Baby Boomers As Change Agents – They Alter Everything They Touch!
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The Pig in the Python
For decades, those Americans born right after WWII have been tagged as “Baby Boomers”. The US Census defines a Boomer is “someone born during the demographic birth boom between 1946 and 1964″.
This classification includes nearly 80 million members with amazing buying capacity.
Lots of people, particularly advertisers, believe this classification to be a uniform one; however doing so is actually a mistaken approach. Historically the group has been considered to be comprised of malcontents, as demonstrated by the era of the sixties (e.g., free love, peace-niks and war protesters), but lots of members are actually quite traditional in their sentiments and way of acting.
People born in this timeframe are quite different in many respects: most (but not all) have children; some are grandparents and/or “empty-nesters;” others are never married, taking care of an old parent, divorced, gay, or members of extended or alternate lifestyle families. Some are currently employed, some retired, others giving significant consideration to retiring.
Transformers Change All That They Touch
There is, however, one characteristic that has defined this group – they are change agents. Due to their numbers, and relative wealth, they have had a metamorphosing impact upon life and economy in the US crossing the past 6 decades. In fact, writer Doug Owram has called Boomers “a shockwave,” and author Landon Jones has identified them as “the pig in the python”.
This generation has impacted nearly everything as they have moved thru their teenage years, early maturity, their jobs, the economy, etc. – and there isn’t any reason to infer that they’ve ended their morphing of our society.
I’m expecting that the latest area to be transformed by this generational cohort is retirement.
I recall when I was a kid, I believed anybody aged 50, or more, was “old” but now, demographers consider 50 to be the beginning of Early Middle Age, and argue that Old Age doesn’t begin until after age 75. Currently, Americans at age 50 can expect to live 35 more years, and thus, be “retired” for twenty years or more – so what are they intending to do with all that extra time?
In previous years, the period of retirement was sometimes comparatively fleeting and characterized by deteriorating healthiness, limited funds, and few decisions; however, for this collection of nearly 80 million Americans, those inhibitions no longer fit. In their 30′s, they bragged about “never growing old,” and now, it’s up to them to deliver on that claim.
So, just what are they going to do with an additional two or three decades of active aging? Modern diet and health care have significantly extended that period when people remain healthy and functioning (as an example, my mother is in her 90s, resides alone, and still drives her own car).
How Retirement Is Being Changed
Are the “Boomers” going to be satisfied to pull out the rocking chair, sit on their veranda, and see the world pass them by? I believe not!
Generally, members of this generation are on the path to self-actualization (as Maslow used the term):
- A lot of them have lots of things they want to do yet in their lives.
- Considering they’ll have 20-30 years of time to fill, they will have an interest in a wide variety of leisure activities (e.g, travel, golf, at-home entertainment).
- As a result of all this time, they also want to remain healthy enough to like that time – so they are going to be extremely interested by products and services that can help them stay fit and powerful.
- A lot of them will actually “reinvent” their careers – beginning that job or occupation they’ve often daydreamed about, but had to put off because of relationship or other needs.
- Lots of them will start their own businesses, and the web gives then many possibilities they have never had before.
- Education, novel experiences and things that will provide them with time liberty will be important for this group of financially comfortable americans.
How will you apply that time across work and play? Are there hopes that you have postponed for many years but wish to accomplish throughout your “retirement”?
If you’re one of those folks wanting to start your own firm, give some thought to beginning an affiliate or other internet business – but be aware that the difficulty with most online programs is that their training is limited. Unfortunately, you will need more training than they typically impart. One very good starting place for picking up the skills that you’ll need is to enroll in the Online Success for Beginners course.
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