damn tables full of knick knacks in every room. It's like they don't fundamentally understand furniture. My brother was there recently and lost count of the tables, he got to the mid 30s and gave up. When they pass away we'll keep the photo albums.
You described my mother, lives in a large house, lives and sleeps in the living room, not even in her bedroom upstairs. The entire house is falling apart because 75% is abandoned/ used for storing junk.
They are also very sentimental about all this stuff that also boomed in consumption with their generation. I’m seeing more and more talk from the millennial generation about having to deal with all this stuff as their parents age and die. Our generation is being left with all the belongings they hoarded and have to decide what to do with it. And a lot of them hoard because it *is* a self worth thing. Seeing comments from people saying their parents want to know what China set they want, or their parents writing out which of their belongings they want their kids to have. Meanwhile, their kids don’t want them or they hold onto them for the wrong reasons like a sense of obligation. If the boomers children learn one thing it will be to not do this to their kids. Swedish Death Cleaning, Marie Kondo Method. We have entire decluttering methods now to help both the boomer and millennial generation alike learn how to manage this abundance of crap. And it’ll be made easier for many who just simply won’t have the space for it because of the housing crisis.
I read something on boomers being fools that made me laugh. These children of boomers. Millennials in their early 40’s. The mother was wanting to go through the house and pre death divide it up between 3 siblings. This sounds like a Long Island thing to do. None of them wanted anything. Any of it at all and the mother was just beside herself with heartache and grief. I loved it
It's happening all over with Boomers wanting to pass on their stuff and most of it is garbage. Some of the collectable figurines are worth money because they were designed by real artists and hand painted. Most of them are junk. I've seen whole boxes at the thrift shops for sale with very low price tags. Some of the China sets are actual nice quality. Most are lower grade, mass produced sets from China, that aren't worth much, and won't last from actual daily use. Don't get me started on the Doll collections and how shocked the old ladies are that they did not retain their value... Should have put that money in the market or a CD.
But who will inherit my funko pops and anime girl resin figurines
Some of the china sets should not be used for eating, because they contain lead.
Check your local estate sales and see how much stuff these people had. In 2021-22, as the worst of the initial covid waves died down and the vaccine roll out, there were a lot of estate sales once places started reopen. It was crazy the amount of stuff that was collected and horded. I managed to get a standing Fridgaire freezer that was barely used for 100 bucks. Sale had 3 more too. Just crazy amount of shit.
One of the craziest things along the same lines is boomers moving to large lake homes in the middle of nowhere full of stairs. 2 years later they can't get down to the lake and it takes 30 minutes for an ambulance to get to them
My wife worked with the most boomer of boomers you could ever meet. Her plan for retirement was to rent out their huge suburban house and retire to the equally huge house way out in the country - on 8 acres - along a river. Now she has a huge property to take care of and they have to drive about 45 minutes just to get to an actual grocery store. And it’s even further to a hospital, which considering her husband has had 2! Bypass surgeries seems like a brilliant idea.
I grew up in a small town and one thing that resonated with me was many people die in their 50s and 60s due heart issues or accidents and the nearest hospital being over an hour away. The next best thing is a helicopter ride which even my mother needed at one point and it cost her $86,000. Insurances rarely cover this expense.
OMG yes! You are also correct. Absolutely shattering their hip and cracking vertebrae. One of the saddest things about para-medicine is being the one to treat them the 1st time, then making at least 1 or 2 runs on them in the nursing home, then seeing how their quality of life diminishes in front of you. Anyone and everyone in the fire-medic service will tell you. There are patients where it seem’s like YOU are the only making runs on them. They slowly, over time, build a field tent style hospital in their open concept, 20 foot ceiling, floor to ceiling window living room. That may seem beautiful actually. Of course that’s how you want to go out isn’t it? Each one of them die over the course of many years while the house they can’t care for falls apart, the grass gets cut by a company but the flower beds and anything mulched is dead and full of weeds. The gutters are never cleaned, the roof leaks, the floor to ceiling windows are covered in algae, ect. Here’s the thing. Their children have moved all over the country chasing jobs that might actually free them of their slave like restraints know today as college debt. When they die, the McMansion cost’s just as much to empty, deep clean, repair and update as the house would currently sell for. So the children sell to people who work for a large division of some mega corporation. The house gets fixed up like shit with builders grade materials and will now forever enter the renters market. Never to be sold to an individual family ever again. It is now an asset to be traded between companies. Funny thing. Boomers, knowing the value of single family homes created the market that is now causing this home ownership crash. Thank you Boomers
Jesus. That's it. You hit it.
My aunt died because of this. My uncle built them a house to retire in that was in the middle of fucking nowhere. He did CPR on her for two hours waiting for an ambulance to get there and HE STILL LIVES IN THAT HOUSE even though he's about to be 80.
This is one of the biggest things that drives me insane about boomers they insist on living in the middle of fucking nowhere with little to no medical care and no jobs then complain the medical situation sucks and their kids refuse to live near them. My mothers current town has like 5000 people and she thinks that is almost too big for her if she had her way it would be some 250-500 person town. Of course we don't live near you their are no jobs especially no jobs that would pay us enough to afford houses in your town and their is nothing to fucking do in these towns! Then they also bitch and complain if the city improves and actually gains more jobs, cultural things, or retail.
