BoomerVille: Oh, No

At 6 PM ET we can start checking the Dow futures. Unless there is a fix for the now-closed-again Strait of Hormuz the gains we've made in our nest eggs in the past few days could go poof. And worse. 

Sure, we Boomers are a fragmented lot. Who we are depends on how we experienced the economy. The oldest like myself entered into an era of abundance. Younger Boomers not so much so. But one thing we currently have in common is our necessary preoccupation with money.

We could make it into our 90s. Through Facebook I'm encountering members of my class of 1967. So far only one who I know of has passed on. What we didn't expect is that here we still would be at age 80. The angst is if we will be able to keep paying the bills for this peculiar expansion of longevity.

Policymakers, please fix the Hormuz issues. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wachtell Partner Romancing Associate in Central Park: Let's Talk About Power

  Would red-haired 40-something Nathaniel Cullerton be so appealing to a 20-something if he hadn't been a partner in an elite law firm and she was an underling at that firm?  That's what most of the coverage of the kissing incident in Central Park by the two Wachtell lawyers doesn't touch. Here is the video by Tik Toker Jay Guapo of their romantic break in the day. It was foreign-policy expert Henry Kissinger who observed: "Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac."  Since then, organizations have recognized how that reality can create major problems in the workplace. Typically, those take the form of a manager type engaging in an intimate relationship with a subordinate or at least a person with less status. Another issue is that such arrangements can breed favoritism. The subordinate gets goodies others don't. The rest of the organization seethes in resentment.  In addition, it can also trigger penalties for "non-compliance." The subordinate resists th...
Read more

America Not Hiring in 2026: Back to Golden Age of Solopreneurs?

 For hiring, 2025 was a brutal year to search for a job. The Wall Street Journal reports that 2026 could be worse: "At a gathering of CEOs in Midtown Manhattan this month organized by the Yale School of Management, 66% of leaders surveyed said they planned to either fire workers or maintain the size of their existing teams next year. Only a third indicated they planned to hire." The WSJ adds that pullback from adding manpower could be temporary. But given shareholders' demand for cost-efficiency and the continual improvements in AI, chronic unemployment could become standard. However, there is a solution. An old-fashioned one. That's becoming a solopreneur, that is setting up your own business without partners or employees. The model dates back to ancient times.  The golden age of the solo business owner in America had been from the late 1800s to about the mid 1920s.  There had been a wave of immigrants, discrimination against them and few jobs. They drove pushcarts ...
Read more

An Equity Partner in Big Law, But Not a Star: Expect a Pay Cut This Year

It's nothing new. Law firms chase star talent and pay premium compensation for those twinklers. Way back in 2021, Paul, Weiss' Brad Karp hammered in Bloomberg Law  the critical importance of that star power. Law firms which don't have the financial resources to recruit, hold and motivate them could stop growing, going out of business.  What is new are these current realities: the current frenzy of the chase and annual compensation reaching $40 million.  Well, equity partners who aren't stars will help pay for that payout. Law.com  predicts haircuts for some of them this year. There always had been a caste system in Big Law, a niche in which prestige is an embedded value. Never were all equity partners equal. It had been standard to de-equitize those not cutting it or even force them out. A strategy of shaming usually was effective to get them to exit.  Now, it's more brutal. Already the number of equity partners is being reduced. That's to ensure top dollar fo...
Read more