The Baby Boomers’ Tips For Surviving Old Age
We all know who the baby boomers are. Just to get you started in case you are new to the term, a baby boomer is someone born anywhere between the years 1946 and 1964. It is easy to see that the estimated 35 million people who were born during this time have now aging and entering their senior years. With this has come a rise in elderly problems. The US is trying hard to find some course of action to handle this enormous rise in the over 60 population the elderly problems facing the baby boomers generation.
Now I don’t know if this is going to be seen as a challenge by you or a blessing but, it is a fact that we baby boomers are going to live longer than generations before us. Thanks to technological and scientific developments, the life expectancy has risen upwards to an average of 100 years for some women baby boomers, and 80 plus years for male baby boomers. Some psychological articles suggest that some of today’s baby boomers generation will live to be 120 years of age!
Now this calls for some major planning. Surviving for so long will call for some action and here are some tips that should see us safely through the line:
Be very careful who you choose as a mate. To be stuck with someone after retirement at the age of 65 to 70 will still mean spending at least 35 years with him/her. Now you don’t want to make a mistake there to add to your growing list of elderly problems.
Statistics show that the baby boomers have not been very good at saving. We are notorious for our ‘extravagant” spending habits and this may pose serious elderly problems. But, we baby boomers still have time. Let’s try and save up and invest wisely so we are not caught unaware. Generations before us had the luxury of quietly retiring with secure nest eggs that provided for their senior years. The baby boomers generation is not as fortunate. With the current economic crisis, we may need to continue to work well past typical boomer retirement years, or even start a new career of private business. Boomers, let’s start looking out for options now.
The above is especially true for women baby boomers. The financial security most traditional women born prior to the baby boomers, thanks to husband and/or family providers and substantial inheritances and bank balances, has eluded many of our baby boomers generation. A word to the wise boomer. There is time still. Start spending less and saving more.
Sadly, psychological articles inform us that Americans are a society of people who have forgotten to cherish and look after their elderly. This is another of our major elderly problems. We need to start looking around at the attitudes of the older generations and learn from their habits. This way we may bring about an attitude change in ourselves beginning with genuine respect for those in the senior years of life.
The baby boomers have the advantage of having lived to enter an age where staying connected with fellow boomers is not as difficult as it used to be for generations before us. Staying in touch via the Internet and cell phones is going to be a piece of cake.
