Senior boom begins amid economic bust

USA Today: Senior boom begins amid economic bust

… Today, Nachreiner and other first Boomers — such as Kathy Casey-Kirschling (born 12:00:01 a.m. ET in Philadelphia) and Jim Sickler (born 12:00:01 a.m. CT in St. Louis) — are six weeks from turning 65. On Dec. 1, a month before reaching their milestone, they become eligible for Medicare.

They're the leading edge of a juggernaut that, from Khe Sanh to Woodstock, Play-Doh to Viagra, "wrapped our culture around itself like no generation before or since," Gillon writes in his history, Boomer Nation.

As they've moved through the years like a demographic pig in a python, the 77 million Baby Boomers have redefined each stage of life, says Ken Dychtwald, an expert on generational change. And, he predicts, they will change the next stage, too.

But how will a generation defined by its youthfulness and optimism deal with old age and hard times?

Raised in affluent times and imbued with high expectations, the first Boomers now face the ironic prospect of longer yet crimped lives. Their homes and savings are worth less than a few years ago, and health care and energy cost more.

Although many will need (or want) to work past 65, there's less work to be had. Tobi Morgan, a real estate agent who was Utah's first Boomer, hung out her shingle in South Florida just before the housing market crashed; Ann Fry, born Jan. 1, 1946, in Miami, saw the recession dry up her career coaching practice; Mary Pfeiffer, a Dayton, Ohio, first Boomer, worries about Medicare's ability to cover treatment of her severe scoliosis.

"We tried to save for retirement, but we were always a day late and a dollar short," she says. Her husband, a retired postal worker, works the early shift at a deli counter. …

… But the biggest question raised by the Boomers' senior moment is how it will affect the politics of Social Security and Medicare, and the nature of retirement.

Boomers' sheer numbers (one will be turning 65 every 8 seconds) threaten to overwhelm the federal budget with rising costs for the entitlement programs.

Gillon questions the assumption that, as in the case of the World War II generation, Boomers' political clout will protect the entitlement status quo, even if it means passing on the bill to later generations. Boomers never have been politically cohesive, and — like the general electorate — they're becoming more polarized, he says.

And they have something else at stake: their reputation.

Slightly more than half of Americans think the Boomers have made things better for the generations that came after them, compared with 4 in 10 who think they've made things worse, according to the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. Asked whether "giving" or "selfish" better describes Boomers, 57% chose the former, 37% the latter.

Neil Howe, a consultant who studies generational change, says the Boomers will forfeit their reputation for spirituality, authenticity, wisdom — for what President George H.W. Bush called the "vision thing" — if they appear to be acting selfishly in the entitlements debate.

Selflessness won't be easy because, as Jane Dunlap puts it: "Our retirement is not going to be our parents' retirement."

That retirement came abruptly, usually around 65, and completely. But now, "this generation will drive the final nail in the coffin of '40 years and a gold watch,' " Gillon says.

Although most blue-collar Boomers will retire as soon as they can afford to, some others want to keep working even if they don't have to.

"They'll have to carry me out on a flip chart," says Vicki Thomas.

Consider two new models of first Boomer non-retirement: …