Golden State turns grey as babyboomers hit pension age

[milmor_1]

Golden State turns grey as babyboomers hit pension age - Irish Independent

Friday October 6th 2006

IT IS a land synonymous with all things youthful, from golden beach babes and surfer dudes to twenty-something dotcom millionaires and aspiring young starlets.

But California's image is set to be turned upside down in the coming decade as a tidal wave of retiring baby boomers turns it from the Golden State to the greyest. New predictions have California's senior population set to double by 2020, challenging Florida for the greatest proportion of elders in the country.

But this is not a generation happy to shuffle off into old age clutching their meagre social security cheques: these are the so-called "me generation" whose impending move into retirement has been nicknamed "Boomergeddon".

They may have been the wealthiest and best-educated generation in history, says Mike Males, the California sociologist who coined the term, but the image of them mellowing into old age with a fat pension fund is way out of date.

"This is a generation that hasn't cared much about the future," Mr Males, a baby boomer himself, said. "We can't even conceive of growing old."

While they may have been the wealthiest generation, they have also been the highest-spending, enjoying lavish lifestyles their parents could only dream of.

Few have saved adequately for a retirement that may last as long as their working lives. Yet only a third say they expect to scale back their lifestyle.

And while past generations may have had their own health problems, baby boomers are bringing a whole new set into their senior years, refusing to let go of their old ways of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll.

Already 1.7million Americans over 50 are addicted to drugs. By 2020 that number will reach 4.4 million.

In the past decade, the number of over-fifties seeking help for heroin or cocaine abuse has quadrupled.

The past 25 years has seen a 700pc rise in the number of over 40s in jail.

Boomers are the biggest demographic for HIV and Aids in America. Researchers trying to explain a 67pc rise in fatal motorcycle accidents, finally, put it down to baby boomers crashing their mid-life crisis Harleys.

For all those ageing rockers, of course, there are many more baby boomers that have been dutifully eating their granola and practising their yoga. But their longevity is likely to be an equal burden on society.

"The challenges are going to be enormous. No state has ever seen a demographic shift like this. It's just never happened before," said Patty Berg, chair of the Californian committee on ageing.

[filthybeast]

Sounds good to me. Seems like there is a little bit of everything for us old farts.

[conlor]

I wonder what the skin cancer rate is in CA, compared to the rest of the country.

[JudyLynne]

interesting article.