Baby boomers to retire en mass, experts say
Flower children to find themselves basking in the sun in their Golden Years

Staff Writer

In 1969, The Fifth Dimension proclaimed the year to be the dawning of the age of Aquarius. The year 2011 is going to see the retiring of it as the first of the baby boomer generation -- those born between 1946 and 1964 -- turn 65.

With 11 years to go, people are once again talking about "their generation."

"What people think of as retirement now is not going to be retirement in the future," said Anita Finely, "boomerologist" and publisher of "Boomer Times and Senior Life" in Boca Raton. "The baby boomers are very faceted. They are going to be taking magnificent herbs, they're going to be doing unusual exercises. Boomers don't want to retire. They're traveling now. They were playing golf when they were 35 instead of waiting to retire."

Charlotte County has traditionally been a retirement community. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, in 1990, one-third of the 110,975 population in Charlotte County was 65 or older. Only Llano County in Texas, with 34.1 percent of its population age 65 and older, was higher. The Shimberg Center at the University of Florida predicts by 2010, there will be 222,605 residents in Charlotte County 65 and older.

And a lot of boomers have been retiring early -- at age 50 --according to Bob Carpenter, executive director of the Punta Gorda Business Alliance. If the boomers stay with the trends of the past, more affluent retirees will flock to Deep Creek and Punta Gorda Isles. Port Charlotte will continue to attract blue-collar retirees.

"Most of the retirees now bought their homes here in the '50s and '60s and retired in the '80s," Carpenter said. "There are still 200,000 vacant lots in Charlotte County and the numbers are dwindling."

Retirees will also be competing with another group for the premium on space -- immigrants. Wayne Daltry, executive director of the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council, said many of the ethnic groups emigrating to the United States currently have not shown much interest north of the Mason-Dixon Line. If the northern economy is strong, however, the search for employment may pull them northerly. If it doesn't, however, northern retirees may have a tough time selling their homes if there is no market.

"There may become a reinterest in mobile homes or condos," Daltry said.

The boomers -- 73 million of them nationwide -- are also going to have a strong impact on the health-care industry. Gary Barg, editor in chief of "Today's Caregiver Magazine," said the health-care system is not going to be prepared for it.

"There are currently 100 million Americans with chronic conditions, and over the next 25 years, it's going to increase to 134 million," Barg said. "And the 85-and-older age group is the most rapidly growing."

Barg said by 2040 there will be an estimated 3.8 million Americans older than 85 -- four times as many as there are now. And he said the current trend in government is for the federal government to turn financing of long-term care over to the state. When the state doesn't have it, families take on the burden.

"The families have a lot on their shoulders," Barg said. "The out-of-pocket cost annually for a family member with dementia (memory loss and confusion) is $18,000, and that's regardless of insurance or savings."

By 2030, one in five baby boomers will be 65 or older, according to Barg. In 2050, there will be an estimated 75 million care givers. That's a little more than one caregiver per baby boomer. Unfortunately, they will not be the only generation to need them. Barg said decreased family size, broken families and delayed childbirth will add to the problem. Barg describes it as the nation's next health-care crisis.

And as goes Florida, so will the rest of the country.

"Florida is the crucible of caregiving," Barg said. "Whatever has happened in caregiving has happened in Florida."

The World War II generation taught their children well, though. Both Barg and Finely agree the baby boomers are planning what they want and don't want by going through old age vicariously with their parents. The same generation that took to the streets for civil rights and against Vietnam may have another war on their hands.

"I hope they see what is happening to their parents and they get prepared to fight for family support from the government and employers," Barg said.

"Boomers are going to insist on the best," Finely added.

Finely said she sees institutionalized living facilities becoming passé and boomers living out their golden years with a little help from their friends.

"They're going to take care of each other," she said. "There are a lot of single parents taking each other, friends taking care of friends. I think the 'Golden Girls' all living in a house together is a good barometer of what's to come."

Another up side is that boomers are living healthier as well as longer, thanks to education, better diet and exercise, and improved medical technology. Finely also said alternative medicine will play a big role in their life span.

"In the early 1900s, someone was lucky to see their 50s," Finely said. "Forties and 50s aren't even middle age now. Boomers aren't going to care about age. They're going back to school, they have multiple careers. Retirement to them may be 'OK, now I can write that book I never could before.' "