BOOMER$
Labor statistics indicate that nearly 80 million BOOMER$ will exit the workplace in the next decade. Born between 1946 and 1964, BOOMER$ are predominately in their 40's and 50's. They are well-established in their careers, spend well, seek expensive homes, elaborate vacations, expensive automobiles, usually, out-spending their parents.
The BOOMER$ constitutes a large majority of today's law firm leaders, Ph.D's, senior paralegals, and legal managers. The facts prove nearly seventy percent of law firm partners are BOOMER$.
Networking
Are Social Networking Tools Here To Stay???
Social networking applications have evolved significantly in the past eight years. Initially, sites such as MySpace and Friendster were online arenas for (mostly) 20-somethings to connect. Now, with the booming popularity of Facebook and Twitter, a large cross-section of the population is using social networking sites to…well, connect. Okay, so while the technology may have been improved, the purpose is still the same. That said, are the “it” applications of today really that revolutionary, and are they here to stay?
Certainly, with so many children today using social networking sites and texts to communicate with their friends and family, it seems pretty likely that some form of virtual social networking will remain.
American futurist Marc Prensky has coined the terms “digital natives” and “digital immigrants” to distinguish between those who have grown up with technology and those who have adapted to it. Immigrants, he says, prefer single, sequential processing and process text before pictures, sound and video. They might print out their online documentation to read later, call rather than email and keep a dictionary by their desk.
Natives, according to Prensky, multi-task, process pictures, video and sound before text, thrive on instant gratification and claim to function best when networked. And for the kids who are growing up on this stuff, communication through virtual means is already the norm.
What’s To Come?
But what form might this type of networking take in the coming years? One might question the endurability of Facebook after witnessing MySpace turn into a dusty pet rock and even the once-cutting edge professional networking site LinkedIn looking a bit dinosaurish.
LinkedIn’s latest move to be more like Facebook by allowing users to post statuses just makes them seem a bit desperate. But the fact is, many sites (even your web-based email) are jumping on the social networking bandwagon, attempting to gain loyalty and page views by making chat, contact connections and statuses front-and-center. And even while many people may not be able to sustain interest in finding out what their nephew’s Fish World looks like or grade school pal’s favorite taco is, the possibility of connection—a basic human need—is what these tools offer. And that is likely to continue in some form.
Networking Faster and Smarter
A relatively new kid on the block in terms of public awareness, Twitter has actually given us an interesting new way to parse through the streams of data pouring through our digital world. While Facebook offers users a chance to share stories, photos and interests with a closed group of friends, your Twitter circle is a superset of that. It lets you expand to people outside of your friends and family — basically, anybody with similar interests, including experts in those areas of interest. And while you might use your circle of experts to get the latest on the stars of the “Twilight” series, you might also curate your follower list to help you stay on top of your field, news events or areas of interest.
Conveniently, those chosen followers in turn curate your information flow, giving you a great way to parse through the information vying for your attention so you can get what you want more quickly and efficiently. Who knows? This may give you more free time to meet a friend for coffee, play with the kids, or Facebook-stalk your high school boyfriend or girlfriend.
No matter which forms social networking applications end up taking, the key will be to make sure they enhance your knowledge, your life and connections with loved ones. These can be powerful tools, but they also have the potential to make you more vulnerable to exploitation and exposure. The key is learning to use them wisely.
Baby Boomer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A baby boomer is a person who was born during the demographic Post-World War II baby boom. The term "baby boomer" is sometimes used in a cultural context, and sometimes used to describe someone who was born during the post-WWII baby boom. Therefore, it is impossible to achieve broad consensus of a precise definition, even within a given territory. Different groups, organizations, individuals, and scholars may have widely varying opinions on what constitutes a baby boomer, both technically and culturally. Ascribing universal attributes to a broad generation is difficult, and some observers believe that it is inherently impossible. Nonetheless, many people have attempted to determine the broad cultural similarities and historical impact of the generation, and thus the term has gained widespread popular usage.
In general, baby boomers are associated with a rejection or redefinition of traditional values; however, many commentators have disputed the extent of that rejection, noting the widespread continuity of values with older and younger generations. In Europe and North America boomers are widely associated with privilege, as many grew up in a time of affluence. As a group, they were the healthiest and wealthiest generation to that time, and amongst the first to grow up genuinely expecting the world to improve with time.
One of the unique features of Boomers was that they tended to think of themselves as a special generation, very different from those that had come before. In the 1960s, as the relatively large numbers of young people became teenagers and young adults, they, and those around them, created a very specific rhetoric around their cohort, and the change they were bringing about. This rhetoric had an important impact in the self perceptions of the boomers, as well as their tendency to define the world in terms of generations, which was a relatively new phenomenon.
The baby boom has been described variously as a "shockwave" and as "the pig in the python.” By the sheer force of its numbers, the boomers were a demographic bulge which remodeled society as it passed through it.
