tvguy
Question anything the facts don't support.
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2003
yes, but it's interesting to discuss changing trends in the last 5 years.
i'm from your neck of the woods and most of those i'm speaking of are still there.
yes, ideally those retired/approaching retirement should be established and have homes paid in full-sadly that's not the reality. recent reports put the numbers at 44% of retirees still holding mortgages on their primary homes-with almost 1/3 of those estimating more than 8 years left on that debt-among those 75 and older the studies are showing the figure at 21% which is a HUGE jump from just 8.4% in 2001.
I know plenty of people who had the best of intentions on paying off their mortgages timely or even early but the economy got in the way-their wages went down, their healthcare insurance skyrocketed, and those whose intent was to pay for their kid's college saw increases they never anticipated (the average was 80% between 2000 and 2014 at public colleges, but that's just the average i know some of them saw much more). so if the choice came down to having health insurance or not-no brainer, they shortchanged their retirement savings. wages go down/commute costs go up (floors me how much bridge tolls into the bay area have increased since I left-and allot of my coworkers from your neck of the woods commuted there b/c of better housing options/lower crime/better schools)/cost of living in general goes up and they find that in order to fund their kid's college they have to raid their savings/home equity (if they bought at reasonable prices before the bubble burst and hadn't refi'd it to the hilt). I've never been of the mindset that a college fund takes priority over funding retirement but it seems to have become much more the norm so while their now well into adulthood 'kids' have no college debt (but plenty of other consumer debt) the parents are facing a retirement future that is much bleaker than the previous generation.
I haven't seen the 44% figure, highest I can find is 30%
I understand how unfortunate circumstances can impact financial plans. Sadly, for many, just bad life choices are the issue.