Boomers can't afford to retire, P.J. O'Rourke says
Many baby boomers can't afford to retire even though 10,000 of their generation do so daily.
"We'll never retire. We can't afford it. The mortgage is underwater and we're in debt up to the Rogaine because we're paying for the child's education," P.J. O'Rourketold the Commonwealth Club of California Wednesday night. The author is making the rounds to promote his latest book, "The Baby Boom: How it got that way (And it wasn't my fault) (And I'll never do it again)."
O'Rourke's description of the financial challenges facing older boomers will have a familiar ring. Last year, Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) said the nation faces a retirement crisis.
The Commonwealth program began with a brief misunderstanding between O'Rourke and the moderator, KGO Radio's Ronn Owens, that centered on many boomers' biggest expense. Or perhaps, it's simply a case of the free living Bay Area meets live-free-or-die New Hampshire.
Owens told the audience that O'Rourke grew up in Toledo, Ohio, and now calls New Hampshire home, having avoided living in America's big cities.
"Taxes are definitely what I'm avoiding," O'Rourke quipped. To which, Owens said, "You're avoiding Texas?"
The author made it clear he was more concerned about tax collectors than Texans, but it was a great kick-off for O'Rourke to share his observations on his fellow boomers, born between 1946 and 1964.
"We are the generation who did everything. Ours is the one who made the biggest impression — on ourselves," he said.
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