#BoomerangKids @AdultsLivingWithParents #EmptyNest
“Boomerang kids.”
These are the young adult children who move back home with Mom and Dad either because they don’t want, or can’t afford, to live on their own.
Of parents whose adult children returned in the last year, 68 percent reported more stress, and 53 percent said they were less happy.
That’s according to an article by Erin Arvedlund for The Philadelphia Inquirer. The article was also published Aug. 7, 2017, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
One in nine parents surveyed by Fidelity and Stanford University’s Center on Longevity reported having children who moved back home in adulthood, the article says.
Not only were most of the parents more stressed and less happy about that, 46 percent of mothers reported worse sleeping and weight gain, the article quotes the study.
The study, as quoted in the article, also reports that more 18- to 35-year-olds live with parents than with a spouse.
To prevent adult children from moving home, some parents are resorting to buying houses for the children, the article says.
It may be oversimplification to pinpoint causes for this, but let’s start with the economy. After the 2008 meltdown, jobs, even for young people, became scarcer. Those that did get jobs don’t make the kind of money to would allow them to live on their own.
The article also points out that some of these adult children are moving back with children of their own, so divorce, or having children outside of marriage, plays a part.
It’s hard for many of us in a different generation even resorting to moving back home for any length of time, no matter the circumstances. But these younger folks don’t see it as a problem, perhaps because their life at home was so good.
As Kelly Yamanouchi reported in the Oct. 24, 2017, edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the average pay for Delta Air Lines flight attendants is $25,000 a year. It’s tough for a young adult to pay rent, eat and otherwise have a decent life today on that salary.
It still begs the question of how one has a social life around Mom and Dad, and how Mom and Dad work a social life around adult kids at home.
From the parents’ viewpoint, money that you give to your children is money you probably won’t have to retire on.
Undoubtedly, it’s not an easy decision to turn away your children in times of trouble. Many of them don’t have the opportunities for earning a living that their parents had, because there are fewer good jobs.
If you are a young adult contemplating moving home, for financial reasons or otherwise, remember that there are more ways to make an income, potentially a great income, than a W-2 job. To check out one of the best, message me.
If you are a parent getting set to take in an adult child, try to discern the real reason they want to move home, and try to help them find an alternative – perhaps short of buying them a house – to moving back home.
Parents and adult children living under one roof can create so much tension, simply because each has his or her own way of doing things. Neither parents nor children need that stress.
It’s good for adults to live on their own when possible. It helps the economy and society as a whole. Make sure that if you have to move back in with Mom and Dad, that it will be very temporary, and for the right reasons.
Peter
Tag Archives: Kelly Yamanouchi
UPS IS ADDING JOBS, BUT FOR HOW LONG?
#UPS #OnlineShopping #AddedJobs
UPS is “hiring like crazy” because of the growth in e-commerce. “I’ve never seen jobs get added at UPS like it has in the last year,” says Eric Massaro, a shop stewards for the Teamsters union at a UPS sorting facility in Roswell, Ga.
Massaro was quoted in an article by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Kelly Yamanouchi, published Aug. 25, 2017.
In addition to adding people, UPS is adding technology to help it get packages delivered more quickly, with fewer mistakes and greater efficiency, the article says.
The UPS situation illustrates how a decline in some brick-and-mortar retail businesses can turn in to a boon elsewhere.
UPS also had to add Saturday delivery, because people shop online on weekends and the packages back up on Mondays, the article says.
UPS is also trying to nudge customers to pick up their own packages at various locations, to save time for its drivers, the article says.
Let’s examine the UPS situation from a different perspective. Right now, it’s hiring – “good-paying jobs with benefits,” the article quotes Massaro. The workers are putting in long hours which, if you are unemployed, could make you jealous.
But what the article does not discuss is what technology could do to a lot of those jobs 10 or 20 years hence.
Think driverless vehicles, better sorting and loading technology, deliveries to homes by drones, etc. And let’s not forget that Amazon is testing its own delivery service, which could affect UPS directly. Yamanouchi reported on that in the Oct. 6, 2017, edition. The trend at UPS could be good if you don’t have many more years left to work. If you are just starting out, though, think long and hard about what you will do.
