I love Dennis Hopper and especially the commercials he does for American Express aimed at Baby Boomers. It’s fantastic marketing and I can relate 100% to it since my parents are hitting that so called Golden Age. Retire and sit around and do nothing? Hardly.
My parents are some of the first wave of the most influential group of demographics in the United States, The Baby Boomers and they are about to hit retirement. (Yes, that makes me a Generation X’er.) Without getting into too much details, my dad has already retired and my parents are travelling just as much as when we lived in Europe but there is a reason for that and a HUGE part of that is because of where they live. I’ll elaborate more on this later.
Years ago I took a fantastic class at the University of Georgia that concerned marketing to Demographics and the effect that the largest segments of the population have on the economy. Baby Boomers obviously have a HUGE impact on the U.S. economy. Their children created a boom in the toy industry and now you are seeing those same children having a big impact on today’s elections. (You might have noticed that all of the politicians are pandering to the colleges across the U.S. — not because college students are all of a sudden taking notice of politics, but because the population of this particular age group is a force to be recognized with and there is a name for this demographic category as well.)
Anyways, the largest segment of the population is about to start retiring in numbers that the United States has NEVER seen and along with that, the huge crunch that it’s going to cause in Pension funds alone is already causing ripple effects across the old cities of the United States scrambling to figure out how to pay for this in a major financial crisis. I have clients that cater to the business of Pension fund managers and it’s a lot worse then the media is intepreting and the signs are all there in some recent legislation for cities such as Chicago.
Blame it on the Sub Prime mortgage crisis or whatever you want to. The reality is that the largest segment of the United States is hitting retirement and the belts are tightening and along with that comes a transition where people start to question why in the world they are paying outrageous property taxes.
So, do you want to live in a City such as Chicago with Property Taxes that are going to take a huge portion of your retirement income or do you want to live in a city such as Las Vegas where the property taxes are half of Chicago?
Do you want to live in a city where raising taxes is every day news? Are employers vacating states such as Ohio because of NAFTA? Hardly… look at your property and state taxes first before you start blaming anybody. Does your state have a favorable business environment? Is it more beneficial to open a new factory in another state? Think like a business and not an employee.
Make sure you read this article about the leadership of Chicago and then think about this quote —>
“Reyna-Hickey said her department merely seeks to collect what the city rightfully has coming.”
The transfer tax is already double the amount of Las Vegas along with property taxes and now the City of Chicago is seriously considering collecting on a Transfer tax even if the purchase of a property does not go through.
The city’s legal position is that whenever a purchase contract is signed, the buyer immediately receives a “beneficial interest” in the property, and that warrants taxation. Most buyers are spared paying immediately but pay when the deed is recorded, as “an administrative convenience,” according to Revenue Department documents.
My parents do a lot of travelling and that’s because they have the disposable income. Their property taxes are super low and they would NEVER move to a city with high taxes or leadership that thinks they are automatically entitled to receive them. From all of our current clients looking to relocate to Las Vegas they seem to have the same interest of wanting to travel the world.
There is a reason why “Easy Rider” is still a great film and it has to do with adventure. Our newest wave of the retirees are full of adventure and the culture certainly has had a huge impact and influence on my life. I’ve been in over 15 countries and just about every state in the United States (thanks Mom and Dad!) and I certainly plan to continue my education in visiting the greatest real estate in the world. The last thing I want to do is contribute to a city or state government that thinks they are “automatically” entitled to it especially when the history of how that money is being spent is questionable to be polite.
“Reyna-Hickey said her department merely seeks to collect what the city rightfully has coming.”
What’s going to be next and Where do you want to spend your “Golden Years”?
