Comments on: Age Your Financial Attitude for Greater Happiness

By: Ryan P Smith

Ryan P Smith — Tue, 26 May 2009 22:17:37 +0000

I think kitty is right on, people that had fixed incomes already and no job to lose were less effected by change in the economy. I would think that people nearing retirement age who don’t have time to wait for the market to recover would be feeling the most stress.

By: Ms. Ferret

Ms. Ferret — Thu, 21 May 2009 00:58:28 +0000

I’m with kitty. Yes, old folks probably don’t buy as much crap, because they don’t have to — they bought all of their crap decades ago and no longer have any need to impress others by buying new crap. However, I’m guessing the real reason old folks are happier is that they don’t have mortgages, don’t have a job to worry about losing, don’t have young dependent children, and don’t have to worry about health insurance any more.

So while I agree that being happy with less is never a bad idea, I think that a person’s attitude in a recession also depends on where they are in the rat race — if you did your victory lap in 2003 and are kicking back in the clubhouse, you probably aren’t going to be quite as concerned as the rest of us when the racetrack catches fire.

By: Corporate Barbarian

Corporate Barbarian — Wed, 20 May 2009 19:02:04 +0000

My old man had a saying: “We are too soon old, and too late smart.” I think this correlates with the survey. Older people probably have taken their lumps, and have figured it out, while younger people are still going through their growing pains.

By: kitty

kitty — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:04:47 +0000

There is another reason, probably the most important one: older folks are mostly retired and retired people are not employed, so they don’t worry about losing their jobs. This is the main worry of those who are employed and not just those with debt.

Their income comes from investments. The recession hasn’t affected their income as much. Or, maybe, it affected interest they earn on CDs, but as the prices came down as well, it may not be that much of an issue. Annuities, pensions, social security still pay the same. Sure, some people lost money in stocks, but most retired people with brains don’t keep that much money in stocks anyway.

Debt is not the only reason to fear losing one’s job, losing one’s medical coverage is another. For folks over 65 on medicare it’s not that much of an issue.