Most jobs undergo change whether the person doing them changes or not. Companies have to be flexible and nimble enough to change quickly, as situations change. Therefore, companies will need to have less structure and more technology to allow them to change more quickly.
The article says that UPS has increased its technology already, but still needs even more people. That’s good news for those looking for work today. Working at UPS for a few years could get you over the hump, if you’ve lost a good job and are having trouble finding another one.
But a wise person will also be looking at a Plan B – something he could do a few hours a week when he’s not working at, say, UPS. There are many such vehicles out there for those willing to look for them. To check out one of the best, message me. You might even see something that will allow you to do online shopping and save money, too.
It is not as easy being a working person today, as it was several decades ago. Change came more slowly then, and that allowed people to finish out careers and retire when they were ready. Today, that is almost unheard of. People are often forced out of jobs long before retirement age and are banished to a job market that doesn’t want them.
Thanks goodness companies like UPS need people. But one could mistakenly think that its need for people will be everlasting. That kind of thinking might be a mistake.
Using the retailers’ example again, there was a time when some retailers could not keep up with demand in their stores. As fast as goods came in, they were bought.
Today, many of those same retailers are struggling, because of e-commerce and other reasons. Don’t let this sudden demand for help by UPS allow you to think it won’t go away. Many good things like this usually do. Be ready, so if the rug is pulled out from under you, you can have a puffy pad to land on.
Peter
BROKEN PROMISES AND PENSIONS: NEVER PRESUME
#UPS #pensions #FreezingPensions
UPS plans to freeze pensions for non-union employees effective 2023.
So says an article by Kelly Yamanouchi, a reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which was published June 29, 2017.
The freeze will affect about 70,000 administrative and managerial employees, the article quotes UPS.
The employees will be shifted to a plan that includes extra company contributions to each employee’s 401(k) accounts, the article says.
“Continued increases in future pension obligations and volatility that makes it difficult to plan for future costs,” was cited in the article as the reason for the change. The non-union pension plan has a deficit of about $6.5 billion, according to the article.
It’s difficult to judge how badly those non-union employees will be hurt by this change, but it speaks to an ongoing trend.
If you are fortunate enough to work for someone that provides a pension plan – they are getting fewer by the day – be prepared for some changes somewhere along the way. Unionized employees in both the public and private sectors are susceptible to changes, even if a contract locks the employer in.
It’s truly the wise person who anticipates changes, even if he or she doesn’t know what those changes are, or when they will come.
UPS, it seems, is giving their affected employees some warning, so they can begin planning.
It’s unsafe to presume that your employer – again, if you are lucky enough to be in a pension plan – will do the same, or even give you notice.
So, if you are not covered by a pension plan, or if your pension plan undergoes a sudden change that may give less than you had anticipated, what should you do?
If you are still relatively young, start by not presuming that your company will take care of you when you retire. Remember the adage, if it is to be, it’s up to me.
Save your money as if there will be NO benefits coming to you from your company. If you get benefits, then you’ll be that much better off. In other words, consider whatever pension you get to be gravy.
Next, sit down with a trusted adviser who can guide you to a financial plan that will cover your life expenses now, and encourage you to save so you can provide for yourself in your elder years.
There’s nothing worse that working your tail off for, say, 40 years, and be broke, or close to, when you are older.
Also, anticipate the possibility that you WILL BE retired before you want to be. That is happening, and has happened, to countless people.
Another tip: instead of getting a second job if you are unable to save enough, look into one of the many vehicles out there that allows you the chance to earn a potentially lucrative income with a few part-time hours a week. To check out one of the best such vehicles, message me.
The corporate and business worlds are littered with broken promises to employees. Never presume that promises made when you were hired will be kept when you retire. Don’t even assume that promises made the day you were hired will be kept throughout your career.
Remember, too, that as you walk through that broken promissory litter, no one but you will pick up the pieces.
Peter