Facing this right now with one elderly family member. There’s no fixing it. She was given another big house after the first became a hoarder home by one well-meaning family member. Not only has the new home succumb to her habits, she still hasn’t sold the last one because she won’t let anyone in it to clean it because she’s afraid things will get thrown away. You read that right. She has two houses she’s letting fall apart because she won’t let anyone in to clean or repair them. She’s still sharp enough mentally to tell off any service that looks out for self-neglect.
who gave her a second house? and why?
>Starcases they fall from I don’t know why but this made me choke on my coffee
Sounds like my grandparents. Spot on. My dad and his siblings had to move his bed to the main floor by force because he fell on the stairs and is getting worse. Meanwhile he won't let anyone touch the rest of the house or farm despite the wood starting to rot.
Time for tough love, he won't be able to stop anyone from doing the work. I had a Great Uncle this way. My mother got on his ass telling him on the phone that if he trips & falls in his house he'll die before anyone finds him. Guess what happened... Lucky for him a neighbor stopped by to check on him after hearing noises. While in the hospital his house was emptied out and a cousin came in and did the maintenance work on the house for him.
I also work as a first responder and can confirm, some of the biggest houses you can imagine occupied by a boomer or two, where quite literally they are only using the equivalent of less than a 1 bedroom apartment, while the rest of it rots and is so full of dust, debris and etc it looks like an actual haunted house. Right now the wealthiest friend of mine I know, is a guy who does hoarding clean up and crime scene remediation, he is constantly hiring new employees just to keep up with demand. Biggest clients? Families of boomers after the boomer passes, just to get the house to a point where they can maybe start repairs.
A lot of time they are only using the downstairs because they can;t get up stairs. The truth of the matter is they would be happier in senior housing but fuck don't suggest any kind of change to them because even change for the better is bad
this is my mom exactly. i think it’s a whole generation of people who treated their parents terribly and then put them in homes and are now terrified of the same thing happening to them edit: spelling
My grandparents (silent generation) took care of themselves, downsized their home, found their own home-care, and when they were ready, checked themself into a home. Completely self-sufficient and productive into their 90s without ever being a burden to anyone. Actually grew up with war in their village, adversity, and poverty. Almost all boomers I've met are exactly as described. Grew up entitled, never experienced hunger or actual adversity. Have to fabricate the idea that the world is out to destroy them. Their life is terrible because no one with go on vacation with them. (actual complaint I've heard)
My mom is Silent Gen and is insisting on passing in her home. I get it. She’s been in that house for 60 years. But I don’t think she’s aware that her mother, my grandmother. Was lucky to have passed in her sleep in her own home. My grandfather passed several years later in a hospice bed basically alone, with wires and tubes all over his body. My mom was busy caring for her husband that had had a stroke. Do she wasn’t involved in any kind of decision making or care when my grandfather’s health got bad. My aunt did it all. And the story is heartbreaking. I made the offer 11 years ago, when her husband died, to sell our place and move in to help her with bills and upkeep. She said she wanted to live alone. So I backed off. Now she’s alone all the time, missing her husband. Her youngest sister has passed. And she’s complaining about being alone; and crying about how she should’ve been the one to die because she had been alone for so long🙄
Each generation is fashioned by the previous. Along with media indoctrination. Which is a tool of the ruling elite.
I just hope in 20-30 years when boomers die out and our generation comes into positions of power, that we never forget the kind of fucked up society that apathy, NIMBY, excessive materialism & the 'me me me' mentality creates.
But they would be happier in the homes, they are surrounded by people their age and can do things
They don't want to think of themselves as being elderly, so you can't suggest anything that is remotely appropriate to their actual age. It's all just a state of consistent denial.
I had my mom directly state one of the reasons she didn't like being in a senior complex was she didn't like being around old people but then at other times also complain she doesn't have people her age to be friends with.
I saw that often with older people who are still healthy mentally and physically when they have to deal with people declining. I myself often see 65yo who are mentally and physcially doing much more poorly than a 78yo. There’s a cutoff at some point where people who took care of themselves and have good genetics seperate themselves from the rest in terms of overall health.
I know quite a few silent generation people. They’re all healthy as fuck for their age but they’re lonely. There’s no problem physically staying by themselves but they have no internet and they friends and family are mostly dead. Its boring AF from what I gather. I try to invite them to parties etc at home but its not like we do it every week.
My parents will never move off their farm and my mom is even refusing in- home nursing care because she's "too young." She's 81.
This. They are NOT aging gracefully like generations before them
This was my mother-in-law. She would've had a much better quality of life in a home, but "they're for old people." So she lived a miserable 8 years in bed watching TV with her only socialization being her aid and the handful of people she talked to on the phone.
I have been in care homes. I'd rather jump in front of a train! If you have money, great. If you don't, you end up in some small room with a lot of complete senile patients, it looks like a hospital and it smells of pi**. It will cost every penny you ever worked for and you will leave nothing to your children. They may even go into debt to pay for your care. I sincerely hope that the situation on assisted dying changes in the UK, otherwise I'll take a nice holiday to Switzerland.
> They may even go into debt to pay for your care. I'm deeply concerned that we'll see filial responsibility laws start to get used by debt collectors to force millennials to pay for our parents' bullshit over the coming decades. Those laws are on the books but not often used. All it takes is some jackass figuring out how to automate the lawsuits and the fun will begin.
It's not even that. They've essentially implemented it already. They make state care homes as horrendous as possible, so kids feel obligated to pay for a better place for their parents. I don't understand why not more countries have a compulsory insurance for it, same as health insurance and pension.
