The Perks of Being a Part of the Gray Army
Transcript
Anyone who has been married already knows what I will share with you today, but it is a big slap for the marketers and investors of the world.
Ten-thousand baby boomers retire every day and will continue to until 2030.
Right now, there are 47 million people age 65 and older. That number will double by 2060. That’s just 43 years away.
And the gray army, those of us age 50 and up, holds 70% of the disposable income in this country. The 60-plus-year-old portion holds 30% of the wealth worldwide, and we make up the third-largest amount of wealth in the world, following the GDP of the U.S. and China.
Got the picture? We get no respect! Marketers focus only on 20- and 30-somethings.
But the real slap here is that women who live longer and are generally the caretakers are also the chief consumption officers of the homes and control all that money. And women over 50 or 55 are – for the most part – invisible to venture capitalists and marketers.
Knowing what this 50-plus-year-old woman likes and wants will be the key to unlocking 30% of the wealth in this world and 70% of the disposable income in the U.S.
And the fact that our whole culture is focused on those between birth and age 65, not post 65, makes the situation more inane. With the new longevity factor, we spend more of our lives in retirement. No one – and I mean no one – is paying attention to the ladies with the purse strings.
Anyone who has ever been married knows who controls the spending and purchasing at home. Why the business community chooses to ignore these numbers is a mystery to me.
As I have said before in this segment… there is nothing redeeming about being old, but holding 70% of the disposable income in one of the richest nations in the world may change that.
Good investing,
Steve
P.S. Next week, Wealthy Retirement is taking some time off… and we hope you are too. That’s why we’ll be sending out Wealthy Retirement only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday next week. We’ll be back to our regular schedule in the new year.