Of course, most boomers don’t really plan to retire. And when we will, most of us will opt to be close to home and/or family. In fact, my educated guess is that within the next ten years or so, most of us will be five minutes or less from our first grandchild.

But even if I don’t imagine myself lolling on beaches and sipping mai tai’s doesn’t mean that others don’t.

The answer, according to my seatmate, is that “they did”—until Hugo swept through and left the burgeoning tropical retirement community without basic services for months on end. Apparently, the retirement crowd fled en masse back to the states.

“Looking forward, there will be three types of boomers. Working boomers. Active retirees. And dependent retirees. Aside from those boomers already working on the island, that option isn’t all that attractive because the wages tend to be so low and cost of living so high. Active retirees are the ones who will be leading the purchase of timeshares and taking advantage of all that we have to offer. But it’s an interim stage for them...something of an extended vacation. Since Hugo, there’s just not enough critical mass to support the special needs of the group when they become dependent.”

Given that most boomers are in denial about ever becoming dependent, you see active boomers and beyond everywhere. But the economist was right. They’re snorkeling, they’re jet skiing, they’re working on their tans, they’re doing shots…the kind you guzzle down. What they are not doing is sitting on benches, feeding seagulls, gathered on the front stoop of the retirement home. In fact, there was nary a walker in sight on either isle.

But surely, my economist friend would live out his own days in paradise. “You bet,” he replied. “I’ve got a great little place waiting for me in Kentucky—close to my son’s family, and a first-rate medical center.”

Carol Orsborn