Want To Read A Really Informed Book That Will Make You Feel Good?

By Karen and Erica

We just read a splendid new book—What Retirees Want: A Holistic View of Life’s Third Age. The authors are founders of Age Wave, an enterprise devoted to explaining to the rest of the world the powers of the aging Baby Boomer demographic. Bravo!

We think the book is splendid because it echoes what we have been saying since we started Lustre:

 [R]etirement is currently undergoing a dramatic transition. Due to increasing longevity – particularly of women – and the aging of the Boomers, the swelling ranks of retirees are forming an unprecedented social and market force. And since today's cohorts of older men and women are psychologically, culturally, and financially different from previous older generations, they have new and far more diverse aspirations and dreams for their retirement lifestyles. As a result, there's a far bigger upside to aging – and one that is largely untapped. The opportunity is hiding in plain sight. Seizing it is going to require a fresh appreciation for today's and tomorrow's retirees: who they are; what they'll want to feel, eat, drive, wear, and share; and how they'll want to enjoy and find purpose in their decades of newfound time affluence.

The book tells the story about how we got here.

Can you imagine that, not long ago, since the connection between health and life expectancy was less clear, people thought that older people were miraculous? (We agree.) Then, for reasons the authors explain, youth gained ascendancy, and clever advertisers portrayed it as a glorious time of life. It is a glorious tine of life. Unfortunately, that truth was turned in support of agism, by negative advertising suggesting that life ended after about the age of 30. Why do advertisers think profit comes only by denigrating a status to which we all should aspire in the fullness of time?

The fight against agism was led by Maggie Kuhn, America’s wrinkled radical. She, like us, understood the power of language. She, like us, wanted the word senior, and especially the words senior citizen, to be retired. She was amazing, but progress is slow. (We admit that, back then, we did not fully get the message.)

Still, the authors of What Retirees Want think we are moving forward, perhaps because of our sheer numbers. One example: OXO tools. The book tells a fascinating story about how those tools came to be, motivated by a desire to create universal design, for everyone, including older people with arthritis. A great example of intergenerational thinking.

People over 65 want to work. The authors classify four kinds of working retirees—contributors, earners, balancers and builders—classifications designed to inform employers about how to think about older workers. They recognize the rich assets of older people—in terms of time, experience and money, and the value they bring to an enterprise. And of course, as the title suggests, they are on to the third demographic dividend, a gift of three decades of sentient life we have all been given for the first time in human history. Again, music to our ears.

Read the book. And be exhilarated that you, as a member of the Lustre community, are at the forefront of an unprecedented wave!