04 October 2010

New Report From MetLife Mature Market Institute

I’ve blogged a bunch of them:

image Aging In Place

Boomer Bookends

Ecologies Of Risk

Discovering What Matters

The newest one: How America's Leading Edge Baby Boomers Will Transform Aging, Work & Retirement

image Key takeaways:

  • Over the next 10 years aging Early Boomers will cause a 50% rise in the number of people 65 to 74 years old, a growth rate for that cohort not seen in 50 years.
  • It is estimated that at least two-thirds of Early Boomers are grandparents and a rising number are responsible for their grandchildren.
  • The labor force participation rate of Early Boomer men and women is at a 15-year high; trends suggest that it will rise further in the future.

I’ve talked about the Baby Boomer grandparent ethos for years:

Grand-scale Grandparents (2006)
image "This is the first group of seniors that's embarrassed to have an AARP card," noted Carol Rehtmeyer, president of Rehtmeyer, a toy design, development and manufacturing company … "They're from the rock 'n' roll generation, and embrace spontaneousness and fun," she said. "Boomers think their grandkids are too programmed, and they're looking to stir things up."

Grandboomers (2007)
image Marketers are now targeting Baby Boomer grandparents for all sorts of things. GRAND Magazine has ads for the normal fare (vacations, pharmaceuticals) but you’ll also find ones for children's toys, books, and educational products (lots of them)…


grandmother This weekend while at Costco, I caught a grandmother (she shall remain anonymous) sending pictures of dresses to her granddaughter so the child could pick the one she wanted.  Instant virtual shopping. 

This scenario is played out thousands of times every day around the world - and would make a smart theme for an advertising campaign.

And I’ve talked ad nauseam about work and redefining later stages of life:

A quote from my book (© 2005, 2007):

NyrenPB Contrary to popular myth, Baby Boomers do not believe that they are still teenagers or young adults. (Some probably do, but they need therapy.) Boomers are slyly redefining what it means to be the ages they are. Included in this new definition are some youthful attitudes - but the real change is that instead of winding down, many are winding up. We're not 'looking forward to retirement,' we're looking forward to new lives, new challenges. Only a small percentage will opt for pure retirement. (I predict that in twenty years the word 'retirement' will still be in dictionaries, but followed by the modifier archaic.)

And a few posts (before and after the economic downturn):

My Warm Milk and Nap (2006)
"Money is not the sole motivating factor behind Baby Boomers working into retirement. They instead see work as a way to stay challenged and mentally active and sustain a link to the community they have been a part of for most of their lives…"

Time to Retire the 'R' Word (2007)
Retirement, by the way, was an irrelevant word for the poor folks who needed to work forever. Now the word is irrelevant for nearly everyone. Many baby boomers, now turning 60, are healthier and want to work forever.

Call for ban on use of the word 'retirement' (2009)
Aimage LEADING psychologist has called for a ban on the word retirement, saying it no longer reflects the reality of growing old for the baby boomer generation …

Download The MetLife Report (PDF)

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