Swelling ranks of baby boomer retirees create negative impact on investment returns
Baby boomers have been blamed for a long list of societal ills almost since the first member was born in 1946. A potentially decades-long decline in investment returns is one of the most serious charges to be laid at the generation's doorstep, and some experts think we may already be in the middle of it.Historical returns for a balanced portfolio have averaged about 8 percent annually. Between 2005 and 2050, according to a 2009 analysis, investment returns are likely to decline by about 0.9 percentage points. Economists generally agree on the driving force — the retirement and resulting change in spending and saving patterns of America's largest generation — but not the mechanism of the decline. The prevailing theory guesses retirees will depress returns by pulling money out of their 401(k...