2008 marks the first year when 78 million baby-boomers born between 1946 to 1964 start retiring. This is the first time in the US history that there is so many people who will be eligible for AARP membership. As a result, federal spending on retirement and healthcare –Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security will increase dramatically. So how will this affect you when it’s your turn to retire and what should you do now? Since it has never happened before, you don’t have the benefits of learning from the history. You just have to rely on analysis, projections of experts, paying attention to all the red flags you have seen along the way, and sometimes just your own common sense. Let’s look at the big picture from 30,000 feet:
1. Uncle Sam is currently spending about $1.30 for every tax dollar he collects. As of March 2008, the US national debt is $9.38 trillion dollars or about $30,894 per citizen. Per the Government Accountability Office (GAO) this kind of fiscal policy is unsustainable. However, it does not take a rocket scientist to come up with that conclusion. Just try to do that with your checking account!
2. Government spending on health care alone could double by 2017 to more than 2 trillion dollars a year as a result of baby boom generation retiring and rising costs of drugs & medical expenses. Americans are also living longer. As they get older, they also have more medical problems: high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, Alzheimer (one out of eight baby-boomers will get it), and cancers. And medicines baby boomers need are very expensive. For example, a year’s supply of Avastin to treat colorectal cancer associated with old age costs $55,000. Read the rest of this entry »
Real estate is often termed as the safest investment avenue. In fact, real estate investments done with proper evaluation of the property (and its true value), can lead to good profits. This is one reason why some people pursue real estate investment as their full time job. The talks of real estate are generally focussed towards residential real estate; commercial real estate seems to take a back seat. However, commercial real estate too is a good option for investing in real estate.