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Why the Baby Boomers are in Trouble – (Part 1)

April 14, 2008 on 7:15 pm | In Baby Boomers | No Comments

Lately I’ve found that whenever I’m reading an article talking about people who are in their 50’s, whatever the issue is they’re facing, my very first reaction is something like this: “Oh, that’s not for me, that’s for folks who are older.”

And that’s fairly weird– ‘cause when I finally get my bearings, I remember I’m just a month away from turning 56! (What??!!)

Sure, I still feel and think very much like a much younger person. When I was in my 20’s, I used to refer to myself as “the Kid,” and surely somewhere in the inner depths of my mind I believe I might wake up one morning and be a teenager again! In fact just last night I was reminiscing with a Baby Boomer friend my age about the rock concerts we used to go to in New York’s Central Park every summer, when we were about 17! Now, we were saying, half-seriously, that a good new slogan for our generation might be, “Don’t trust anyone under 50.”

I’m sure many Baby Boomers feel that way, and that in a lot of ways, “those were the good old days”….

But I’ve got to shock us both—you and me, that is—back to reality. Because all of us, every single person born between 1946 and 1964, we are now facing a world that’s unlike any we’ve ever conceived of before.

A world profoundly different even than it was just six months ago.

We are right smack in the middle of a perfect storm the likes of which no generation (and certainly no American generation of almost 80 million people) has ever had to face before. The U.S. economy and role in the world are in serious jeopardy. Most people have not had increases in income and buying power during the last economic boom. It’s the first time in history a large generation of people can expect to live more than half of their adult lives…AFTER AGE 50. I’m telling you, we’re heading into totally uncharted territory here.

And let me tell you, if we don’t get out of denial and into doing some more things right, it’s not going to be very pretty.

Yes, I have some good news, and some bad news. The good news is, we’re going to live another 40 or 50 years. And the bad news is…we’re going to live another 40 or 50 years.

So, in the well-remembered words of Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry, You’ve got to ask yourself, “Do I feel lucky today?”

Unless…you have a magic formula or a silver bullet. But as you and I both know, even a magic formula in one area (money, health, marriage, etc.) doesn’t mean you’re immune from challenges in all the others (such as draining, delinquent children or grandchildren, personal or family health issues, infirm, aging parents, boredom, depression and anxiety). To be continued…