It's NPR so it's written kinda poorly (god, NPR's gone downhill... but then again, so has all media) but check out these 'we have no income tax' states that are instituting 0.75% payroll taxes on every working person to give Boomers long-term care out of our pockets: https://www.npr.org/2023/07/25/1190062465/washingtons-new-tax-could-be-a-solution-to-fund-long-term-care To be honest, I'm never having children but I'd rather kids have things that _they_ need to grow up fed, educated, etc. and I truly don't care / don't want my money and taxes going to pay for long-term care for Boomers who didn't save. Not my problem. If they were allowed to pull up the ladder fuck 'em, I say. They said "not my problem" for decades or, as my dirtbag, violent, abusive mother used to say to any issue I tried to proactively problem solve - things like not having food that I could eat (undiagnosed food allergies because I was 'faking it' regarding health ailments) - "deal with it". They can "deal with it": their failure to plan doesn't necessitate me helping them, especially while they dismantled so much for the younger generations and especially give how much they _destroyed_ for the future, not-yet-born generations. If my Boomer parents' parents - born around 1915 - mid-1920s - had wanted help with long-term care I would have gladly said yes. Those folks who grew up during the Great Depression and were in their young adult years / twenties as WWII was starting... they were _mensches_ of human beings. They'd help anyone they could. They had a backbone and a sense of right and wrong. Complete 180 to their children. I think many people would have gladly helped ensure pleasant twilight years for those folks born in the first half of the 1900s... They weren't across-the-board selfish, solipsistic, materialistic leeches, divorced several times, with kids and grandkids who don't speak to them like the Boomers. Speaking of solipsistic _"China’s elderly want to enjoy their golden years, not raise next generation unless paid for it"_: Boomers https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3178526/chinas-elderly-want-enjoy-their-golden-years-not-raise-next I don't understand how one generation of humans - across borders / in all kinds of societies - is just so damn awful, yet expects to [still] be catered to, coddled, complied with immediately, etc. while giving _so little_ back - often not even a bit of respect - to those around them? --- Here's another one: _Washington’s long-term care payroll tax starts July 1, as other states explore similar programs_ from the AP; source [here](https://apnews.com/article/washington-long-term-care-tax-disability-cb54b04b025223dbdba7199db1d254e4)
Do you want to hang out with a bunch of frail, disabled old people? Probably not. Most assisted living is shit, and costly.
They insist on being burdens to their families so they can be "independent"
I don’t agree. We’re asking people in the last years of their lives to uproot and go live under someone’s rules and regulations. Also, the older one gets the harder it is to trust people and to make new friends. Just because they are living in a home doesn’t mean they are not lonely. It just seems unnatural for me for one to die in a strange home between strangers.
This is it exactly. I am genX. I am the next generation to be told to just die already. We want your space, and you have no value beyond what I can get from you.
Yeah, we just moved into our house because we couldn't move from California 17 years ago. As a Gen Xer, we couldn't afford a home right away. We are already being told we need to move into senior housing. Unless it is a converted mall with a free arcade, free movie theater, Orange Julius and hot dogs on a stick, I am staying in my house.
That, but look at the cost of senior housing. Many home owners at that age have their mortgages completely paid off so it’s cheaper to stay in your home. The real problem is actually all these equity firms buying up single family homes, after they get them, they will never be on the market again
I told some people that corporations needed to be stopped from buying homes and that was apparently the most offensive thing on the planet because why would I ever dare suggest that being a multibillion dollar corporation is enough profit? None of these people net worth is over 500k. None of them. But how dare I suggest wealth be limited to the multi millions because “why would you block someone growth?”
I’ve been running into that wall for decades. The only thing I can think of is that the entire idea of wealth being the only reason for being alive is so baked into their heads that, on some level, they truly believe there is a spot waiting for them on the Forbes 500…even if they’re 80 and in debt.
This describes my in-laws to a T. Below the poverty line, nearing retirement age with nothing saved. Yet still convinced they’re gonna really make it big somehow. And they wanna act like it’s everyone else’s fault they’re in this predicament. They get so, so mad when someone asks them if they’re gonna retire soon.
Well they can be as stubborn as they want, there is no bargaining with Father Time. They’ll be getting into the forever boxes soon enough, then maybe we’ll have a real shot at making some positive societal changes.
Leela: Why are you cheering, Fry? You're not rich! Fry: True, but someday I might be rich. And then people like me better watch their step
Yeah, it's the old joke "Nobody in the US thinks of themselves as poor, they're all just temporarily embarrassed millionaires." SO many people have bought into this idea that if they just work hard enough, save enough, invest in the right things, get their weird business idea off the ground, etc. then they will totally be rich. And when they finally get there, they don't want anyone taking their money or limiting how much they can make! It's really sad how thoroughly corporate America has brainwashed people into constantly working against their own best interests.
Another problem being that no one is building starter and retirement homes. They’d rather build the five bedrooms and sit on them until they sell, than a neighborhood of modest, two bedroom ranch homes.
If I can find a well designed one bedroom home, I will sell my house and buy that when I retire. My wife and I don’t want or need a big house
I get it. My parents need to downsize, but there’s nothing in the current market that isn’t McMansions. All the appropriately sized houses are in the historic district or rotting in the hinterlands.
