The Pig in the Python
For years, the Americans born during the two decades after WWII have been tagged as “Baby Boomers”. According to the U.S. Census, a Boomer is “someone born during the demographic birth boom between 1946 and 1964″.
This classification comprises approximately 80 million people with tremendous buying capability.
A lot of people, especially marketers, consider this group to be a homogeneous one; but doing that is really an error. Historically the cluster has been considered to be composed of agitators, as demonstrated by the era of the 60s (e.g., free love, peace-niks and war protesters), but large numbers of members are really quite conventional in their beliefs and style of living.
People born during this time period are diverse: most (but not all) are now parents; some are grandparents and/or “empty-nesters;” others are single, caring for an elderly parent, divorced, gay, or belong to non-nuclear or alternate lifestyle families. Some are currently employed, some already retired, others giving heavy consideration to retirement.
Change Agents Affect Everything They Touch
There is however, one ingrained feature that has tagged this group – they’re transformers. Because of the size of this group, and relative wealth, they’ve had a renewing effect on living conditions and culture in the U. S. spanning the previous six decades. In fact, author Doug Owram labeled them “a shockwave,” and writer Landon Jones has described them as “the pig in the python”.
This generation has altered nearly everything as they’ve moved thru their teenage years, early maturity, their jobs, the economy, etc. – and there isn’t any reason to believe that they have stopped their morphing of our culture.
I am betting that the newest sphere to be impacted by this generational cohort is retirement.
I recall that as a kid, I considered any one aged fifty, or more, was “old” but present-day, demographers consider 50 to be the start of Early Middle Age, and propose that Old Age doesn’t begin until after age seventy five. Currently, Americans aged 50 will probably live thirty five more years, and therefore, be “retired” for twenty years or more – so what are they intending to do with all that leisure time?
During previous generations, the time of retirement was often comparatively short and sweet and distinguished by deteriorating health, little money, and few decisions; however, for this group of just about 80 million Americans, those inhibitions no longer apply. In their 30s, they bragged about “never growing old,” and now, it’s their responsibility to prove that claim.
So, just what are they intending to do with an additional 20 or 30 years of active aging? Modern diet and health care have significantly extended that period of time when individuals stay healthy and functioning (as an example, my mom is in her 90s, lives alone, and still drives her own car).
How Retirement Is Being Transformed
Are the “Boomers” going to be content to pull out the rocking chair, relax on their stoop, and see the world pass them by? I believe not!
Generally, individuals of this generation are on the path to self-actualization (as Maslow proposed the term):
- Most of them have tons of things they want to do yet in their lives.
- Considering they will have 20-30 years of time to fill, they will have an interest in a wide selection of leisure past-times (e.g, travel, golf, at-home entertainment).
- As a result of all this time, they also wish to stay fit enough to enjoy that time – so they will be very interested by products and services that will help them keep healthy and powerful.
- A lot of them will actually “reinvent” their careers – starting that career or position they have often daydreamed about, but had to put off because of family or other obligations.
- A lot of Boomers will begin their own enterprises, and the web provides them with many opportunities they’ve never had previously.
- Education, acquiring knowledge and things that will provide them with time freedom will be important for this group of affluent US people.
How will you balance that time across work and play? Are there goals that you have put off for years but need to realize during your “retirement”?
If you are among those people needing to launch your own business, consider starting an affiliate or other web business – but be aware that the difficulty with most online businesses is that their coaching tends to be superficial. Unfortunately, you will need more training than they normally provide. One excellent starting place for getting the knowledge that you’ll need is to join the Online Success for Beginners class.