Research & Writing

Politics & Business of Retirement: Does a Decade Make a 50-Plus Difference?

Sorting through my six foot pile of research material on the subjects of aging demographics, retirement, the baby boomer’s “Top 50 Best Employer lists for 50 Plus Workers” and so on; I wondered how long have we been talking about this in the public domain? Does a decade make a difference? And, how much more can we take?

In November 1993, an article written by John Vince in the Kitchener Waterloo Record, talked about the politics of retirement. This was prompted by his observations on the issues of the recent federal election campaign. As he said then, retirement was very political, affecting “ jobs, taxes, health care and even intergenerational squabbling”.

Didn’t we get this in the election in 2004? Over a decade later, the heat is a little higher and the volume a lot louder.

The same year, 1993, when I was in the retail industry, I had been marketing travel-related products with special discounts to the emerging 50 Plus market. I invested in exhibits at the Today’s Seniors consumer shows in Toronto. Along side me in the next aisle were exhibits, for health foods, RV living, orthopaedic products, golf resorts and cremation.

Don’t we still get this in 2005 through the 50 Plus magazines that line the shelf? Over a decade later, our grey population is a lot more visible and the discounts still apply.

Here’s a prediction on “Aging” from an article in the Toronto Star, May 1, 1994: “Boomers’ luck will last in their retirement”, so heralded the headline. Can we blame David K. Foot? Next year, 2006 will be the 10th anniversary of the publication of his landmark book, “Boom Bust & Echo: How to Profit from the Coming Demographic Shift.

Says the Star, quoting Foot; “ a massive restructuring of the workplace in Canada was inevitable for the social and economic health of the country. A necessary component of this would involve allowing people to retire early without getting hit hard in the pension, as they are now. Assuming that happens, Foot believes that many overworked professionals would enthusiastically welcome retirement at age 55.”

Wait a minute, aren’t we ending mandatory retirement? Aren’t many still advocating for age friendly public policy changes for the 50 Plus? Aren’t we still interviewing 25 to 30 year olds for how they feel about helping Boomers with their luck?

John Vince said in 1993, “Already many young people are admitting that they do not expect to obtain the same economic standard of living achieved by their parents.”

Headline. Toronto Star. January 3, 2004: You Stole My Job! Quoting a 26 year old in the article, “ I blame the Boomers for the havoc the government has wreaked over the past 12 years, because they voted them in because of their concerns about their tax breaks… I basically blame the Boomers.” Well at least she isn’t blaming David Foot.

But over at the Financial Post, September 6, 2003, Jeff Sanford says (using David Foot as the lead with the “captured alive” photo), “Blame the Boomers”. Has a decade made a difference?