Starting a Small Business
The Baby Boomers
New article: 10th June 2010
The generation often referred to as the baby-boomers is for those born just after the second world war and the two decades thereafter. This is my parents' generation (they were born at the very start of this boom).
I'm only really talking about the UK in particular here, because the birth rates and suchlike are vastly different in other countries. The first thing to note about this generation is that there are a lot of them.
The Boom refers of-course to the increased number of babies born from the end of the second world war. This generation has dominated the social, political, cultural and economic scene in the UK for around 35 years or more.
Politically, John Major was the first Prime Minister to represent this generation. Then Tony Blair and Gordon Brown came next. Now it's David Cameron / Nick Clegg, who are probably going to be the last ones and (if every other indication of this generation is to be taken into account) they will stay in power for at least another decade...probably more.
So what?
So, there are a lot of people in this generation.....so what? you say. Well they have (on the whole) been the main Winners during the economic boom in the UK that occurred from 1980 to 2008. In this time there were only a few years of recession, and a very steep increase in value of property and stock-markets.
This is the first generation where it was normal in a household for there to be two parents working. Working many hours and accumulating wealth (generalising greatly but fairly true) were and still are, the main goals for the baby boomers. And they did exactly this.
This twenty year generation holds a very high proportion of the nation's wealth. The wealthier section of this generation are refusing to grow old. Go to any prosperous town at the weekend and you will see females in their 50's and 60's who are bang up-to-date in what they are wearing. They will be spending large sums of money on health and beauty products (think of the characters in the BBC series Absolutely Fabulous to see a spoof of this).
Opportunity with the "Boomers"
The Daily Telegraph estimated that 50% of the nation's wealth is held by the baby-boom generation; Other estimates are much higher. This is a fairly staggering proportion, considering the the average lifespan is now around 79.9 years (averaging male and female).
The baby-boom generation are just starting to retire now, which represents simultaneously a massive problem and a huge opportunity. The problem is mostly for the nation's finances, who have promised this generations all sorts of things in retirement e.g. final-salary pensions, low retirement dates etc.
Effectively the National Finances in the UK are going to be tortured by the outrageous and never realistic promises it has made. However, unless your name is George Osborne, then you might as well not worry too much about all that and instead look towards the opportunities!
Life expectancy is rising very steadily, approximately 1 year every five years. There will be an enormous number of retired baby boomers with lots and lots of spending money. They are absolutely mad on travelling and will spend plenty of dosh on this. They will be eating out and socialising a lot.
The middle classes will be demanding ever more sophisticated cuisine that they have experienced from around the world. They will be spending lots of cash on remaining healthy and looking good. It almost goes without saying that they will be buying every new gadget available, including Nintendos and the lot. This generation as mentioned will refuse to be old.