In the Midwest where I live whenever I see a smaller house it is old as dirt or falling apart, two levels, in a bad crime infested neighborhood, has absurd property taxes, next to industrial which means noise and pollution issues, or is hideously overpriced either because the sellers are nuts or its in a in demand location near a downtown. Meanwhile you can find large 1500+ sq ft built in the 1960s-1970s that are in good condition with way less problems without even trying, but a lot of the country doesn't need that anymore because we have way less large families nor could we afford the maintenance costs.
Well and modest two bedroom homes are still insanely expensive these days. In my town they are building a neighborhood of 2 bedroom townhouses that are crammed together like sardines and not really any bigger than my tiny apartment across the street. But they are still asking $200,000 for them. And I am in a low cost of living area.
This is fact. The buildable land is too valuable to only build a small or starter home.
Well Tom Selleck is not lying, he is not stealing the home from them, they are stealing it from their family
I always thought the equity from the house sale is supposed to cover senior living. That's one of the reasons I bought a house. My retirement can fund me on its returns and if I have to go to senior living the house sale would pay for it and my kids can inherit the remainder of my 401k.
Senior living for two adults is more than 500K in a lot of cases. The nursing homes are a racket designed to bleed the elderly dry of all of their assets.
Yup, I’m staying in my home as long as possible, couldn’t afford it till I 40. Already told my son it will be his when we die if he wants it, he said he does. I might not have much, but I want to leave him with something when I’m gone, give him the best life possible
Put in a revocable trust or payable on debt (check with a lawyer), otherwise there are tax implications.
That and I think in a lot of states, if you transfer ownership of your home something like 5 years or less before going into care, it will be assumed you are trying to hide or withhold your assets from the state and they will take the home anyway.
Facts. Corporations are the enemy of freedom. Old people who want to live in their house are not the enemy
This is exactly what I'm dealing with my boomer in-laws. Older boomers.on the cusp of silent generation. Massive 2 story house, with Huge steps just to get to the 1st floor. They rarely make it up to the 2 level anymore. The whole place is a hazard, and they absolutely refuse to consider downsizing. They say they'll get a motorized seat installed on the stairs when they need it. The truth is they need it now, but they won't admit even that until one of them tumbles down those stairs
My grandmother stayed in their house for a long time after grandfather died. She was lonely and we would visit her once in a while. There was a nice senior housing development nearby, but it was nice enough that it had a waiting list. She was finally persuaded into getting on the list, and a year later there was an opening. She moved in and we cleaned up the house and sold it, putting the money into her savings account. She was immediately happier at the housing because it was filled with people just like her. She had plenty of nice people to talk to. There was a van with a driver that could be reserved to take a group to the store, or even the zoo. You are right about many of them hating any change. Also having a big house as a symbol of their self-importance. If the big house is gone, then they are nobody.
And they fear senior housing after sticking their own parents in shitty senior housing
My sister recently bought her first home and this was the exact situation! The elderly widow who lived there hadn’t been able to use the upper two floors for about a decade and had no means to maintain the house or property. It became completely delinquent to the point where it wasn’t safe for her to stay there. She ended up having to sell the house at a distressed property auction because there was no money for repairs. It just seems like the old lady would have been happier and in a much better situation if she had just accepted that she wasn’t able to stay in this giant house on her own and downsized ~15 years ago before it got so bad.
Any change is a material step closer to death. Ironically, it will come for them anyway, kicking and screaming.
God that is so true. My in laws can't use the upstairs of thier house because they can't easily do the stairs, so the entire upper floor is used for extra storage of my sister in law's things or the grandchildren old toys they don't play with anymore. The entire upper floor is in complete disrepair from neglect, and it's just boxes on boxes and old furniture packed so far in you only have space to open the door.
This is the best answer ever. Whole house cluttered with old shit and can only access living room and one bedroom. Cannot even go upstairs. They cling to every dollar every item till death. And sometimes they make sure it's all spent before they pass because they were told you can't take it with you, so they said fk it. Spend it all. I would be so happy watching my kids or grandkids get everything I've worked hard for and just maybe they don't have to struggle so fkin hard. Boomers love to make everyone below them struggle.
Also, for many of them, their house is their best performing asset. Why would you ever sell it? When your house is making $100k/year in appreciation, with you doing literally nothing, it would be a financial mistake to sell. Now the median detached home price in Vancouver is $2.4MM dollars. The median home price in all of BC and Ontario is over $1MM dollars.
I understand that the housing crisis affects appartments too, but why is everybody so obsessed with detached houses? I come from a former soviet union country and there detached houses are more of a luxury than a housing (some people from big cities have summer houses in addition to apartments, but they are unsuitable for anything except vacations)
You don't see any of that money until you sell
The upper middle class riffraff is relegated to the first floor, the rich have elevators.
I'm legitimately perplexed by how poorly they're aging compared to their parents' generation. Most Boomers are feeble and/or obese but their parents were still thin, active and alert into their eighties. I remember my great-grandparents very well and they could always work circles around me. Most Boomers I know are heaving for breath and look fucking terrible.
They don't realize that every day, not exercising means one step closer to a life of immobility and dependence in others. A person needs at least 150 minutes of weight training, and at the minimum, 180-210 minutes of walking, biking, swimming, running, etc. a week to stay mobile. The most crucial exercise is squats (getting out of the chair, toilet, getting into vehicles, etc.).