The term Generation Jones has been used by Jonathan Pontell to distinguish those born from 1954 onward from the earlier Baby Boomers. The United States Census Bureau considers a baby boomer to be someone born during the demographic birth boom between 1946 and 1964. The Census Bureau is not involved in defining cultural generations.
Jones defined the span of the baby-boom generation as extending from 1946 to 1964, when annual births declined below 4,000,000. They have since returned to higher levels in the "echo boom."
William Strauss and Neil Howe label American Baby Boomers 1943 to 1960.
The Golden Boomers are Baby Boomers who are retired or will retire from an occupation or profession. As the Baby Boomers are defined in different ways, the Golden Boomers can also be defined differently. The characteristics pertaining to the Golden Boomers are unique compared to those of the Traditionalist, the Generation X, and the Generation Y in population studies. In particular, as January 1, 2011 which "officially" starts the Era of the Golden Boomers," is approaching, the term "the Golden Boomers" begins to generate significant impact on worldwide populations. Marketing firms and professionals have begun to use the phrase "Golden Boomers" in describing the particular segment of the market as the size of older population grows and the potentials for business activities around the Golden Boomers by many industries are recognized.
In Ontario Canada, one influential attempt to define the boom came from David Foot, author of Boom, Bust and Echo: Profiting from the Demographic Shift in the 21st Century, published in 1997 and 2000. He defines a Canadian boomer as someone born from 1947 to 1966, the years that more than 400,000 babies were born. However, he acknowledges that is a demographic definition, and that culturally it may not be as clear-cut. Doug Owram argues that the Canadian boom took place from 1946 to 1962, but that culturally boomers (everywhere) were born between the late war years and about 1955 or 1956. He notes that those born in the years before the actual boom were often the most influential people among boomers; for example, The Beatles, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones. Those born in the 1960s might well feel disconnected from the cultural identifiers of the earlier boomers.
Bernard Salt places the Australian baby boom between 1946 and 1961.
Seventy-six million American children were born between 1945 and 1964, representing a cohort that is significant on account of its size alone. In 2004, the UK baby boomers held 80% of the UK's wealth and bought 80% of all top of the range cars, 80% of cruises and 50% of skincare products.
In addition to the size of the group, Steve Gillon has suggested that one thing that sets the baby boomers apart from other generational groups is the fact that "almost from the time they were conceived, Boomers were dissected, analyzed, and pitched to by modern marketers, who reinforced a sense of generational distinctiveness. This is supported by the articles of the late 1940s identifying the increasing number of babies as an economic boom, such as in the Newsweek article of August 9, 1948, "Population: Babies Mean Business", or Time article of February 9, 1948. The effect of the baby boom continued to be analyzed and exploited throughout the 1950s and 60s.
The age wave theory suggests an economic slowdown when the boomers start retiring during 2007–2009.
Boomers grew up at a time of dramatic social change. In the United States, that social change marked the generation with a strong cultural cleavage, between the proponents of social change and the more conservative. Some analysts believe this cleavage has played out politically since the time of the Vietnam War, to some extent defining the political landscape and division in the country.
In 1993, Time magazine reported on the religious affiliations of baby boomers. Citing Wade Clark Roof, a sociologist at the University of California at Santa Barbara, the articles stated that about 42% of baby boomers were dropouts from formal religion, a third had never strayed from church, and one-fourth of boomers were returning to religious practice. The boomers returning to religion were "usually less tied to tradition and less dependable as church members than the loyalists. They are also more liberal, which deepens rifts over issues like abortion and homosexuality.
It is jokingly said that, whatever year they were born, boomers were coming of age at the same time across the world; so that Britain was undergoing Beatlemania while people in the United States were driving over to Woodstock, organizing against the Vietnam War, or fighting and dying in the same war; boomers in Italy were dressing in mod clothes and "buying the world a Coke"; boomers in India were seeking new philosophical discoveries; American boomers in Canada had just found a new home and escaped the draft; Canadian Boomers were organizing support for Pierre Trudeau. It is precisely because of these experiences that many believe those born in the second half of the birth boom belong to another generation, as events that defined their coming of age have little in common with leading or core boomers.
The boomers found that their music, most notably rock and roll, was another expression of their generational identity. Transistor radios were personal devices that allowed teenagers to listen to The Beatles and The Motown Sound.
