However, many baby boomers who have
sufficient funds to finance their retirement years are opting to retire
earlier. On the other hand, other baby boomers may prefer a slower
transition from working life to retirement, whereby they continue to
work at interesting jobs and generate extra income towards their
retirement well beyond the traditional age of retirement. The latter
is possibly due to the fact that the baby boomer generation is
healthier than previous generations at their age, and are more able to
continue to work. Add to that, life expectancies are greater than what
they used to be so more money may be required to sustain one’s
lifestyle.
The onset of the retirement years for baby boomers
is great news for many industries such as travel, cosmetics,
automotive, real estate, insurance and wealth management services. For
example, as baby boomers are retiring in better health than the
retirees in the past, they tend to be more concerned with looking and
feeling younger, which is stimulating skin care and other cosmetic
businesses to offer new products and services specifically for this
segment of consumers. Also, as we see more affluent retirees, wealth
management services as well as real estate investment services are
constantly seeking solutions to maximize profits for boomer retirees.
Basically,
for the next decade or two, the most purchasing power in North America
will be in the hands of the retirees: they will have the money to
spend! There are however challenges in capitalizing on this wave. Many
baby boomers today are ‘hip’ and consider themselves to be part of a
“younger audience” or consumer group, and refuse to be classified as
“old” retirees. This has created a conflict in the marketing industry
as the identification of baby boomers in the marketplace and the
traditional way of targeting and segmenting those of their age cohort
do not necessarily match at all times.
Not only will retiring
baby boomers be influencing consumerism for years to come, they stand
to make a significant impact on the political front. Based on research
to-date, the top concerns of baby boomers tend to be health care and
financial security. Therefore, as we head into the pending federal
election, issues such as health care and amendments to the pension
system are expected to be of utmost importance for these “new” seniors
as well as for the “new” government.