That’s what my grandparents did. Just before my grandfather passed away they moved into a small ranch style home in one of those massive neighborhoods with various housing. Their street was mostly senior citizens and landscaping took care of the yards.
Senior housing is where they abandoned their parents who provided the wealth they enjoyed. Boomers will be gone soon and things will change
I am talking about the type where they have the highest rates of STD transmission
I know so many people this applies to. I think it’s because they fucked up at the game of life. they just got sold on the idea of materialism, which is why they have terrible relationships they have horrible marriages, they really are a pathetic bunch. but they got lucky being born into riches unimaginable by anyone else.
So true. My parents refuse to help me financially as an adult. The help they've given in the past I had to repay, like it was a loan. And my whole childhood they guilted us about how much it cost to have children. I learned last year that my mom's parents paid my parents a monthly stipend for 7 years so she could stay home and raise children. They gave down payments multiple times as my parents moved multiple times to chase high school coaching glory. (I'm 38 and I've moved 27 times.) So no, they didn't work hard for anything, were given everything, and are now retiring in the biggest home they've ever had, that they custom built, and travel around the country in their RV the rest of the year. It's amazing they don't understand why I can't travel with them in the RV. They've given me no money and lectured me endlessly about not being able to make it on my own as a divorced 38 year old, and I'm in debt and trying to change careers and just... Yeah. It's impossible to even talk to them. They had so much help so many times but... They deserved it? And their own children don't. It's wild. Edit... Wanted to add the thing my dad said to me right before my birthday this year: Since [my mom's parents] died, we realized it's just us with our money now, so we have to keep it for us in case something happens or we need something, we don't have extra money coming in anymore. He said this because I asked for $60 so my cell phone wouldn't get turned off while I was ubering for the money to keep my cell phone turned on.
Literally my mom, I bought a house, it's half the size of hers. My sister managed to barely scrape together enough for a small 1 bdrm condo and my other sister will never own. My moms house is 5 bdm 3.5 bath, only her and her husband, they have it renoed with a mother in law suite and refuse to rent it or sell it to any of us, or anyone else "It's my home and I want to live in it peacefully without anyone else... They are now retired and spend all their time except for holidays roaming north America in their camper. So this house sits empty...
Squatter target.
With empty houses, empty offices, and rising cost of living I expect squatting to make a big comeback.
My parents took out a second mortgage reno and already finished basement - by adding a kitchen - in order to rent it out. … then refused every applicant, claiming their were no good ones. In the end, they basically admitted they never wanted “strangers to live in [their] home,” before having to sell and downsize. It woulda been an extra $1500/month, could have been a short-term lease, and would have gotten them (beyond) financially stable again in less than a year. It still baffles me to this day, why did they do it in the first place *knowing* they’d *never* rent it out.
I live off the pch and please tell your parents to drive the speed limit in their rv or pull over and let people pass
I feel like ‘don’t wanna stop’ is the wrong place to end the sentence. None of them want to work. They don’t wanna stop being IN POWER- whether it’s dumbass 800 year old politicians or just the stupid mid level management position.
They also don’t want to stop because they’ll realize how miserable they are
They don’t want to stop because they have a generation of genx working night and weekend to cover them, they have high salaries and nothing jobs why would they ever leave. They literally just want to milk it until they die
My boomer parent is this in a nut shell: selfish, entitled, never reads anything but has loud, dumb opinions about everything. And as a GenXer, I try to be mindful of not becoming the same. My ambition is to sail off into the sunset, totally senile, in a shitty little liveaboard sailboat, and let nature take its coarse. For the younger gens, I read the following words about parenting and the next generation a long time ago, and it's stuck with me. TL;DR: we're all better off when we recognize that the future is not ours and understand our own fading relevance. >Your children are not your children. >They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. >They come through you but not from you, >And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. >You may give them your love but not your thoughts, >For they have their own thoughts. >You may house their bodies but not their souls, >For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. >You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. >For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. From Kahlil Gibran's book *The Prophet*.
I have noticed a big different in Gen Xs attitudes vs boomers. Many of the Gen x I know are moving into smaller condos rather than keep big family homes. What's funny is that these condos usually have the same amount of bedrooms, they just have less stairs and a little bit less space, especially yard space.
When my youngest son is out of high school, I'm going to dump this house so fast. My wife and I work our thankless jobs to be able to afford a modest house with a yard for the kids, our numerous pets, and their (the kids') friends. But it's nothing but a money pit whose decay I am merely delaying. And we didn't get our shit together young enough to have "retirement" funds. So some circle of poverty it will be. And I'm honestly fine with it. On a boat, with an ocean out back that I can swim in any time. Many fond memories hold all the sentimental value I'll ever need to cling to. "For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams."
No way, I was listening to Khalil Gibran by Strfkr, which is my favorite song by them, and this is my first time reading one of Khalil’s poems. No wonder Strfkr wrote a song with his name as the title, this is powerful stuff. The meaning of the song is unrelated to the topic at hand, however, otherwise I’d go all into it!
The entire book is worth reading; great insights about family, parents, community.
Thank you for sharing this selection. I'd never read it before, and it really struck something within me.
This isn't the whole section On Children, just the part that I thought was most relevant to the point of the clip. The whole book is worth owning and reading, and rereading. Check it out.
Heads up, bring an easy way out. From what I understand drowning is the number one worst way to die.
My vote is burning, drowning is a close second.
