Ready or not, the youngest boomers are retiring

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Happy Earth Day! The holiday is a perfect time to visit One Planet, Business Insider's hub for climate news, analysis, and action.

In today's big story, we're looking at a new group of Americans preparing for retirement despite not really having the assets to comfortably do it.

What's on deck:

• Markets: The secret is out (sort of) on Jane Street's $1 billion trading strategy.

• Tech: AI has racist tendencies. Scientists and founders are trying to fix it.

• Business: Why there are so many annoying customer feedback surveys these days.

But first, a new silver tsunami.

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The big story

Boomer blowup

Ready or not, the youngest boomers are retiring.

The elder generation's final segment — more than 30 million Americans — is quitting work for good. But unlike their older peers, this group isn't as prepared for retirement.

The majority of so-called "peak boomers" have $250,000 or less in assets, according to a recent report, write Juliana Kaplan and Ayelet Sheffey. Still, that's not stopping many of them from retiring, meaning they'll eventually rely on Social Security as their primary source of income.

If you're a bit surprised by the dire economic situation of peak boomers, I wouldn't blame you.

For a while, we've heard about how good things are for boomers. They own homes either outright or with rock-bottom mortgage rates. Sky-high interest rates mean they can get decent returns on low-risk investments. And they're sitting on mountains of cash.

That might be true for elder boomers, but not everyone is as fortunate. In fact, some boomers envision themselves having to work until the day they die.

One reason for the intra-generational disconnect: pensions. Older boomers had the benefit of employer-subsidized retirement plans before a shift in the workforce left younger boomers to fend for themselves.

Peak boomers' retirement struggles might end up being a wake-up call for younger generations.

Most Gen Xers, millennials, and Gen Zers are in the same boat as peak boomers when it comes to taking a DIY approach to retirement savings thanks to the decline of pensions being offered.

There will be plenty of lessons learned from peak boomers entering retirement without the safety net of a pension. And things could be even worse for younger generations as Social Security could be in trouble in less than a decade.

Large economic events have already had lasting impacts on these generations, from the financial crisis (millennials) to Covid (Gen Zers). Perhaps watching a retirement crisis unfold will kickstart younger cohorts' savings plans.

But finding the money to save won't be easy. A growing number of Americans are struggling to just get by.

ALICEs — asset-limited, income-constrained, and employed — don't qualify for government help but can't afford rent and healthcare. For them, thinking about tomorrow is hard enough, let alone retirement.

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News brief

Your Monday headline catchup

A quick recap of the top news from over the weekend:

• House votes to ban TikTok in US unless Chinese owner ByteDance sells to American company.

• These 112 House Republicans voted against Ukraine aid.

• These 37 House Democrats and 21 Republicans voted against Israel aid.

• Private equity bet on special-education schools: 'It's just a moneymaking machine'.

• Google's worker firings show that the office actually isn't a place to be yourself.

• As most AI execs scramble for more data, Mark Zuckerberg says there's actually something more 'valuable'.

• A Gen Xer who got $250,000 in student loans forgiven said he can now finally start saving for retirement — and consider his dream of studying in India.

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3 things in markets

1. A mega preview for mega-cap tech earnings. Magnificent Seven stocks like Tesla, Google, and Meta are set to report earnings next week. These are the biggest things investors are on the lookout for once the numbers drop.

2. Secrets emerge about an elite Wall Street firm that prides itself on privacy. Jane Street is suing two former traders and rival Millennium over a lucrative trading strategy. On Friday, details about the trade, including the country it involves, were revealed in court.

3. Bitcoin halved. The cryptocurrency underwent its long-awaited halving event on Friday evening, cutting the rewards earned by miners by 50%. JPMorgan is warning that the token is now in overbought territory, meaning its price could be set to fall.

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3 things in tech

1. AI has a racism problem. Last summer, a Black woman was wrongfully arrested due to the faulty facial-recognition AI used by the Detroit Police Department. Despite its major flaws, the AI is being used around the world — and some scientists and founders are scrambling to fix it.

2. More layoffs at Tesla. After Elon Musk announced a 10% reduction of staff early last week, the EV maker informed some of its recruiters they'd been laid off. Tesla closed out one of its toughest weeks ever by slashing its car and software prices in China, the US, and Europe.

3. Medium is cutting its cloud spend. CEO Tony Stubblebine expects the online publishing company to turn a profit for the first time ever sometime this year, thanks in part to a somewhat unexpected strategy. He told BI that employers found a lot of unused space with cloud storage providers like AWS and Snowflake, enabling Medium to cut its monthly costs by over $500,000.

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3 things in business

1. On a scale of 1 to 5, how likely are you to recommend this newsletter? Customer feedback surveys have become the modern-day robocalls — they're abundant, annoying, and often ignored. Companies are using them as a cheaper way to try to retain customers, but nobody seems to know what to do with the survey results.

2. The cautionary tale of Tulsa's Queen of Airbnb. Post pandemic, property manager Dani Widell promised investors an easy windfall from what was supposed to be Tulsa's Airbnb gold rush. Instead, her Airbnb empire came crashing down — and her subjects were left to pick up the pieces.

3. America has become a nation of hate spenders. Inflation has steadily crept up again in recent months, but consumers appear to be spending their way through it. Experts told BI's Emily Stewart that shoppers probably know prices aren't going back to 2019 levels and have decided they may as well just live it up.

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In other news

• Bill Gates added a $43 million beachfront home to his sprawling real estate portfolio last year. Here's a closer look at his empire.

• What Taylor Swift's new album means for her $1 billion fortune.

• Zuck's new AI drop is cool and all, but he's still playing catch-up with Sam Altman.

• I knew Trump Media's stock would tank, but even I'm surprised it happened this fast.

• I'm the son of a billionaire. Here's how my family's wealth affected how I made friends and dated.

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What's happening today

• Today's earnings: Verizon and other companies are reporting.

• It's Earth Day.

• Keep an eye out: The Lyrid meteor shower, one of the oldest known showers, will peak tonight.

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The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. George Glover, reporter, in London. Grace Lett, associate editor, in Chicago.