Boomers Redefine Aging

A tanking economy and aging population will result in a new frugality with intergenerational households, changes in transportation modes and more seniors spending their final years at home, a Richmond, VA-based researcher warns. John W. Martin, of the Southeastern Institute of Research, told a local forum audience Wednesday that a wave of baby boomers will crash down on communities, forcing changes in nearly every aspect of life.

"Boomers have been transformation agents since the beginning, in music and politics and civil rights and relationships," he told the forum audience. "There were so many of us that a company called Gerber figured out that they could mash peas and sell them in jars to our parents. Madison Avenue discovered they could market direct to us some healthy foods like Cap'n Crunch, and we'd convince our parents to buy it for us."

Statistics show boomers will comprise about 25 percent of the country's population in 15 years. The "personality of the generation," defined as those born between 1946 and 1968, includes a strong work ethic, optimism, disavowing the status quo, belief in personal control and a sense of entitlement. Boomers also tend to see themselves as far younger than they are, Martin said.

Because of those traits, Martin said, boomers would work to change society to meet their needs. He said boomers will eschew nursing homes for in-home, long-term care, work and live longer and live in the same neighborhoods with younger and older generations. That means they will tax existing resources for home care, bus and public transportation and change the way homes and houses are designed, he said.

"This is coming. The question is, what to do next," Martin said. "Today is about upgrading your insight about your community and its services. Are you, as a community, a good place not to retire, but to live in and to age in? Boomers are not moving away to retire; they are going to stay in place."

Martin made his remarks at the Age Wave Forum at Piedmont Virginia Community College, cosponsored by a variety of agencies, including the Virginia Department for the Aging, the Older Dominion Partnership, the Jefferson Area Board for Aging, the Virginia Municipal League and the Virginia Association of Counties.

The forum was designed to give leaders a heads-up on the coming wave of aging adults and what may be done to prepare.