Ep 4 ~ The Boomer Effect

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Show Notes –  Episode # 4 The Boomer Effect

I found this video The Washington Post created. Listen to it and make your own judgement on the topics they talk about. TWP is no friend of the President. In the video they attack the Boomers and think that the Milennials are going to fix the conserative agenda once they can get the Liberal left back into the Government. Let me know what you think.

Posted on 08-25-16 by The Washington Post
Mentions Climate change and how Baby Boomers are destroying the American culture.

Moving On

One of the things technologists were faced with was to how to make gadgets that were more user friendly.

Think of the iPhone.
The design influenced the introduction of the Android Smartphone. Before Apple’s version of the iPhone, there was the Motorola Flip Phone. Motorola missed the mark on making the Flip Phone more user friendly. Steve Jobs figured this out. He designed a phone everyone could use. Then Android followed with a very similar design. Keep in mind Steve Jobs also came up with the idea that we no longer needed a user manual. We Boomers grew up using User Manuals for everything. In today’s market this no longer exists.

Now with people purchasing new products you go on the web, YouTube and Amazon reviews. You might even go to a shopping mall to hold the item in your hand to see what it feels like. This has had a profound affect on the way things are marketed to Boomers. The message is always how simple it is or how great it tastes or how much fuel mileage a car gets. Our parents were told how shiny things were or what you purchase would reflect on your status in the community.

Like owning a “Console Color Television” Back in our parents day, just owning one reflected just how succesful you were. Boomers are not marketed in this way today. Today Boomers are told how much time or money will be saved in purchasing these products. We are always marketed about upgrading what Boomers already have. And then there are the financial services available to Boomers. More so than our parents.

Now Boomers can reverse mortgage their homes. Basically what a reverse mortgage is money that is given to the homeoner for the equity in their property. I think you have to be 62 years of age. You have to live in the home and it should have a significant amount of equity in the property.

A Little Story
Now I want to tell you a little story about a situation with a reverse mortgage. This person is living as a single Boomer Dad in the house. His children are living with him. Now Boomer Dad dies of natural causes. The house is now owned by the Bank. The kids are old by the Bank they have to move out so the home can be sold for the Bank to recover the reverse mortgage loan on the property. The kids, having no where else to go and claiming medical problems, hire an attorney and continue to live in the home after years of paying nothing but attorney fees.

For attorneys out there,this becomes a whole new area of making money on a Boomer who has now passed and get those funds from the kids of Boomers now living in the home. Personally I don’t agree with this practice. I think the Bank should have been able to get their money back. But maybe because the loan is covered by our government under FDIC, there is no real need for a Bank to pursue the kids who are basically living there rent free. I am no expert and if you are an attorney who is an expert in this please comment below. I know some new legislation was passed by Congress in 2013. This legislation placed a lot more rules, language and protecion for the lenders of these financial instruments. However, if you have a reverse mortgage filed before 2013 and something happens to you, your kids might have a free home out of the deal.

BREAKING DOWN ‘Boomer Effect (Baby Boomer Factor)’

Baby boomers hold a large amount of the wealth in North America, making them a prime market segment. As they have aged, the baby boomers have shaped the focus of companies. The obvious effects includes the wide-range of anti-aging products, real estate aimed at people seeking to live independently longer, more investment in replacements, transplants and other medical technology – like no other generation before them, the baby boomers are sticking around. This is also having an effect on labor markets as boomers have stayed around longer working and holding onto jobs that would otherwise be filled by the next generation. And this has generally been positive for businesses as studies have shown a productivity drop when boomers retire due to the loss of organizational intelligence. However, delayed retirement is only pushing the productivity reckoning further into the future.

Investing In the Boomer Effect

The baby boomers collectively have created trends that disproportionately benefit particular industries, so an investor can position a portfolio to take advantage of the boomer effect. Unsurprisingly, most of these opportunities are in the medical or medical services sector. Orthopedic manufacturers, affordable care homes, medical device makers, and pharmaceutical makers will see already strong demand grow as more boomers push the limits of old age. There is a larger question of what happens to the wealth – how many boomers will spend it and how many will pass it on – but that particular boomer effect has yet to be measured.