In the 1985 study of US generational cohorts by Schuman and Scott, a broad sample of adults was asked, "What world events over the past 50 years were especially important to them?" For the baby boomers the results were:
- Baby Boomer cohort #1 (born from circa 1946 to 1955), the young cohort who epitomized the cultural change of the sixties
- Memorable events: the Cuban Missile Crisis, assassinations of JFK, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr., political unrest, walk on the moon, risk of the draft into the Vietnam War, anti-war protests, social experimentation, sexual freedom, drug experimentation, civil rights movement, environmental movement, women's movement, protests and riots, Woodstock, mainstream rock from the Beatles to Jimi Hendrix
- Key characteristics: experimental, individualism, free spirited, social cause oriented
- Key members: Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, U.S. President George W. Bush
- Baby Boomer cohort #2 or Generation Jones (born from circa 1956–1964)
- Memorable events: Watergate, Nixon resigns, the Cold War, lowered drinking age in many states 1970-1976 (followed by raising), the oil embargo, raging inflation, gasoline shortages, Jimmy Carter's imposition of registration for the draft, punk or new wave from Deborah Harry and techno pop to Annie Lennox and MTV
- Key characteristics: less optimistic, distrust of government, general cynicism
- Key members: Douglas Coupland who initially was called a Gen Xer but now rejects it and Barack Obama who many national observers have recently called a post-Boomer, and more specifically part of Generation Jones
As of 1998, it was reported that, as a generation, boomers had tended to avoid discussions and planning for their demise and avoided much long-term planning. However, beginning at least as early as that year, there has been a growing dialogue on how to manage aging and end-of-life issues as the generation ages. In particular, a number of commentators have argued that Baby Boomers are in a state of denial regarding their own aging and death and are leaving an undue economic burden on their children for their retirement and care.
An indication of the importance put on the impact of the boomer was the selection by Time magazine of the Baby Boom Generation as its 1967 "Man of the Year." As Claire Raines points out in ‘Beyond Generation X’, “never before in history had youth been as idealized as they were at this moment.” When Generation X came along it had much to live up to and to some degree has always lived in the shadow of the Boomers, more often criticized (‘slackers’, ‘whiners’ and ‘the doom generation’) than not. One of the contributions made by the Boomer generation appears to be the expansion of individual freedom. Boomers often are associated with the civil rights movement, the feminist cause in the 1970s, gay rights, handicapped rights, and the right to privacy.
Are You a Baby Boomer?
Baby BOOMER$ Traits and Characteristics:
If you were born between 1946 and 1964...then you are definitely in the BOOMER$ category...
You are Work Centric...Independent...Very Goal Oriented ... Competitive ... and love perks and prestige.
BOOMER$ grew up in era of reform. They strive to make a change, so they are achievement-oriented and definitely believe in themselves. Many choose and explore legal careers.
http://legalcareers.about.com/od/practicetips/
BOOMER$ LINKS
Charles Schwab 2010 Families and Money Survey
http://www.schwabmoneywise.com/views
Boomer Press Release
www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archive
Space Pays: Empty Nesters
http://www.sparefoot.com/
Are you prepared for the Baby Boomer$ retiring-2008-2015?
http://www.iesf.com/user_files/48/
Congress Predicts Major Problem With BOOMER$ Retiring
http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=4863&type=0
Teachers Retiring - Study Predicts Major Problems by 2015
http://educationalissues.suite101.com/article.cfm
America's Top Places For BOOMER$ to Retire
http://www.cnbc.com/id/35259928/
Retirement Needs of Latino Baby BOOMER$
http://uscnews.usc.edu/university
Baby Boomer$ Retirement Security
http://www.pensionresearchcouncil.org
Find the best retirement communities
http://www.topretirements.com/blog/
How BOOMER$ Will Change Retirement
http://seniorliving.about.com/od/retirement/
7 Pitfalls retiring baby boomers must avoid if your retirement seems just around the corner
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/
BOOMER$ are becoming aware that they are experiencing a different type of retirement than the previous generations.
http://home.att.net/~coachthee/Archives/
Retiring - The Truth About How To Make It All Better!
http://babyboomersretiring.com/
Boomers - planning for retirement?
http://www.baby-boomers-planning-for-retirement.com/
Help
support our National cause:
Seniors helping needy Seniors and Boomer$ Too:
DONATE you car, truck, RV, boat and Real Estate.
Morgan Barclay Florida, LLC
Call 941-412-4480 for details
email: tonyeagle@comcast.net
Child Passenger Safety - Booster Seats
http://www.safercar.gov/
Age Data of the United States
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/age/
Comparing the Retirement Savings of the
Baby Boomers and Other Cohorts
http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/cm20050114ar01p1.htm
GAO-Report to Congressional Committees
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06718.pdf
Volunteering in America
http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/
Dems Do Best Among Generation Y and
Baby Boomers
http://www.gallup.com/poll/118285/
Baby Boomer Facts
http://www.getinvolved.gov/newsroom/
Web Resources for Parents of Children with
Special Health Care Needs
http://www.familyvillage.wisc.edu/websites.html
Disability Web Sites
http://chance.unh.edu/websites.html
Careers at University of Tennessee
http://career.utk.edu/generaljoblistings.php
Boomers Careers in Tennessee
http://www.state.tn.us/labor-wfd/boomer
LBJ-Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public
Affairs-Virtual Volunterring Resources
www.utexas.edu/lbj/rgk/serviceleader/virtual/
