Baby Boom Generation: How Are The Boomers Blooming?

Morris Sun TribunePublished Wednesday, January 23, 2008

By Pat Hein  

As I stood in an office recently, I noticed that the majority of the staff appeared to be in the same age category as I am — the Baby Boomer generation. I went home to my trusty computer and began researching the baby boomers. Here’s what I found:

• If you were born between 1946 and 1964, you are a Baby Boomer. There are more than 76 million of us, and we are the economy. That is not bragging; that is just a statistical reality. The huge growth in the economy since the 1990s is due in no small part to 76 million of us working up to our peak earning and spending years. • What are we spending our money on? With the exception of Metallica CDs and movies, we are buying it. (And, in fact, we are paying for most of those Metallica CDs and movie tickets, as well).• What kind of cars are we buying? Whatever kind Detroit and Japan selling. We are the upper end of the automobile market. What explains the explosion in the popularity of SUVs? We do.• Where do we go on vacation? Everywhere. How do we get there? Every way possible.Boomers are blooming across life stages. On the younger side, they’re in the midst of kids, education costs, careers and commuting. At the upper end, they’re empty-nesting, grandparenting and reinventing retirement. We as Baby Boomers scrimp and splurge to share the good life with loved ones, from kids to pets to aging parents. Our favorite indulgences are food, travel, creature comforts, tech toys, fun fitness, hobbies and a well-feathered nest for entertaining. With life expectancy growing, boomers’ focus is on health and anything to fight “old age” and keep them in the game. From growing up in the suburbs to witnessing the original moon walk, and from swirling a hula hoop to playing with hi-tech gadgets, Baby Boomers have shaped and continue to change the world we live in today.The boomers themselves can take credit for shaping the course of technology if not the entire direction of the digital revolution. Bill Gates is only one of the industry pioneers now in their 50s. But several decades ago they were tech-savvy kids who seized the moment when their elders had no clue.In the 1960s and early 1970s, many in the counterculture absolutely loathed computers and everything about them. But boomer math nerds, who figured out how to finagle computer time, didn’t care — the idea arose that computers could empower people.One of the advantages to being an aging Baby Boomer is the enlightenment one achieves with age. This morning while reading a story on how some school districts have banned the playground game “tag” (sigh), I was trying to remember other dangerous games we played way back when. Some of the perilous games included jacks, marbles, paddle ball, baseball, and jump rope. We had fun socializing with other kids. We stayed out until it became dark and we could no longer play.I remember sitting for hours playing Monopoly, Clue, Spy and BINGO with the neighborhood kids. Family entertainment during the Baby Boomer era often dwelt on these board games. The games were fashioned from TV shows, movies, historical events, foreign cultures, and professional sports. The vivid boxes, playing pieces, and popular characters thereupon created a collecting frenzy which still exists today. There’s no question that Baby Boomers are going to change the way older people expect to live.  We are completely different from our past generation. The Baby Boomers are trailblazing by redefining what it means to get — and be — “old.” As some of the demands of work and family that have commanded their attention in mid-life recede, boomers will have the potential to become a social resource of unprecedented proportions.The Baby Boomers’ message to all other generations is to watch us and learn. We will not pass away invisibly but will make our mark as old youngsters, too.

Thomas: Who says boomers are ‘old’ already?

By Chuck Thomas (Contact) 