Read more: Boomer Effect (Baby Boomer Factor) Definition | Investopedia 
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Baby boomer is a term referring to a person who was born between 1946 and 1964. The baby boomer generation makes up a substantial portion of the North American population, representing nearly 20% of the American public. Baby boomers have a significant impact on the economy, and as a result, baby boomers are often the focus of marketing campaigns and business plans.

BREAKING DOWN ‘Baby Boomer’

After the end of World War II, birth rates across the world spiked. The explosion of new infants became known as the baby boom. During the boom, almost 77 million babies were born in the United States alone, comprising nearly 40 percent of the American population. The large increase in population produced a substantial rise in demand for consumer goods, stimulating the postwar economy.

History of the Baby Boomer Generation

Most historians agree that the baby boomer phenomenon most likely involved a combination of factors, including a tendency of women to marry at a younger age and older people becoming more open to having the families that they put off during World War II. A sense of confidence that the coming era would be safe and prosperous pervaded American society. The postwar economy saw increases in wages, thriving businesses, and an increase in variety and quantity of products for consumers.

Accompanying this new economic prosperity was a migration of young families from the cities to the suburbs. The G.I. Bill allowed returning military personnel to purchase affordable homes in tracts around the edges of cities. This led to a suburban ethos of the ideal family comprised of a husband as provider and stay-at-home housewife that tended to isolate and alienate women. Many boomers became dissatisfied with this ethos, which brought on the youth counterculture of the 1960’s.

As suburban families began to use new forms of credit to purchase consumer goods such as cars and television sets, businesses also targeted their children with marketing efforts. The popularity of trending toys, film tie-in products, and rock and roll music records gave the economy a much-needed boost.

Baby Boomers and the Economy

As of 2015, the millennial generation has slightly surpassed the baby boomer generation in overall population in the United States. However, many of the almost 75 million boomers have reached retirement age and are unprepared financially. Many plan to live almost exclusively on Social Security despite the ongoing depletion of the system. Many also plan to keep on working, at least part time, past the age of 65 to supplement their retirement incomes. Opinion is mixed as to whether this trend strengthens the economy by maintaining experienced workers in the workforce or weakens it by keeping younger workers from finding jobs. Another concern is the impact of aging baby boomers on health care systems. Although boomers are living longer, they are not necessarily healthier, and many have inadequate health coverage. Obesity, diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol are all on the rise in the boomer population. Cancer and heart disease are still the leading cause of death among boomers.

Why should people born from 1945-1965
get tested for hepatitis C?

People born from 1945–1965, sometimes referred to as baby boomers, are 5 times more likely to have hepatitis C than other adults. Hepatitis C can lead to liver damage, cirrhosis, and even liver cancer. Most people with hepatitis C do not know they are infected. Since many people can live with hepatitis C for decades without symptoms or feeling sick, testing is critical so those who are infected can get treated and cured.

What should baby boomers know about hepatitis C?

Hepatitis C is a liver disease that results from infection with the hepatitis C virus. Some people who get infected are able to clear, or get rid of, the hepatitis C virus, but most people who get infected develop a chronic, or long-term, infection. Over time, chronic hepatitis C can cause serious health problems. In fact, hepatitis C is a leading cause of liver cancer and the leading cause of liver transplants. Treatments are now available that can cure hepatitis C.

Why do people born from 1945-1965
have such high rates of hepatitis C?

The reason that people born from 1945–1965 have high rates of hepatitis C is not completely understood. Most baby boomers are believed to have become infected in the 1960s through the 1980’s when transmission of hepatitis C was highest. Hepatitis C is primarily spread through contact with blood from an infected person. Baby boomers could have gotten infected from medical equipment or procedures before universal precautions and infection control procedures were adopted.

Others could have gotten infected from contaminated blood and blood products before widespread screening virtually eliminated the virus from the blood supply by 1992. Sharing needles or equipment used to prepare or inject drugs, even if only once in the past, could spread hepatitis C.

Still, many people do not know how or when they were infected. If Hepatitis C is left untreated, it can lead to harmful long term effects like severe liver scarring, liver cancer, or even death. Experts are still trying to understand why baby boomers are most at risk.

The health department says they have several theories on why it affects the baby boomer population. Boomers need to get tested results are usually ready in 20 minutes and you can check to see if the County you reside in has a free screening program. Many counties do. Hopefully yours does.

ref: https://www.cdc.gov/knowmorehepatitis/media/pdfs/factsheet-boomers.pdf