For decades, the people born right after World War II have been tagged as “Baby Boomers”.  The U.S. Census states that a Baby Boomer is “someone born during the demographic birth boom between 1946 and 1964″.

This demographic includes nearly 80 million members with hefty purchasing potential.

A lot of people, especially marketers, believe this classification to be a uniform one; nevertheless doing that is really an error.  Traditionally the cluster has been said to be made up of malcontents, as evidenced by the era of the sixties (e.g., free love, peace-niks and war protesters), but lots of members are really quite mainstream in their sentiments and lifestyles.

People born within this timeframe are diverse: many (but not all) are now parents; some are grandparents and/or “empty-nesters;”  others are never married, taking care of an aged parent, separated, gay, or belong to non-nuclear or alternate lifestyle families.  Some are still full-time employed, some already retired, others are giving significant consideration to quitting work.

Transformers Change All That They Touch

There is, however, one particular that has tagged this generation – they are change agents.  Because of the size of this group, and relative wealth, they’ve had a renewing effect upon living conditions and culture in the U.  S.  spanning the previous six decades.  In fact, writer Doug Owram labeled Boomers “a shockwave,” and author Landon Jones has referred to Boomers as “the pig in the python”.

This cohort has revolutionized nearly everything as they have moved thru their teen years, early adulthood, their roles, the economy, etc.  – and there isn’t any reason to think that they have ended their transformative actions on our world.

I am expecting that the latest area to be changed by this generational cohort is retirement.

I recall that as a child, I thought anybody aged fifty, or more, was “old” but today, demographers consider fifty to be the beginning of Early Middle Age, and propose that Old Age doesn’t start until after seventy five.  Currently, Americans at age 50 can expect to live another 35 years, and thus, be “retired” for 20 years or longer – so what are they going to do with all that leisure time?

In the past, the time of retirement was sometimes relatively fleeting and characterized by poor energy, little money, and few choices; however, for this collection of just about 80 million US people, those inhibitions no longer apply.  In their 30′s, they bragged about “never growing old,” and now, it’s their responsibility to support that claim.

So, just what are they intending to do with an additional twenty or thirty years of active aging?  Modern diet and health care have greatly extended that period of time when individuals remain healthy and strong (as an example, my mom is in her 90s, resides alone, and still  drives her own automobile).

How Retirement Is Being Altered

Are the so-called “Boomers” going to be willing to drag out the rocking chair, nap on their deck, and let the world pass them by?  I think not!

In general, individuals of this generation are on the path to self-actualization (as Maslow employed the term):

• A lot of them have tons of things they need to accomplish yet in their lives.
• Considering they will have 20-30 years of time to fill, they will have an interest in a wide variety of leisure activities (e.g, travel, golfing, at-home entertainment).
• As a effect of all this time, they also wish to stay fit enough to like that time – so they’ll be extremely curious about products and services that can help them stay fit and strong.
• A lot of them will actually “reinvent” their jobs – beginning that career or occupation they have always fantasized about, but had to put off due to family or other duties.
• Lots of them will begin their own businesses, and the internet provides them with many possibilities they’ve never had before.
• Training, learning and things that may provide them with time freedom will be important for this group of financially comfortable americans.

How will you split that time across work and play?  Are there goals that you have put off for years but need to realize throughout your “retirement”?

If you’re among those people desiring to launch your own , think about starting an affiliate or other web business – but be aware that the issue with most online programs is that their training is limited.  Unfortunately, you will need more training than they typically offer.  One very good starting point for acquiring the knowledge that you’ll need is to join the Online Success for Beginners course.

As you may have noticed, generations of the 20th century have been given fancy names by social scientists.  It were the different political and cultural attributes of the period when a certain generation was brought up that influenced its members and gave the generation a name.  While baby boomers (those born in the period of mid 40’s late 50’s) were the most active buying force until just a couple of years ago, most of them have entered or are just about to enter retirement. 

Now the children of baby boomers (named as Generation X) have grown up and in their 30 – 40′s they are in a sufficient financial condition to purchase recreational property at almost any price.
The change is especially noticeable when you confront the first half of 2009 results to the 2008 results.  Waterfront cottages, resort condos and all other kinds of recreational property products are now very popular among thirty-something buyers. This has been reported by 74 percent of markets surveyed this year.  This compares with only 40 percent in 2008.  From January till April 2009, the number of sold recreational properties decreased – at least two thirds of all surveyed markets showed such trend.  But now, since the start of the new cottage season, many major centers are now reporting an intensive buyer activity.

The most important points of the report:

Most markets report reasonable supply, but in 18 percent of the markets the inventory levels for entry-level products are tight, as most of the activity was targeted in the lower-end.  Younger buyers with families are now purchasing properties from older cottage owners, who in many cases own their properties outright.  Numerous cottages in Canada are owned by Americans, who are presently taking advantage of the stronger dollar to cash out of the market.  There are some exceptions of course, but we can say that American purchasers have in most cases disappeared. One of the known factors in the marketplace is pent-up demand. For example some buyers who had intended to buy recreational properties in the second half of 2008 decided to defer the transaction till the next year. The warmer parts of USA, such as Florida, Arizona, California or Nevada – this is where some older Canadians still want to purchase secondary homes. Although the Generation X purchasers are prepared to pay their hard-earned dollars for recreational houses, they still want to be sure they’ve negotiated the best possible outcome.