I just stumbled into my first senior discount. Huh? I'm not that old; I'm a
Baby Boomer, for Pete's sake.
"Hey, kids, what time is? It's Howdy Doody time!" No?
Our generation has been called eternally adolescent. The American
Association of Retired Persons discovered in a recent survey that
most 50-somethings think of themselves as 35.
Demographers say we Baby Boomers are inching up on senior citizenship. And
brochures in my mailbox no longer advertise lingerie, but rather
retirement-related issues and plastic surgery.
TRENDING: To DEI for
A while back, a preacher asked bluntly, "At 55 years old, you can count on
roughly 1,045 more weekends. What are you going to do with them?"
In 1969, Michel Legrand wrote the lilting melody, "What are you doing for
the rest of your life? North and south and east and west of your life." We
Boomers were so busy filling up life's first two-thirds, I doubt we thought
about the last.
If we're not going to live forever, it's probably time we did.
Born in the wake of World War II, between 1946 and 1964, the Baby Boom
numbered 76 million. Our parents indulged us with Hula-Hoops, television and Disneyland.
The G.I. Bill sent veterans to college, and in turn, they sent us in numbers
greater than ever before. After the rowdy '60s, the civil rights movement and
Vietnam maelstrom, we settled down (sort of) and generated one kicking
economy.
Now what? We're smart, but we haven't been taught retirement. And many of us are getting close.
Royal Caribbean hopes we'll cruise into the casket. Real estate developers
are building retirement communities around golf courses and tennis courts
thinking we'll recreate ourselves into the grave.
"We'll keep working because we're too twitchy not to," says Betsy Carter,
editor of "My Generation," an AARP magazine directed at Baby Boomers.
That means our incomes will beef up the $8 trillion already expected to pass to and through the Boomer generation over the next 40 years, according to David F. Teitelbaum, economist and author of "The
Procrastinator's Guide to Financial Security."
Is money the only wealth we have to offer?
Some retirees think their primary value is in bank accounts and
baby-sitting. Frank Kaiser, editor of the Internet site SuddenlySenior.com, says retirees often forget they possess added treasure in terms of skills
and experience.
"You are at your very best when you are investing yourself in others," says
former cable television magnate and millionaire Bob Buford. "Most of us have
a deep need to leave the world a better place."
In a trilogy of books, the first being "Halftime: Changing Your Game Plan
From Success to Significance," Buford invites Boomers to spend much of the
home stretch on community service, volunteerism, mentoring and ministry.
In addition, immeasurable wealth is found in less-structured surroundings
where wisdom, comfort, encouragement and history are passed along. A host of
aged aunts and uncles never knew the education I gleaned from them during
our visits.
Aunt Gertie Peabody trained me to grin, not grimace, when served tomato
aspic. Once, while I fretted over my sick child, an old doctor boosted my
sagging spirits with, "It's hard to kill a kid."
Cousin Ellen Endicott gave me her treasured tales of yesteryear. While
courting, her beau bought the town's first Model T. She had never driven but
asked if she could. A smitten Sam said, "Yes," and so she did drive – right
into the lake.
Later, while I prattled on about reincarnation, she steadied me with, "It's
all very interesting, dear, but I think we'd best stick with God."
It won't be long before I'm a young someone's elderly so-and-so, and I hope
to leave more than clothes, cash and a car.
Boomers have a rich legacy; we've lived through wars, civil unrest, peace,
prosperity and recession. Now, we have lattes and laptops. We also have a
choice.
The Baby Boom generation can either live its last act in more self-satisfying achievement, accumulation and leisure, or we can share our era and ourselves with such great generosity, posterity will applaud.