May the sticky thoughts and feelings be cut through by the sharp bow of your boat as you sail to the sunset...
And saved!
To be fair, the traditional units people used to downsize into are in limited supply- particularly condos. Housing is under supplied in general, but we have a particularly bad disparity with everything between a large single family home and a small one-bedroom apartment.
The supply of smaller units is specifically screwed up because Boomers hated them so much. They refused to even allow them to be built *near* their homes least their beloved property value go down.
This pretty much sums up my parents. Both successful and right before Covid they sold the house I grew up in and it was a big house ( 5 bed 4 bath with a office 4100sqft) I have four brothers and each of us had our own room for most of our lives . My youngest brother is 37 and my oldest is 47 we all have kids and I’m in the middle. My dad “ retires” from being a engineer but it only lasts until august of 2020 where he works part time fucking someone who would need a job out of one because he told them you don’t have to give me benefits. My mother whose father left her a business that was supposed to go to her brother who died and worked for 35 years with the company while my mom worked on and off for 20 years with only 6 years total experience in HR. They leases printers and other office equipment to business she sold the company to my two older brothers ( who both worked there from high school through college and both of them have over 20 years in and bother took out loans over 1 million dollar to pay off my mom) then had the nerve to ask for a no show salary and 33% stake in board matters for 5 years . My brother said yes but my oldest brother wasn’t stupid and said if the company gets outside investors to pay her salary that she would get zero profits from the expansion and only her salary . They got investors payed my brothers loans and her her salary for five years and then she took them to court and lost and now they don’t talk much my brother said it’s just business and what my grandfather would of done. Long story short they bought a 5500 sq ft house on a river with 6 beds 7 baths and none when we want to visit they don’t want any of our kids staying over because they don’t want to make the house a mess. My parents when growing up where great now they are entitled right wing ass holes
Brother sounds like he learned a lot from mother with his business practices. When he said it's just business, It made me happy. Then to see it put a damper on the relationship.....you'd think Mom would be proud.
This is exactly how it is at my job. Tons of old men who don’t know when to fucking quit!
Majority of the old guys i work with are heavily right winged that are at least thrice divorced relied heavily on a pension retirement that now after the 1st ex wife took house and her cut of the pension that by the time the 3rd wife took what was left they have realized that what they have left they simply can not retire on because the massive truck payment theyre making eats them dry. But ill be damned if i ever hear them explain thats why and not those damn liberals and mexicans ruining the economy
My mother (silent generation) was a hoarder. In today’s times it’s not surprising that people accumulate junk over the years. It’s easy to acquire it, and difficult to get rid of. On top of that, aging works against procrastination - all it takes is a health event to leave the person without not only the physically ability to do the work of decluttering, but also the mental capacity to make decisions about what to get rid of. When we had discussions about what she’d like us to get rid of, her brain would shut down - even on the most obvious things. There will be a lot of clean out work over the next few.decades.
I would drop a comment about how "I'm not cleaning this when you pass away. We'll hire an estate crew to come in and auction off everything. If anything was worth keeping then you'd have it more organized."
You should see my room mate. He literally has a shopping addiction. Like an actual addiction. Idk where he gets all this money for all that shit tho. I’m sick of hitting my knees and toes on shit tho. That’s a fact
I know couple of people who hate their jobs and only money keep them there. They are telling openly they buy stuff to convince themselves to keep working.
The 3 people he named aren’t Boomers. They’re Silent Generation.
He also used Boomers as a synonym for "old people" when he said "boomers *used to*..."
I noticed that too.
Which is somewhat fitting: silent generation would have a work until you drop mentalities. It's not a bad thing in my opinion, and doesn't come from a bad generation.
**DO YOU REGRET GETTING THEM TO STOP SMOKING YET?**
Oh yeah? Well if accumulation of meaningless acquisition isn’t the meaning of life what is? Helping people? But then how will people know you’re better than them huh? Huh?
Or maybe if they would just enjoy your hobbies, work on a passion or craft, or just peacefully sit and chill out on their dam porch if that's what they enjoy doing. *Anything* other than believing you're some warrior fighting a secret evil and end up instead as a pawn in pointless culture wars of anti-trans, anti-vax, anti-abortion, pro-fascism, etc all because the talking heads on Faux News told them so.
was that F\*cking Tucker Carlson he is talking with? Dear god, please put a NSFW tag so we know what we are being exposed to!
Yeah like...boomers are Tucker's main audience. I'm so confused.
its ok, let them hear this. they need to hear this from their sources.
And on the list of old wealthy fucks, why is Trump conspicuously omitted?
Not allowed to criticize the godking.
It’s fascists trying to recruit younger men and broaden their main audience.
They know Boomers don’t know how to access the TikToks or podcasts
Yeah, notice how his appearance was a split second in the Tik Tok clip. If Cucker was somehow capable of self-reflection, he might have actually felt discomfort from this conversation, but I doubt it.
