Today’s baby boomers are revolutionizing retirement – making it cool and interesting – says Australian trend forecaster Bernard Salt.
“In my opinion, being 65 in 2013 is like no other time in history,” Salt said on The Today program. “The baby boomer generation will not take retirement laying down; they will reinvent it. They will make it cool, almost interesting, to be 60 and 70.”
“They’re revolutionizing what it’s like to be retired.”
Salt said in the 20th century, people worked until they were 65, “got a gold watch, went home and retired.”
However, he says today’s baby boomers will do it differently.
“They will scale back [work] from five days, four days, three days. You will never be quite sure if someone is working or retired.”
He said part of this was because baby boomers had worked out that they hadn’t saved enough to retire in the manner to which they have been accustomed to living.
“So they will remain in the workforce and work maybe one or two days a week, play a bit of golf, do a bit of volunteering, travel, undertake a bit of education…there will be a bit of blurring and blending of work and retirement over that 55 to 72-year-old time in life.”
Salt said it was very much a case of baby boomers expanding their horizons – and not winding down.
“Logically in Australia, life expectancy is around the mid-80s, so you can’t act old at 65 when you have another 20 years of living. You could do that a generation ago when life expectancy was in the 70s, but if you’ve got another 20-25 years to go you think differently. You think of yourself as having time to do things for yourself.”
Salt said he also believed there would be a greater trend towards baby boomers re-partnering.
“Why spend the last 20 years alone? I think we will see people select relationships and choose partners based perhaps more on compatibility and companionship, rather than on the physical qualities that attract most young people.”
Bernard Salt is a leading commentator and advisor to corporate Australia on consumer, cultural and demographic trends. A KPMG partner based in Melbourne, he has established an international reputation as a trend forecaster for business and government.
