Posted on 12/08/2008 5:57:05 PM PST by SJackson
If you were born from 1946 through 1964, you are a boomer, a member of the most intriguing population this country has ever known. A new study invites you to look into your future for an in-depth view of how you, and your diverse group of cohorts, are likely to adapt as you grow old.
"Boomers: The Next 20 years, Ecologies of Risk" is the title of a report from the Institute for the Future and the MetLife Mature Market Institute. It predicts some wondrous things as well as presenting some cautionary issues. Overall, it is quite a positive picture.
"Members of the baby boom generation will, as they have in the past, be resourceful and self-reliant as they age, forming economic, health, and social collectives and families of choice to adapt to the future." The report examines how this demographic will confront a longer lifespan, the widest rich/poor gap in recent generations, a global energy shortage, new economic realities, and a Web-based infrastructure.
"Boomers," the report says, "will distribute the stress and burden of managing risk across networks of people, some based on kinship and others on affinity or interest. They will plan more, work longer, and become more entrepreneurial."
Boomers have experienced multiple economic upheavals, periodic recessions, the oil shock and stagflation of the 1970s, the dislocations caused by globalization at the end of the 20th century, and the dot-com boom of the early 2000s.
"Now," says the report, "a confluence of events -- the credit crunch, falling home prices, soaring energy costs, and a weakening dollar -- is creating an even more challenging environment as they move into later life. These risks are not isolated but are interrelated, forming part of an 'ecology of risk.' Fortunately, boomers have amassed personal, social, experiential, economic and even spiritual assets that they can call on as they age. They will use these assets to craft distinctive ecologies of resources to respond to highly individual ecologies of risk."
Some of the likely key elements in boomers' lives in the next two decades include the fact that they face challenges and opportunities their parents never knew. Lifespan management, for instance, examines the critical question of how long boomers will remain healthy and productive. Then there is the personal wealth issue with the latest financial crisis, many boomers having seen declines in their net worth.
It is predicted that boomers may face the real possibility of a collapse of living systems in their lifetimes. Food, energy, and materials may well undergo disruptions as climate changes and water crises become realities.
"Finally," the report says, "the sheer number of boomers promises to stress all systems that touch daily lives, from retirement policies and pensions to health care, Medicare, and other services."
An interesting trait shared by many boomers is that they are still on a quest for success. Many who have encountered setbacks have shown great resilience in rebuilding their lives. "If the economics of aging demands a course change, they will likely reset their compasses."
As a result of their access to and experience with the powerful Web-based infrastructure for information, this generation is capable of creating new systems for everything from health care to politics to new forms of work. The report predicts that their economic and political clout will spur continued innovation in the marketplace, in government, and in civil society as all three sectors respond to the needs of an aging society.
External factors that will shape the boomers' world include the science of aging. Biotechnology is just beginning to have an impact on new approaches to disease prevention and treatment. Already there is a greater awareness that environmental changes are intimately connected to individuals' health status and quality of life. Cognitive fitness is a major focus of today's research that hopefully will provide the answers to extend individual ability to function independently.
How well will this generation live out their next two decades while the world is coming to grips with unprecedented challenges and opportunities? "Boomers: The Next 20 years" concludes, in part, "A blend of equal measures of creativity and control in these boomers drives a focus on crafting their personal worlds -- and expressing themselves through their crafts."
Barbara Quirk is a Madison geriatric nurse practitioner. Tandbquirk@aol.com
Lifespan management, for instance, examines the critical question of how long boomers will remain healthy and productive. Then there is the personal wealth issue with the latest financial crisis, many boomers having seen declines in their net worth.
It is predicted that boomers may face the real possibility of a collapse of living systems in their lifetimes. Food, energy, and materials may well undergo disruptions as climate changes and water crises become realities.
We won't run out of food and water, The One will save us.
And yeah, many in our parents generation didn't have to worry about the dissipation of wealth, nor about long lifespans.
It's tough to be a boomer.
Liberals can’t cope, Conservatives know how.
There was a great movie on YouTube about these two people who were on an escalator that stopped. They stood there hollering for help just like typical Lib’s .... they couldn’t figure out that all they had to do is just walk up the stopped escalator - they wanted someone to walk down to get them ....
“forming economic, health, and social collectives and families “
oh boy, I’m going to be in a rest home run by an incontinent che guavera demanding that I share my wheat germ stockpile with the collective.
Oh please. There are any number of fat, juicy morsels running around the malls.
I figure a couple of hundred a year before anyone notices.
*And as a bonus, the food on the hoof is all liberal! Less democrat voters.
That sounds like a commercial that was on during the Olympics.
The thing is, many *boomers* remember having to do without, unlike today's pampered kids.
We'll get by because of the skills we learned from our parents.
LOL!!
They have been a wrecking ball throughout our society. From the first days of drugs and sex at colleges, to domination and destruction of education, to our huge national debt, our housing crash, and soon on to permanently wreck Social Security.
Thanks Boomers, you were wonderful to this country.
(yea, yea, some Boomers are good conservatives, but as a generation, they have left nothing in their wake)
“authors name”
Look on the bright side. At least it isn’t Marx.
I’ve always taken issue with the 1946-1964 Boomer definition. I was born in ‘61, and have very little in common with those born in the forties and fifties. I was watching Captain Kangaroo during the Summer of Love.
Living systems? Perhaps their greed and short sightedness will force them back to the communes they once idolized?
Yeah, but you probably loved the Captain.
Damn!, I like that.
It's all Dr. Spocks fault, he's from the greatest generation.
Learned a new term the other day: Generation Jones. 1954-1964, distinguishing us from the true boomers of a decade earlier.
Oh, you can't say that. There's AIDS and herpes, gay exhibitionism, feminaziism, just for starters.
I do too. Substitute economies for ecologies, that's how the economy got where it is.
Boomers should not be blamed for the failure and abuse of the ill conceived Social Security program.
Mom & Dad (if anyone alive does) deserve the future ire for that looming catastrophe.
You said — “Thanks Boomers, you were wonderful to this country.”
Ummmm..., well you forgot that we’re the ones that gave rise to the subsequent generations, too..., you young whipper-snapper. Give some respect to your elders... LOL...
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