Looks like each generation has it rough this time: report

This should be interesting to watch the future unfold as the Gen-X generation who has watched the financial legs get kicked out from under them at every step is expected to pay for the retirement lifestyle of the Babyboom generation who's parents laid out a golden pathway for them.
Just looking at the number alone it is going to get very rough for babyboomers, very quickly at their mid - late retirement phase as either the Gen-X / Gen-Y gives up on the Democracy experiment or chooses to go on a Taxpayer strike.
The boomer generation didn't have the children required and instead relied upon floods of immigrants to fill the gaps.
Many of these third world immigrants watch their families live in poverty living a lower class lifestyel here while listening to local boomer retiree's complaining about the food on their most recent Cruise. I don't think this engenders feelings of goodwill to the boomer generation.
Who knows though?
Perhaps a Magic money tree will spring up in Ottawa and continue to rain money on the the Boomers.

It'll be interesting in that Gen-X will become completely destitude from relying on their Bomer parents for anything and everything while we Millenials have were raised in the wake of the 1980's crash. And then the .com bubble burst and now are entering our adulthood amidst the housing bubble crash.

We are a different breed than the boomers or Gen-Xers. We don't live in a time where hard work and education seem to be worth anything anymore. The Boomers were the last generation to enjoy those perks. Gen-Xers became too complacent in relying on their all too eagar to provide parents who set themselves up with the best lifestyle possible and expected their children to pay for their gravy train.

We are the disillusioned generation that see corporate greed and Capiptalistic profit mongering for what it is. The wants of the few against the needs of the rest. The unsustainable and inevitable crash will be a hard lesson for those at the top. They better hope those golden parachutes work because as every study has shown, these Corporatists are bad at even simple math. That there are far more of us then there are of them seems to ellude them as their stocks fall or companies fold and they hand themselves bigger paycheck and more perks all while patting themselves on the back for the wonderful job they've done at te expense of those who helped them get there.

No, I think it will be very interesting indeed when the Millenials take the reigns in the next decade from these Geriatric politicals and corpratists. I only hope Gen X will have learned how to stand on their own 2 feet by that time.

boomers have had it easy... great economy low house prices good jobs with little education.

They are greedy and have spend recklessly today and let their unborn grandchildren pick up the tab for their largesse.

Can you say "intergenerational warfare" Can you say tax revolt?

"Intergenerational"?

There was a time when the Baby Boomers and Gen X'ers thought EXACTLY like the Millennials. "Full revolt!" "Down with the system!" "Reform Now!" As they aged, and found how to make money by compromising their beliefs, falling in with the powers that be, and going with the flow, they became what they are.

The same will happen to you, even if it inevitably leads to a pit. Just wait.

@Troy Jollimore

You realize that when the Boomers worked they were paid good wages? That CEO's made in the 1970's on Average 25 times what the average worker made? Do you also then realize that real wages in terms of buying power and everything else have stagnated since then? And that CEO's salaries on average have balooned to between 400-500 times what the average worker makes? (depending on the study you read the lowest figure I've ever seen is 380 times based on Salary alone.)

Add to that the fact that executives and boards are all appointed positions and not earned through merit or hard work 99.9% of the time. Add to that the corporations being in bed with government and the "Consulting" jobs and the "Lobbyists" (A.K.A. Paid to bribers) and we know that these companies and corporations are sick at the head and need their necks cut.

Millenials will not sit back and watch as government and business continue to give each other pats on the back while breaking ours. Gen X will need to learn to stand with us as we collectively break the backs of government and business towards a sustainable and brighter future.

Age aside it is harder to make ends meet today than it was yesterday. I see no sign of that trend reversing. The good old days, where have they gone?

As a Gen-exer, I protest the accusations of complacency. After the brutal depressions of the '80s, we entered the work marked having to be satisfied with scaps (precarious, not well-paid jobs with little or no benefits). In addition, periods of unemployment left us with little or no savings (that is despite having good education that we all paid for). Most of us are not waiting for an inheritance from the boomers, who will likely have spent all they had before they die. I guess if anything, I can be accused of being cynical: I am resigned to the fact that, like most of my generation, I will be on the work market until I am in a too bad shape to continue (that will likely be beyond age 67, our new age of retirement).Our generation will pay a lot to collect little. I do have some retirement funds, but it is obvious it won't be enough, and there isn't that much time ahead to save some more.

Surveys by the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future study of high school seniors (conducted continuously since 1975) and UCLA's American Freshman survey (conducted of entering college students since 1966) showed the proportion of students who said being wealthy was very important to them increased from 45% for Baby Boomers to 70% for Gen X and 75% for Gen Y Millennials. The percentage who said it was important to keep up to date with political affairs fell, from 50% for Boomers to 39% for Gen X and 35% for Millennials.
This clearly demonstrates that the Me-Me-Me generations have some type of unrealistic ideology that they should be able to start "at the top". Who's being Greedy ? Boomers generally leaned towards keeping up with the Joneses, whereas subsequent generations believe they are "entitled" to be ahead of the Joneses... right from the starting gate... and without having paid their "dues".
Reality Check !!! Before Gen X or Y are "entitled" to anything, they have to put in time AND effort. Before they buy the latest fads and toys, they need to be able to afford them... and putting it on credit is not defined as affordability. If they want a secure retirement... start saving, start investing intelligently and stop spending frivolously. Gen X and Yers... the latest cellphone or ipod or any of the vast array of electronic gadgets (and their resulting costs and continuous upgrades) are NOT a necessity, neither is having a new car at age 17, neither is buying a condo or house at age 25. If they would reduce their $400. per month cellphone bills or their March break holidays or weekend partying costs by 50%, they'd be able to afford rent, invest into a retirement fund and not be dragged into the abyss of debt. Personal bankrupcies and huge personal debt are self-inflicted 95% of the time.
Time to wake up... get off your "donkeys"... maybe get a 2nd job... share rent with a roomie for 5-10 years and stop blaming everyone else for your own lack of financial controls and responsibilities.

