By Rick Banas of BMA Management, Ltd.
With another Baby Boomer turning 64 every 8.5 seconds, how we view old age is undergoing tremendous changes, noted keynote speaker Maddy Dychtwald at last week’s 2010 Assisted Living Federation of America’s National Conference.
Dychtwald is co-founder of Age Wave, a company dedicated to studying the trends and implication of the Aging of America, and author of a recently released book titled “INFLUENCE: How Women’s Soaring Economic Power Will Change the World for the Better.”
We have experienced dramatic increases in life expectancy:
1000s • Life expectancy was 25 years of age
1200s • Life expectancy was 30 years of age
1400s • Life expectancy was 35 years of age
1600s • Life expectancy was 36 years of age
1800s • Life expectancy was 38 years of age
2000s • Life expectancy was 78 years of ageBy 2050, life expectancy is projected to increase to 90 to 95 years of age.
When Otto von Bismarck was creating the first pension program in Europe in the 1800s, he defined old as 65 years of age. Average age at the time was 47.
When the Social Security program was enacted in the United States in 1935, the average age was 62.5 and retirement age was defined as 65
Today, when you think of what it is like to be 65 years of age, do pictures of the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney pop into your mind?
John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth back in 1962, returned to space when he was 77 years of age.
At the age of 88, Betty White, who starred in the hit comedy series the Golden Girls back in the mid-1980s through early 1990s, has once again become a hot commodity. So far in 2010 she starred in a Super Bowl commercial, hosted Saturday Night Live, and is one of the main characters in Hot in Cleveland, TV Land’s first scripted series, which is scheduled to debut later this month.
Dychtwald predicted that as life expectancy increases so will work expectancy. She also predicted that the Baby Boomers will re-invent retirement.
The Boomers tend to be highly educated and love technology. They are rule breakers and control freaks.
Their biggest fear is that they don’t want to be a burden to their children.
Leaving a legacy and having significance will be high on their list of priorities. They will be looking to engage and re-invent themselves.
They will not view retirement as the time to withdraw or go away.
For a much more light hearted view of Baby Boomers retiring, we invite you to watch the video below. Be sure to let us know your thoughts.
All affordable assisted living communities managed by BMA Management, Ltd. are certified and surveyed by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. All assisted living communities are licensed and surveyed by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
“BMA Management, Ltd. is the leading provider of assisted living in Illinois
and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
