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20 Don’t Make Me Say I Told You So

paid over 20, 30, or 40-year periods. When Social Security started
in 1935, only 1% of the government’s tax base was used to fund

4
the program. Because people are living longer in retirement, it
now takes about 14% of the tax base to fund it. 5

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The Baby Boomer Freight Train

Baby Boomers get so much attention and so much media

coverage mostly because of their sheer numbers as the single
largest generation in American history. Baby Boomers have

affected everything in this country in a grand way – from the
building of suburbs across the country to the changes in music

that came with Elvis and the Beatles, the changes in fashion,
and now their impact on retirement in the United States.

As the Baby Boomers retire, there will be fewer working
people to pay into the Social Security system than there will be

people who are receiving benefits. The so-called “Baby Bust”

started just after the last Boomer was born, and birth rates have
stayed lower ever since. So what we end up with is a smaller
labor force supporting more and more retirees.

Chapter 1: The New Retirement