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| Leslie Wilcox |
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| Live in Sin or Do it Agin? |
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| Off the Beaten Path |
| Learn about Oahu’s secret beaches and hidden hikes. |
| Heart Check |
| The American Heart Association offers women good advice...and a great new service. |
DEPARTMENT:
By Percy Ihara
Recently, I was talking to a few advertising professionals and I had mentioned to them that they should really start focusing on the 60-and-over age group. What I heard back as their response was that their main demographic was the 25–45 age group and that senior consumers were not their main marketplace. Just about every news publication, radio and television station I have spoken to feels this way as well. I continued to inform them that starting this year every 10 seconds someone in the United States will turn 62. Yes, the baby boomers (Boomers) are here to stay and their numbers will continue to grow every 10 seconds and that they should really start paying attention to them. I speak to all sorts of sales professionals on a weekly basis to inform them that this is a market we all should take a closer look at. After all it’s about the dollars and sense.
But first, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, nationwide there are over 70 million individuals who spend $50 billion annually. Who are they? Yes, you are correct if you answered our grandparents. Whenever I speak around town and mention that the Boomers are coming, I do remind them that the ones with the money, however, are the parents of the Boomers. The parents of these Boomers are from the generation that Tom Brokaw calls the Greatest Generation. This is the generation that grew up with World War I and II, the Depression era, black- and-white television or no television at all, a priority of saving money for the family, respecting the family name and buying their home to raise their families. It is this greatest generation that is spending money on all their grandchildren.
In
a recent study I found on www.grandparents.com,
grandparents spend nearly $1,700 on every new grandchild, and this
number is significantly higher among first-time grandparents than
seasoned grandparents ($1,882 vs. $1,501). Seveny-two percent of grandparents
start spending before the child is born. Fifty-nine percent believe
it’s important to make financial investments for their grandchildren.
More than 70 million strong, grandparents are one of the largest and
most powerful consumer segments in the U.S. today. This number will
swell as more of the massive Boomer generation become grandparents
as well.
As we all age we will begin to lose our beloved parents and as time goes on we will eventually inherit our parent’s properties and financial assets. When this occurs in the next 5–15 years, this will be the largest transfer of wealth in the history of the United States. In all, there are nearly 80 million Boomers, Americans born between 1946 and 1964. They’ve had a big impact on American culture and they’ll have a big impact on Social Security’s finances.
A recent survey by the Chicago Sun Times reported that 31percent of the Boomer generation plan to apply for Social Security when they turn 62 and 32 percent say they will wait until age 66 or beyond when they can receive full benefits. Sixty-eight percent say they have employee or retiree health insurance. Forty-seven percent are covered by a defined benefit plan, 50 percent have a 401(k), and 50 percent have an IRA, 38 percent own stocks, and 38 percent have mutual funds. Twenty-two percent have long-term care insurance, 85 percent own their own home with an average value of $297,900 and 16 percent would consider a reverse mortgage primarily to take care of their own long-term care needs and costs; 74 percent are aware that they are eligible at age 62 to apply for a federally backed reverse mortgage. The survey reports that the majority (77 percent) of Boomers born in 1946 say they are in good to excellent health; their net worth (excluding home value) is an average of $257,800, and their average annual income is approximately $71,400. Thirty-eight percent are expecting an inheritance of an average of $210,000. Thirty-five percent have already received an inheritance of an average of $113,000.
So as the Boomer generation begins to hit the ripe young age of 62, look for them to have a lot more fun than their parents and improve their quality of life. Boomers are known to work hard and play hard. They like new things and not hand- me-downs. As they begin to inherit their parents’ estates look for more luxury cars on the road, more purchases of second homes and time-shares and more traveling than ever before. They will surf the web for resources and information and even buy a product or two or three. So advertising professionals should be on the lookout for this rapidly growing segment of the marketplace and find out how to attract them to their products.
As we welcome the Boomer generation we all know we still need to keep an eye out for our parents. As in my previous article on Aging in Place, we need to start planning out their later years and their long-term care needs. So please make sure your parents have all the legal, financial and healthcare issues in order.
Percy Ihara is the host of Today’s Kupuna, a weekly television series for seniors and their families which air every Wednesday night at 7pm on Olelo’s channel 52.