Baby boomers take what they put in

By Carl Heintze

Like standing on the shore watching the approach of a tsunami, or tidal wave, we are getting our first sight of the baby boomer generation as it slides over 50. It is an awesome, even frightening sight. The vast numbers of kids we, their parents, fathered and mothered after World War II are approaching middle age. Some, in fact, have entered it and are faced suddenly and, for them, unexpectedly with the prospect of getting old.

It is not a fate to which they seem likely to take kindly.

Not long ago I heard a talk by one of the co-founders of Elderhostel, the program of travel and education for those over 55. He was bemoaning that Elderhostel is having difficulties in getting Baby Boomers to consider Elderhostel programs after they reach 55.

"They don't like anything with the word 'elder' in it," he said. "They don't think they are ever going to get old, or infirm or have health problems. Most of them have spent a lot of time jogging, doing aerobics. Some have even done extreme sports: rock climbing, kayaking in Grade Five rivers, mountain biking double centuries (200 miles in 24 hours) or running marathons or participating in Ironman competitions.

"They think they're never going to die. My advice to you is to fly first class, because if you don't, your kids will."

Well, maybe.

The baby boomer generation has suddenly come up against the prospect that they may one day in a not too distant time have to retire. They've known of this, although vaguely, because for much of their working life they have been paying very large contributions to the Social Security system. Their parents have been sopping these benefits up, having long ago used what they contributed, and are now living off their children, as it were.

The same holds for Medicare, medical care for those over 65, passed back in the 1960s when no one had a hint that the so-called "greatest" generation was going to live into their 70's, 80's and 90's. After all, their parents hadn't. They shuffled off into Nirvana not long after retirement. They not only didn't get much medical care, they didn't need it. They died too soon.But the baby boomers' example has been their parents, many of whom retired early--the Boomers wanted them out of the way so they could take their jobs--and who have been cavorting about the world themselves for the last 20 years or so having fun.

With these folks in mind it is not unnatural that the boomers figure they are going to retire in their late 50s or early 60s with medical benefits and plenty of money on which to travel, live the good life and be an inspiration to their children.

Alas, it is beginning to dawn on the boomers that this happy prospect may not be much more than a dream. For one thing it has become more costly to live, even in retirement, than it was when their parents dropped out of the rat race. For another medical care has been increasing rapidly in cost during the past decade. For a third, no politician, Republican or Democrat, has been brave enough to undertake an overhaul of the Social Security and Medicare systems. One is dependent on the other. Indeed, they really are part of the same package.

But there are not only more expenses to pay for both programs, there also are a lot more boomers who believe they are entitled to reap their benefits. The sheer numbers of those about to retire will tax the system no matter what is done to repair it.

Many Boomers, of course, realized they could not depend on Social Security or Medicare for social and medical security. They began investing in the stock market, in bigger and better houses, in real estate, socking their wealth away against the coming autumn of their lives. Some even unwisely invested in the illusion of the dot-com revolution.

Whether this stratagem will help fill the gaps left by a Social Security and Medicare machine that badly needs repair is, at this writing, an open question.

In a sense history has reversed itself. For the boomers' parents the uncertainty and terror of the world came early in their lives with the tail end of the Depression and World War II.

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Carl Heintze is a frequent contributor to the Campbell Reporter. A collection of his essays may be found at http://www.doitright.com/Carl/essays. He can be reached by email at feodorh@juno.com.

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