@Really

(The name is hilarious in this context as everything you've said would make any Gen Xer or Millenial go "Really?")

Boomers had and still have it so good they don't even know the half of it. You started out with nothing? Great, most of my friends worked close to full time hours some working 2 or 3 jobs to try to afford University or College and they STILL graduated with debt even after doing so.

If you worked full time while going to school (which is impossible) you'd make under 20,000 after taxes. a Single year of enrollment in even the cheapest University programs is 6,500 dollars. (this is necessity nowadays even entry level positions making barely above minimum wage won't even look at you without a university degree.) This also doesn't of course cover the roughly 500 a semester or 1,000 a year for books. Add in a bus pas to save as much on transportation as possible and it still costs close to 750 just for the 8 months and that's a discounted full time student pass!

That's 8,250 dollars per year just for school alone! That doesn't include Clothes, Food, or Shelter, or any "Weekend Parties"

The boomer favourite thing to say is "I started with nothing" and you know what I bet my friends would have loved to start with nothing as opposed to the 10's of thousands of dollars in debt. Simple math, really.

The boomers took everything they had for granted. Of course they don't care about being wealthy because THEY ALREADY ARE. They had great paying, high security jobs with great benefits and pension plans. Now you piss and moan about the Gen Xers and Gen Yers when we're footing the bill for your health, pensions and OAS. Then you complain that we're a "me" generation? Whose the "me" generation now when all your generation does is piss and moan about how tough you have it with us paying the bills.

You live on a fixed income? That's funny because so do the rest of us and real wages haven't increased since the late 1970's when your generation was creating the next and then subsequently wrecking the economy over and over and over leaving us with having to once again clean up the mess you've made.

i entered the workforce in 1993, big kick in the teeth, 2001, another kick in the teeth, 2009, bye bye years of rrsp growth, the 1993 economy put the fear of economic destitution in me, it ensured that i would have no children. as for my pension plan, when ends don't, or can't meet, it will be a shotgun in my mouth with my toe on the trigger, by that time, fuel, oil, and food will be priced beyond whatever scraps i will get from the gov't. what makes me fume is welfare, i mean social assistance, young people, too good to work, having two, three and four children, more than many working people can afford, my taxes feeds them, and when they are cold, my taxes puts oil in their tank for the winter, i have my thermostat on 16 degrees celsius, and pay over 35 percent income tax, my car is 12 years old and falling apart, meanwhile, some of my neighbors, and some immigrants, who are on 'SOCIAL ASSISTANCE' are living it up. the gov't is letting immigrants in by the boatload, or now on planes, those that don't go on welfare compete with me for work, that keeps the wages down, and along with that, my standard of living, they also compete for housing and resources, such as food, the laws of supply and demand then causes the prices of houses and food to rise. to sum it up, immigrants are bad, they are either a burden on our social services, or they reduce wages and increase house prices for the rest of us. there is only one pie, and the pieces keep getting smaller.

@open your eyes: Same boat, although I'm not as cynical. In some ways, I think the ones that jump on Welfare are the smart ones! ;)

@Patrick: Don't be deluded. The more things change the more they stay the same. The boomers had their share of challenges as well. Their university was relatively just as expensive ($9k a year for school? Go whine to an American and they'll LAUGH at that figure!). Their pay was just as low, although things cost a bit less by comparison and were of better quality. The main part of your argument I'll give you is their job security and benefits. Those are things that are hard to find these days, unless you're in Government, and even that's not 'sacred' anymore. We have more immigration, but that's the result of easier access to tech and travel, and the resultant Global Economy. You see the Boomers as being 'wealthy' because of the result of time. My parents are comfortable, but only because they relied on a Government job which provides good pensions, and never took many large trips or splurged on cars or stuff for the kids or the like. As @Really! said, I don't know many people these days that don't head South at least once a year...Like I mentioned before, the same thing will happen to you. Eventually. But again, there'll be new challenges to face.

I think my favorite quote went something like, "We worked and slaved on the floor, getting paid minimal wage for 60 hours a week, with no benefits and no hope. We watched the managers, who joked around and did next to nothing all day, took as many smoke breaks as they wanted, and were paid almost double what we were. We said that if one of us ever had a break and made it to that position, we'd change everything for the better. Then, *I* had that break. I was promoted to management. You know what? I took the job, and the perks, and never looked back..." It sucks, but that's just the way most people are. I worked in call centers for quite a few years before I got my 'break' (although I think I work harder now, and don't have much to show for it), so I can appreciate what you're going through. I thought I'd have a small family with a small house when I got to where I am now. Talk about a pipe dream!

Glad I didn't have kids or a wife!As a Boomer I lucked out and worked at top paying unskilled labor jobs from age 18-51 and saved modestly.But my turn came a couple years ago and now I work for half of what I used to make.It's ok but I get angry at overpaid civvies plus a still open door immigration policy that lets in thosands of unemployable bloodsuckers from the third world.These two liabilities are driving up the deficit sharply!I don't see how most people can afford to put their kids thru 4 years of post-secondary ed,and fund their own retirement.

We all know the reason behind it, but yet we continue to let the politicians and the corporate greed run the world.

There is not one reason that we should have people dying of starvation - not when there are so many billionaires in the world.

Just my opinion.