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Profile Study
Baby Boomers Have $2 Trillion to Spend
• Older Boomers spend on home improvement, clothing; younger
ones on children, mortgage
• Higher divorce rate than senior citizens
May 24, 2005 - The estimated annual spending power
of the baby boomers is more than $2 trillion. Younger boomers (born
1956-64) spend most of their money on their children and the mortgage.
Older boomers (born 1946-55), many of whom are empty nesters, put their
money into upgrading their homes and on clothing, spending 13% and 11%
more than average on women and men's apparel, respectively. The poverty
rate for boomers was 7.3% in 2000, lower than any other segment of the
population and a significant decrease from 1993 when 9.6% of boomers
were below the poverty line.
These are the findings of the recently updated
Demographic Profile of American Baby Boomers produced by the MetLife
Mature Market Institute. The publication also reports that the average
annual household after-tax income of boomers is $58,275 for those 35-44,
$64,080 for those 45-54 and $55,844 for those 55-64.
"Because of their sheer numbers, by the year 2030,
the baby boomers will be ages 66-84 and will make up about 20% of the
total population. They will have immense spending power with the
potential to change how America does business, since the goods and
services sought by these older people will be in much higher demand,"
said Sandra Timmermann, Ed.D., director of the MetLife Mature Market
Institute. "We can also expect a shift in entertainment, advertising
and, perhaps, voting patterns, since older Americans go to the polls in
large numbers."
"In addition, while we know that boomers now have
healthy incomes and spend a great deal of money, we also know that
they're not saving as much as they should and that their retirement
income will be less stable than that of previous generations. There
should be a call to action for boomers to spend less, save more and
focus on financial planning for their later years," said Timmermann.
Other key data includes the following:
-- Boomers are 49% male and 51% female.
-- Most boomer households have more than one person
working.
-- Boomer households spend upwards of $45,000 per
year.
-- More than 50% of baby boomers live in the
following nine states: California, Texas, New York, Florida,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and New Jersey.
-- Baby boomers have a higher divorce rate than
prior generations; 14.2% are divorced.
-- The percentage of boomers who never married
(12.6%) is significantly higher than prior generations.
-- 59% of baby boomers voted in the 2000
presidential election
-- Baby boomers have a higher level of education
than any generation before them: 88.8% completed high school; 28.5% have
a Bachelor's degree or higher.
Almost 17% of baby boomers are minorities: 12%
Black, 9.8% Hispanic, 4% Asian or Pacific Islander and less than one
percent American Indian or Alaska Native.
The Demographic Profile of American Baby Boomers is
based mainly on 2000 U.S. Census Bureau data, and also includes
information from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor
Statistics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other
Census Bureau reporting.
The MetLife Mature Market Institute is MetLife's
information and policy resource center on issues related to aging,
retirement, long-term care and the mature market. The Institute, staffed
by gerontologists, provides research, training and education,
consultation and information to support MetLife, its corporate customers
and business partners.
MetLife, a subsidiary of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET),
is a leading provider of insurance and other financial services to
individual and institutional customers. The MetLife companies serve
individuals in approximately 13 million households in the U.S. and
provide benefits to 37 million employees and family members through
their plan sponsors. Outside the U.S., the MetLife companies serve
approximately 9 million customers through direct insurance operations in
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Mexico,
South Korea, Taiwan and Uruguay. For more information about MetLife,
please visit the company's Web site at
www.metlife.com.
For a free copy of MetLife's Demographic Profile of
American Baby Boomers, please write to the MetLife Mature Market
Institute, 57 Greens Farms Road, Westport, CT 06880, call (203) 221-6580
or e-mail:
MatureMarketInstitute@metlife.com. This publication and the others
in the series can also be accessed at
http://www.maturemarketinstitute.com/.
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