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April 05, 2009 at 08:00 PM
Orlando, Fla.
The retirement industry needs a wake-up call where Baby Boomers are concerned, Maddy Dychtwald contended at a conference here.
The Baby Boomers represent one-third of the entire U.S. population, according to Dychtwald, who is co-founder and senior vice president of Age Wave, San Francisco, demographic research firm.
They will reinvent retirement just as they changed many other aspects of life since the first were born in 1946, she said.
Boomers already have transformed adulthood, she told attendees at the opening session of an annual retirement industry conference co-sponsored by LIMRA International, Windsor, Conn.; LOMA, Atlanta; and the Society of Actuaries, Schaumberg, Ill.
She identified many areas where this has happened. For instance, many no longer lead linear lives where most everyone follows the same stages of life in the same age range, she said. Instead, “many live a more cyclic life–for instance, by taking second, third or even fourth careers, second chances on relationships,” and so on.
They are living longer than the previous generations, too, and they want to use the extra time to re-shape their lives, Dychtwald said.
“Are you developing products and marketing concepts that are in line with this new cyclic paradigm?” she asked the audience.
In the world of work, Boomer women have been entering the work force in record numbers and staying there, she said. When Age Wave asked these women what they want from financial services, it found that “they [Boomer women] aren’t well served at all,” Dychtwald said.
“Women tend to be worriers, not warriors, so they are less aggressive in investing, and they want simplicity, security and predictability. They also want education without the attitude.”