Saturday, September 22, 2007

What started out as a family joke in San Clemente has turned into a booming business in Ventura, selling $6 million worth of stuff every year — all marked with the logo, “Old Guys Rule.”A story by Star reporter Jenni Mintz was so intriguing that this old columnist couldn’t resist. Your columnist is a certified old guy, but he’s well beyond the age group targeted by this company. They’re aiming at men aged 40 to 65.Honest. I’m not making this up. They’ve decided that baby boomers — mostly now in their 50s — will choose to wear T-shirts and other gear with lettering that implies, “Hey, I’m old and I like it.” And that decision is wearing out cash registers all over the country, selling 50,000 T-shirts each month.In 2003, surfer Don Craig — who’s a ripe, old 54 — started this whole thing in San Clemente with three bumper stickers made as a tribute to his father and two of his father’s friends. Craig calls them, “The Three Wise Men” because of all they’ve taught him, about surfing and about life beyond the beach.The “Old Guys Rule” slogan got so popular that Craig licensed it and started printing it on other stuff — from caps and greeting cards to belt buckles and boxer shorts. Now, the whole line of merchandise is manufactured in a Ventura warehouse run by Thom Hill, who owns Coastal Classics.For those guys who like the idea of advertising that they are a vintage product, don’t go looking for these shirts at Kmart or Target or any other big chain store. Locally, you can find them at Ventura Surf Shop, Wave Front Surf Shop and Beach Break Surf Shop. Or, you can go online to: www.oldguysrule.com.Mark French, of AARP, believes the baby-boomer population is being slighted by merchandisers because they think people over 50 are so stuck in their ways that they won’t buy any new brand. Boomers are really the largest market for business, French says, because they have so much money that they want to spend.The mere suggestion that guys in their 40s are “old” just has to be a put on. That’s the age when some guys fall in love and get married for the first time. Many 40-somethings — like me — have their first children at that age. (Their wives actually “have” the children, but you know what I mean.) If they’re stuck in a boring, dead-end job, in their 40s, they still have time to start all over in a different direction.By their 50s, those guys often have teenage kids — and I’ll admit that having some teenagers around the house can make any man feel old. But, if you work it right, in your 50s, you’re living through what you may look back on as the best years of your life.If you’re lucky, those teenage kids will become some of your best friends. Then they’ll make you a grandfather, and you won’t feel just old anymore — you’ll feel downright ancient.But even so, the idea that 65 is “old” is laughable to those of us who have been there and done that. Sure, you can draw Social Security at that age and get covered by Medicare, which may start coming in handy. At 65, you may start feeling some aches and pains you didn’t notice at 50.But trust me on this, guys — being 65 doesn’t mean you’re consigned to a rocking chair, sitting there waiting for your next check from Uncle Sam. (Remember, you earned that check by working for 40 years, so don’t let some wiseheimer try to needle you about being on welfare.) Let me list the ways that a man at 65 isn’t even remotely an “old” guy:You can fall in love — again — and get married — again. You could even have children — again — but if you think of doing that, your grown children may insist on a sanity test.You can run in marathons and compete in triathlons. They even have over-60 age categories in those events. There are over-60 and even over-70 leagues in softball. They play all over Ventura County and have regional and national tournaments.You can still go surfing wearing an “Old Guys Rule” T-shirt, of course.You can still play golf. I know some guys well over 65 who actually walk the golf course. (That’s at the Mountain View Golf Course in Santa Paula. Most golf clubs don’t want people walking the course because they want to rent you a cart, which keeps the money coming in and keeps the foursomes moving faster.)You can still play tennis, and maybe even not have to limit yourself to geezer doubles.If you’re lucky enough to be a musician, you can still play in a band at 65 and if it’s a dance band, you’ll see 65-year-olds — men and women — out there jitterbugging on the dance floor.Let me give all you boomers a clue: When you reach that 65th birthday, it’s not nearly as old as you thought it would be, back when you were 40 or 50. If you’re in reasonably good health, no age is as old when you get there as it sounded when you were younger.Eventually, because of various afflictions, many of us have to give up some of our favorite pastimes, but we can’t let ourselves sit around moping about the things we can’t do anymore. We must focus on what we still can do, and enjoy that to the fullest.The “Old Guys Rule” marketing may not be aimed at me, but most commercials I see on TV aren’t aimed at me either. Sometimes, I wonder if they’re aimed at any reasonably sane person of any age. With some ads, you can’t even guess what’s being sold until the last shot of the commercial. Looking at some of those ads, you must wonder: “How could such nonsense inspire anyone to run out and buy that car or drink that beer?”Meanwhile, back at Coastal Classics, Hill says, the “Old Guys Rule” logo is “a celebration of being at that point in life.” Even if they’re not aiming at me, the logo fits because life is worth celebrating at any age.When I order my “Old Guys Rule” T-shirt, I just hope they don’t ask for my ID to prove that I’m not over 65.— Chuck Thomas is a Star columnist whose column appears on the Opinion pages each Saturday. His e-mail address is star4cthomas@earthlink.net.