The Future: When I'm Sixty-Four

It was while researching what lies in store for the Boomers that my learning curve bent to the absolute vertical. I learned that while the media insists on couching retirement as something we all desire but won’t “be able” to do, the fact is that Boomers are intent on changing that institution as well. In fact, for many Boomers, retirement is something we don’t want to do! Dr. Dychtwald calls this new stage of life “middlescence.” Like adolescence, another stage of life invented by and for Boomers, middlescence is a time of unlimited opportunity for us. Because we are healthier and more robust than our fathers were, and because we expect to live significantly longer, we will not be ready at the rather arbitrary age of 65 to vanish into insignificance. It is a time when we can reinvent ourselves and turn that hobby into a new business, or start a not-for-profit organization to give back. Approached with a proper attitude, the time between 55 and 75 can be the most exciting and productive (and fun) years of our life.

There are, as we all know, incredible challenges awaiting us, both physical and fiscal, but we all seem to think that by tinkering with Social Security and Medicare, all these things can be fixed. Yet another lie. Perhaps my most significant awakening was discovering that there are virtually no issues facing America today that are not “Boomer issues.”

“If we fail to act, [it's] going to leave future generations with impossible choices: staggering tax increases, immense deficits or deep cuts in benefits.”
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH

At every step along the way, Boomers have taken American institutions by surprise. Our elementary schools had only six years to prepare for us, so it’s little surprise that they weren’t ready. But our high schools had 13 years to prepare and did not, so we had packed classrooms and endured double sessions. Our colleges and universities had 18 years to get ready and were amazed to see not only the sons of truck drivers and coal miners line up for college – but their daughters as well. America’s business community had 25 years to anticipate our arrival and were shocked to find that women and minorities wanted jobs as well as white men. And now, the government has had 60 years to get ready for Baby Boomers to retire, and they’re not ready either.

Here are just a few examples of issues facing us today that may not be considered Boomer issues – but are:

Immigration:

The issue is not that we have too many illegal immigrants – it’s that we have too few legal ones. As we approach that time when we have only two workers contributing to the ‘pension’ of a single retiree (some experts see that ratio being as low as 1.6:1) it is easy to see that we are going to need more skilled, middle class and upper-middle class workers to support 78 million retired Boomers. Generation X and Generation Y can’t do it alone, so we need to import these workers from overseas.

Education:

A 10 year-old sitting in a classroom today in America has just better than a 50 percent chance of graduating high school. For urban African-American children and the children of immigrants, that number is even more frightening. We are producing a generation of semi-literate unskilled laborers who, when the Boomers retire, will be a drain on our social programs rather than contributors to our economy.

The United States has fallen so far behind nations like China and India (and even Latvia) in teaching our children math and science, that the offices of high-tech companies like Google.com already resemble the United Nations General Assembly.

Energy:

If we don’t find a way to be fossil fuel free very soon, what will the price of oil be in 2030? At the lower end of the economic spectrum, our elderly are already having to decide between food and medicine. What if it takes my entire Social Security check to heat my home? That makes energy a Boomer issue too.

Childhood Obesity:

And yes, even such issues as this will eventually impact Boomers as we age. A child who is ten-years-old today and tipping the scales 200 lbs, will be dealing with heart disease and diabetes by the time he’s thirty. That will be in the year 2027 – when leading edge Boomers will be in their late seventies and early eighties and dealing with end of life issues like heart disease, Alzheimer’s and cancer. A double whammy to the healthcare system at the very time it will be able to afford it the least.

There are many more challenges and opportunities facing the Boomer Generation in the years to come, but you will have to read about them in…