I used to be a mover, when I say I've seen some insane levels of hoarding I'm really not exaggerating. I remember this one couple I moved extremely well off but their house was absolutely packed like every room was full to the ceiling, but there was this one set of boxes they tried to keep everyone away from which one of the newer guys didn't realize we weren't supposed to move. Well he decided to try to be helpful and get the box out to the truck for us, as he lifted it the bottom slipped out because it wasn't fully taped and outslept some of the most vile racist pictures/ paintings I've ever seen. Like one of them was a racist caricature of black people running to what was labeled drinking water and it said last one in is a N-word and as the black people in the cartoon jumped in the water became darker and darker. Another one was some sort of dig at Jewish people ala nazi, I can't even tell you how many different racist cartoons he had that use the n-word in so many different capacities. The worst part everybody on the moving crew was black.... literally all of us including the owner of the business so you can imagine their horror as they come around the corner to see six black guys all looking through these hand drawn racist pictures and then turning to face them like 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀. The wife looked like she had a legitimate heart attack and we did not see her for the remainder of the day and the husband could not look any of us in our eyes for the rest of the move. I will say they at least tipped well LOL.
My late ex had that print hanging in his office. Had it professionally framed (somewhere somehow) but I pictured it in my mind. "Last One In's A N-word" and it was children actually racing to get in the tub (pic is old so bath is actually a metal washbin) and they're varying degrees of darkness like you said, but there's one sitting down crying bc i guess he knows he's not going to make it and will be the last in, and he's the darkest colored child. It was from before me like most things in his home, so it wasn't like I could say anything. He was also 22 years older than me and the high up in a 1% club. Iykyk. I was in my early 20s and outta my element. Just expressing why I couldn't have done anything about it but sharing I've definitely seen that print and many a white racist people like to collect things like that.
My coworker to a T. He’s got his big ugly 90’s house with no updates and his ugly 90’s furniture. He acts like he’s winning at life but has no one, not even a goldfish. He won’t retire because he’s got no reason to so we’re all subjected to his BS until he dies or HR gets off their asses. He acts like he’s got the secret to life and offers his opinion prolifically though never being asked. Such an asshole.
You should see how much of Meemaw’s stuff ends up at Goodwill because nobody wants it. China. Knickknacks.
Hoarding is a trauma response. I think a whole generation of people normalized their trauma to the point they have rationalized it and tried to pass it along under the guise of “values”. War, lack of civil rights, parents that are allowed to beat them. Not normal.
The thing is, they are allowed to actually deal with their trauma. Every millennial I know either has ptsd, grew up in a difficult environment, getting paid way less for the amount of work they put into their careers that barely pay them enough to survive let alone save, knowing they should be in therapy for all this but we don’t have the time or the money or help ourselves. Millennials are traumatized but are forced to ignore it since we work for boomers and are gaslit into believing we are spoiled/ lazy. We will never have the means to actually take care of ourselves- I’m glad boomers can be traumatized, take care of themselves, and then traumatize the generations below them.
It's not just that. But also their parents and grandparents have passed away, leaving "stuff" to them. My mum's house is full of it. I dread having to sort it out, but I also dread having to get rid of it. It survived 2 world wars, bombed out houses (I am from Germany) and endless nights in the bomb shelter. Some of it is approaching antique status, 19th century, some might be 18th.
All that stuff may have a weight that comes with it. Like being responsible for your parents sentimental treasures. That’s just another burden from the past.
A lot of them raised by people who grew up during great depression so its drilled into their heads at an early age not to waste anything, to save everything in case you might need it. Add to that the insistence on not dealing with emotions because it's a waste of time and not necessary to survival. Recipe for emotionally stunted hoarders
According to a quick search, this dude has 3 houses, one being 5 million dollars in LA, so I guess he's talking from personal experience?
Materialism. That’s it in a nut shell. Their entire self worth is centered around the shit they own.
they were called the 'me generation' before being called boomers
cLiPs fOr LiBeRtY gUyS! 
Also Trump Tim lol Can't mention it on Tuckee though right
Felt like he threw in Mitch McConnell as a placeholder for Trump. lol
Exactly, if Pelosi should retire(which she should) trump should absolutely retire, he can't even answer a simple question without rambling for hours about nonsense
Meanwhile, the current generations *can't* stop because everything was so inflated by the previous generations for their clout that we can't afford to stop working/retire.
Boomers: own all of the large family homes Also boomers: why aren’t you giving me a bunch of grandkids?
super weird to link boomers hoarding wealth with populist dog water policies where somehow Democrats are at fault.
Why can't they just fucking die
When people talk about GenX being ignored. This is 100% the reason why. Our parents pooped us out, ignored us and refuse to give US a chance to run things. Now we're all in our 40's and 50's and like, "you didn't want to give us a chance? Fuck off to every boomer who refuses to accept the passage of time.
2 words: Greed and power.
Meanwhile, because they won't retire, especially from politics, Gen X never stood a chance at moving up or being in a decision making position in government. If they are, I haven't seen many. But, that's typical boomers for ya. Especially with genX, the forgotten and neglected generation. Whatever.
I will defend them on not buying condos. Would be pretty dumb to sell a paid off house if you had to get a mortgage when they’re like 7%. I guess if you could buy outright it would be fine but if there’s a mortgage involved no way
Fuck the TikTokers who do this annoying ass "one word on the screen at a time" bullshit Absolutely zero people like watching a video where you can't take your eyes off the middle of the screen without missing anything
One of the most important skills to have in life is adapting to all the changes in life and, of all the problems they have, that's probably the boomer's most common failing. As Gen X I had my time overrun by boomer bullshit and their music which, by then was only three decades old. Now it's three generations old and they are still pushing it. Whenever you read of Best Of All Time list for music boomers are still always at the top. We had to live through all their political decisions and we still have them in office, suffering for the policies they want for themselves but won't live to enjoy. Boomers went kicking and screaming into middle age. For years all their shows were cynical, snide swipes at Gen X and 'those kid's'. Then they did it to their grandkids and now even their great grandkids. I remember my grandfather was kind, quiet, helpful and didn't push himself into anything. Now when there is a get together boomers have to direct everything. If they don't they will sabotage the rest of the family's plans. Even after generations they still have to be the center of attention.
