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Top Baby Boomer Stories and Links of the Week

April 3, 2012 — Some weeks we run across so many good stories and helpful features. So rather than let them go to seed, we are providing them in a form of a list. If you are interested, and we think you should be, just click on the link to get more. Here goes (a few links might require subscription): (more…)

10 Retirement Pitches Baby Boomers Don’t Want to Hear

November 29, 2011 — Marketers have been salivating about baby boomers since the time we started overwhelming kindergartens in 1951. Developers are still excited about our huge numbers (76 million); today they are are eager to supply us with real estate for our “golden years”. Yet, just as when we were in our teens a lot of companies couldn’t connect with us, many of the people trying to market to us today are hopelessly young, and they don’t always get what makes us tick either.

One constant is that baby boomers will never think of themselves as old. Our bodies might not look much like what they did when we got naked at Woodstock, but, attitudinally, we still tend to place ourselves in our late teens or 20′s. Keeping that in mind, here are the top things that baby boomers don’t want to hear as they think about retirement. Some are contradictory, but heh, who ever (more…)

When Does “Old Age” Begin – And More Stuff for Baby Boomers

July 13, 2011 — When you were in college or just out of school, did your parents seem old to you? Mine were in their mid 50′s then, and they seemed a little bit old. Funny how mid-50′s feels awfully young these days. According to a new Associated Press-LifeGoesStrong.com poll, a lot of baby boomers feel the same way – the median age cited as starting to get old is 70, with a quarter going a lot higher, about 80. Younger adults, however, seem to think 60 represents the start of old age. The results among baby boomers make sense to us!

Other conclusions from the survey are interesting (more…)

Have Gun Will Travel: or, What Baby Boomer TV Show Would You Bring Back?

June 1, 2011 — NPR is running a call-in show today asking listeners what TV show they would bring back if they were in charge of the universe. It’s a contest anyone old enough to be a baby boomer might enjoy. Through the miracle of Netflix your editor just spent a few happy sessions on the exercise bike watching the 1st 3 shows in the “Have Gun Will Travel” series, which first aired in 1957. The show, as you probably remember, features Paladin, a gun for hire. One of the beauties of having lost so many brain cells… (more…)

As Baby Boomers Retire, Marketers Fall in Love with the Demographic All Over Again

February 8, 2011 — Having left the prized 18-45 year old marketing demographic, baby boomers might be justified in feeling a little bit like yesterday’s donuts – not all that appealing and a bit stale. But thanks to our sheer numbers (as in 76 million), sales hungry marketeers appear to be putting baby boomers back in their sights. And believe it or not, that’s probably good news for us (but more about that later). This Sunday’s New York Times talked about the phenomenon in its “In a Graying Population, Business Opportunity” article. The Wall Street Journal weighed in (more…)

Now That You’re 65 – 10 Things You Need to Know

January 9, 2011 — The oldest of the nation’s baby boomers, those born in 1946, start turning 65 this year. For people who grew up with the Mickey Mouse Club and the Lone Ranger, the thought of getting involved with the Social Security Administration might be hard to swallow, but it is about to happen to you. This article will be your primer for what you need to do, now that you are 65. Note: The government’s Social Security and Medicare websites are first rate and very helpful. We have used much of their information in the sections below, and provided links as well.

1. Register for Medicare to start your health care coverage
Medicare is a Health Insurance Program for people age 65 or older, some disabled (more…)

2011 Retirement Trends You Should Be Thinking About

Every year we dust off our crystal ball and try to think about what’s ahead for retirees in the year ahead. But before we do that, here are a few observations about 2010, the year that is just about to end:

- Housing prices stabilized in most markets in 2010, and even started to increase slightly in many cities and towns. The free fall in prices that came in 2008 and 2009 has mostly stopped. Although median home prices slipped in the first quarter according to the National Association of Realtors, they increased from (more…)

Surprising New Survey Finds Many Retirees Plan on Moving in Retirement

June 29, 2010. How closely do you match the profile of your fellow visitors at Topretirements? We just finished a new research study which looked at the questions asked by the almost 5000 people who have taken our Retirement Ranger Quiz. The results from that study have helped us learn more about baby boomer retirement hopes, dreams, and preferences. One of the most interesting things we’ve learned is that the people who have taken our quiz are much more ready to relocate than the average population – the vast majority of Ranger takers plan on moving in retirement. Another finding is that they are very open about the kind of environment they want to live in. We found out that most of our visitors are either already retired – or will do so soon. Taxes, cost of living, and region are all important considerations for (more…)

New Website Aims to Help Baby Boomers: Businesses & Jobs

Did you know that over half of all new U.S. businesses are started by baby boomers? Are you one of them – a baby boomer struggling to start a new business as a second or third career? Fortunately there is a new website that is out there trying to help – myboomer2boomer.com. This site puts together information and resources designed to help Baby Boomers support other Boomers. One way they do that is by listing Boomer Entrepreneurs and other businesses that provide Boomer Friendly products and/or services.

Boomer Entrepreneurs have an additional burden. If their business fails they have less time to recover financially. They also have far fewer opportunities for employment – and that is the second goal of myboomer2boomer.com. Too many Boomers find employment precarious today. Those who are unemployed often find it very difficult to get a job to replace what they have lost. This new site seeks to bring Boomers information about employers who actively recruit and seek to hire older workers for their skills, their experience, and their work ethic.

myboomer2boomer.com seeks to celebrate and advertise Boomer Friendly employers, Boomer Entrepreneurs, and other Boomer Friendly Businesses to the nearly 78 million U.S. Baby Boomers (and the 300 million Boomers worldwide). The site’s tag line is “Boomer hires are Boomer buyers”. The site’s creator, Sheila Dentice, believes Boomers are well served when they support those who support Boomers. As she says, “After all, the job we save or create may someday be our own. The largest generation can help drive our economy back to health, but only if they are employed or successful in their business ventures.”

Check it out
Visit www.myboomer2boomer.com to find or to list Boomer Friendly Businesses and to find those who support boomers. The site is new and is building so visit often, please be patient, send them your ideas, and support their efforts by sharing the site with others.

Where to Go for the Best Retirement Lifestyles

June 8 — A few baby boomers know exactly what they want to do when they retire. These folks are lucky in many ways, because they have probably been busy planning where and when they are going to achieve all of their plans. But far more boomers probably only have a loose idea, at best, for how they are going to spend their lives, once they don’t have a regular job that gets them out of bed and to a workplace 5 days a week. In this article we will explore some of the best and more common retirement lifestyles. Of course many people never intend to retire, which includes those who continue to do their old jobs as well as many who change careers.

Possible Retirement Lifestyles
To our way of thinking just about every kind of non-working retirement fits under (more…)

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