BOOMER UPDATE

Ten things you may not know – but ought to – about Baby Boomers today:

1.  The number of Baby Boomers in the United States is estimated at 78.2 million.  Still a huge cohort.

2.  Approximately 7,918 Americans turn 60 each day now.  That’s about 330 every hour or more than four million a year.

3.  Within 20 years, the age profile of America will match that of Florida, about one in five Americans will be older than 65.

4.  Boomers who reach age 65 in 2011 can expect to live, on average, at least another 18 years.

5.  Four out of 10 Boomers have less than $10,000 in retirement savings.

6.  One-third of Boomer households today have at least $100,000 in investable assets.

7.  About one-third of Baby Boomers think they will have enough money to live comfortably once they retire.

8.  Four out of five Boomers intend to keep working and earning in retirement.  Half of Boomers plan to launch into an entirely new job or career in retirement.

Radio take note:  65+ is about to be an entirely different demographic!

9.  One in seven Baby Boomers say they plan to collect Social Security benefits at age 62.

10.  The unpredictable cost of illness and healthcare is, by far, Boomers’ biggest fear.  They are three times more worried about a major illness (48%), their ability to pay for healthcare (53%) or winding up in a nursing home (48%), than they are about dying (17%).

Find out much more about the generation that shaped America in The Boomer Century: 1946-2046 by Richard Croker.