Nevin's Data "Points"

   Apparently, Baby Boomers have some ‘splainin to do. Yes, after decades of being blamed for everything from the demise of defined benefit pensions to the price of housing, Boomers are now being castigated for something else: spending the money that their children were (apparently) counting on inheriting. Indeed, there’s been a lot of talk about the so-called “Great Wealth Transfer” — and lately a fair amount of consternation that Boomers might actually spend some of that wealth before they die. Which got me wondering: How much did the Boomers actually inherit from their parents? Turns out, for most, not all that much. Back in 2011, researchers at Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research [i] took a specific look at that question. They estimated that about two-thirds of Boomer households would ultimately receive an inheritance. And that median expected inheritance was ... (just) $64,000 . Now, $64,000 is certainly nothing to sneeze at. But neither is it the kind of ge...

As human beings, we’re drawn to perspectives, including surveys and studies that validate our sense of the world. This “ confirmation bias ,” as it’s called, is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms our preexisting beliefs or hypotheses. It also tends to make us discount findings that run afoul of our existing beliefs. In its simplest terms then, when you see a headline that confirms your sense of the world, you’ll be naturally inclined to embrace and remember it as a validation of what you already perceive reality to be. Even if the grounds supporting that premise are shaky, sketchy, or (shudder) downright scurrilous. Here are some things to look for – likely in the fine print – as you evaluate those findings. There can be a difference between what people say they will (or might) do and what they actually will. No matter how well targeted they are, surveys (and studies that incorporate the outcome of surveys) must rely on w...

It is routinely reported that 10,000 Baby Boomers are retiring every day, and yet surveys continue to indicate that Americans plan to postpone retirement. This raises the question: are more older Americans working? A recent Wall Street Journal article notes  (subscription required) that one of the biggest changes in the U.S. labor market over the past two decades has been the increasing number of people working over the age of 55. As recently as 1993, only 29% of people that age were in the labor force, but by 2012 more than 41% of that age group were still in the labor force, the highest since the early 1960s. It’s hard to find a workplace survey these days that doesn’t find workers planning to work past the traditional retirement age of 65. For example, a recent survey by the Federal Reserve found that fewer than one in five workers age 55 to 64 planned to follow the traditional retirement model of working full time until a set date and then stop working altogether. A re...

"In inflation, everything gets more valuable except money." This week, the eyes of the stock market (and thus the eyes of those of us with 401(k) investments in that stock market) will turn to the meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee—that special subset of the Federal Reserve that determines short-term monetary policy for the nation. The Fed has long—and understandably—been on the alert for signs that inflation might rear its ugly head. Those of us who lived through the 1970s can remember all too well the relentless pressure of wages unable to keep up with prices—and can appreciate the vigilance of the Fed in seeking to keep inflation under control. In fact, for some time now, the Fed has moved preemptively to head off inflation, or so it claims. But anyone who has actually gone out and bought such basic household necessities as food or gasoline is well aware that the costs of living are climbing rapidly. We may well enjoy a sense of growing wealth as we watch hou...