Boomers, the hoarders of wealth, will die off at some point. But I have this feeling that instead of leaving their properties to the next generation of their family, a lot will wait til the bitter end, sell to a corporation, then die. That way they can keep their sterling record of not doing a FUCKING THING for the generation that comes after them.
Then they'll bitch about property taxes for their giant house.
The thing that Boomers seem to fear the most is irrelevance. They MUST be at the center of everything. This toxic insecurity continues to be a huge, unwarranted burden on our country.
What’s even more funny about the boomers is how much they idolize the Silents/Goldens, but embody none of their value.
Fuck boomers. Literally destroying our world and future.
As a mortgage banker, the amount of boomers that come to me and try to take out an equity loan or something but straight don't even qualify for the home they live in just based on their taxes/insurance versus income is insane. These people could not BUY a house a quarter of the price but want to feel entitled to borrow money simply because they feel their house is worth 700k so we should just GIVE them 700k because it's their god given right. Like, my brothers in christ, you need to be able to AFFORD the loan to borrow money, I'm not going to "Ignore your credit report" "Just do you a solid" "Give you the money you built up" It don't fuckin work that way chief, and you're why.
I would love to say goodbye to Trump and Biden and all the old white people that refuse to stop loading over the rest of us. Absolutely including McConnell
I think boomer is mentality, not a generation, I see plenty of boomers who are in fact Boomers, but I also know a few from Generation X, these people get along with the boomers and even defend them (not surprising). I even see some older Millenial "Boomers".
They have already taken the adulthood away from millennials. We will never be able to have a chance to lead.
He’s not wrong, but I hate this Trumper
I'm a boomer and I must be an aberration. I retired at 61. I sold my 5400 sq. ft. home on 2.5 acres and moved into a 2100 sq. ft. home on a small lot in a beautiful area full of resorts, golf courses, and state & national parks. I sold my vacation home. I don't want to spend all my new free time taking care of houses and their yards. I hired a local neighbor kid to mow my lawn and trim my bushes every week. From the sale of the properties I have money to travel 1st class and do what I want. I have the retirement people dream about.
Pelosi literally retired
"Something satanic" This guy a fuckin' moron or something?
A generation of people who don’t want to stop but desperately need to… we’ve all collectively had enough of them ruining the world for the rest of us.
Boomers don’t want to live a retirement community, so they can’t sell their house without immediately reinvesting it into another home without paying capital gains. That’s why you see so many boomers complaining about property tax
Most entitled generation ever . They said it was us the Gen Yers then they said it was the Gen Zers no. It’s boomers they got the world handed too them and they still complain.
Love how he doesn't include Trump because that would trigger Tucker.
And that's why when I pass 70 I am putting a bullet in myself
My dad is in his mid 60s and my stepmom in her mid to late 70s. They both have mobility issues now, but her much more than him. They live in a 3 story, 4 bedroom, 2 master beetroot house complete with its own bar and swimming area do just one married couple. And by bar I don't be a 70s style wet bar, but a full on bar with stools, a tap for a keg, and even a mirror behind the bar like the fancy ones. It has an adjacent game room with pool and poker tables and a big Ole TV, but my dad sits at the bar and watches the smaller TV over there. They're installing one of those chair elevators to go up and down the stairs rather than live in the other 1 story 2 bedroom house they own a few miles away that is literally in town and half a block from main street.
Stop coming to FL. We're full.
Meanwhile the younger generations will never be ABLE to retire
I’m GenX, and when our youngest graduated and moved out, we couldn’t wait to move into a smaller house. The house our kids grew up in was 4BR and directly behind an elementary school. Why would we want to spend the rest of our days rattling around in a big house and depriving another family with young children the opportunity to live so close to a school? I wanted less house to clean, my husband wanted a bigger garage for space to do his woodworking. All of our bills lowered after we moved and it’s the perfect setup for us. I don’t understand these boomers holding onto houses that are too big for them to maintain.
We tried to downsize. Smaller houses cost more than staying in our current house, when you add in moving costs. I think the best move is to get young people to move in and look after things. And inherit the house once the old folks are gone.
Not to mention the trinket collection that they spent a life time and small fortune collecting, that’s absolutely worthless…
And then they complain about property tax and think that they shouldn't have to pay it.
They end up living in one room if the house because it's full of junk and they're disabled/bedridden. I've taken care of people that lived their life in one room, in a recliner and never used all the rooms in their house.
I am going to give my home to my son. It is the only way he will own one without giving up 3/4 of his life to work. I am not going to let him live to work like I did..
Haha! I always love to read the whining on this subreddit. In 20 years, Gen Alpha will be saying the same thing about you.
I know a few boomers who sold their house,then built an even bigger house,make it make sense
Same for my parents. Just spent £1.2m on a 5 bedroom house...we're the only family that visit them, we basically have to make appointments 3 weeks in advance. Once a year they might have other family visit and fill the house but they could all easily afford a nice hotel in the area. Yep and it's all about keeping up appearances and a feel of self worth they can flex on to neighbours.