It’s true. Baby boomers are hanging around longer than anyone expected. It’s not our fault. US life expectancy in 1950 was 68. You read that right. Now it’s 79 and even that sounds low when you stop and think about how many people you know who are over 80. As a result, we’re staying in our homes longer – where else would we go? It’s too soon for the assisted living complex and anyway we would go nuts with someone else in charge.
When was the last time you heard that an acquaintance was retiring at age 65? Boomers were always heavily invested in their jobs and careers. It was, and in many cases, still is tied to their whole identity. So it may look like boomers in the workforce are just hanging on too long when it’s really more a case of being unable to let go.
But we are moving. Unfortunately for younger generations, we’re not so much downsizing as we are making lateral moves. We’re getting closer to children/grandkids, or just moving to attractive destinations where we’ve always wanted to live. We appear to be confident that our health and mental acuity can sustain us as well as our quality of life. My mother lived independently until age 99 – in the family home she and my father built just after I was born. That was exceptional in her day but it could be the norm now for boomers.
Generational conflict is nothing new and is just a fact of life. Older people think the young are foolish and young people thing older people are out of touch. Bottomline: we want their energy; they want our money. The fact is that the young will win this battle because we will never have that vitality again but they will surely get our money in the end.
Gen Xers and Millennials will find out soon enough that leading the pack isn’t easy and there will be successive generations nipping at their heels one day. The more some things change, the more other things stay the same.
Jay Harrison is a writer and creative consultant for DesignConcept. His newest mystery novel, Rio Puerco Demise is available on Amazon. His first mystery novel, Head Above Water, is also available on Amazon. But that’s not all. You can also purchase the Best of BoomSpeak on Amazon.
