Baby Boomer 101

or, “Stef has no idea what being a Baby Boomer means”

The Baby Boomer generation is defined as:

(from boomercentric.com)

Baby boomers are defined as people born 1946-1964. After American soldiers returned home from World War II in1946, the United States experienced an explosion of births (hence the name baby boom) that continued for the next 18 years, when the birth rate began to drop.

In 1964, baby boomers represented 40% of the population, which means that more than one third of the population was under 19 years of age.

In the 1990s, approximately 76 million people in the United States were born in the baby boom years, representing approximately 29% of the country’s population. Since baby boomers make up such a sizable portion of the consuming public, their spending habits and lifestyles have a powerful influence on the economy.

What does that mean to me? So far, it means that all the commercials on TV are geared towards so-called Baby Boomers, or those about to retire. Ever notice the plethora of erectile dysfunction ads or the staggering amount of drugs that are being marketed to women who are going thru or about to go thru menopause? Think Boniva and its Boomer spokeswoman Sally Field. Or Dennis Hopper and those financial planning ads.

Gimme a break! I’m not quite ready to go there quite yet. I’m not saying I’m not prepared for retirement or menopause, but other than ads geared towards parents of young children, the “Boomer” ads drive me up the proverbial wall!

Makes me want to tear my hair out!

But, since I was born at the end of the Boomer scale, should I really be concerned with all that?

Probably.

But, who do I ask? What do I ask? What do I do with the answers once I get them?

I’ll tell you who I can’t ask… Chaz. He’s not a Boomer because he was born a couple of years before the Baby Boom. He’ll tell me how I should be saving for retirement (and I can’t retire until I’m 67 years old, which is a little more that 22 years from now). Like I’ll be able to afford to retire then!

I’m not quite ready to reserve my place in the assisted living facility yet. If that’s what it means to get old, I’m going to do all this in my own time.

To quote an old Rolling Stones song, “what a drag it is getting old”.

That’s all from where I sit.

–MorelaterZ–