I admit it. I've just spent several hours vegging out in front of the TV. (I call it market research.) And besides The Golden Girls (reruns) and Martha Stewart (promos for her new show), as far as women over fifty go, it's been a vast wasteland tonight, indeed.

I’m certain that every parent has some regret in terms of how she raised her children. Especially when somewhere in their twenties (or thirties or forties) some specific act, moment or behavior is provided as your adult child’s reason for well, fill in the blanks.

Okay. I just read another article on the coming "Boomergeddon", and I'm officially scared. The article is very convincing, citing economists from across the political and academic spectrum, that "unchecked spending" (that would be the Medicare and Social Security benefits we're counting on) "will trigger recessions and worse." Sounds as though if the government keeps its promises to us, we're going to slip and slide quickly into something akin to a third world economy. So in the words of Chicken Little, what are we to do? Should we sell our houses now, before the bubble bursts, and take the money out and put it somewhere "safe?" But oh no, they say the stock market is going to crash, too. And anyway, where would we live? And then there's the issue of medical care. If that is going to be cut drastically, will only the rich be able to live long,healthy lives? The rest of us, well, think Soylent Green?

Last week, I suggested that 50+ search engine Cranky.com misses the mark with boomers because when it comes to technology, we want what are kids are using—even if we’re a cycle or two behind. But there’s another issue that dampens interest from the get-go: the name.

Close your eyes and think of a tea party. People are coming and going. People old and young. Sometimes you need them and sometimes they need you. Authors Kate Klimo and Buffy Shutt, of Coming of Age All Over Again: The Ultimate Midlife Handbook, interviewed recently on the “Forever Young” segment of the "Today Show", talk about visualizing yourself at the tea party ... with friends, with children, with parents, with young people you mentor professionally. They say the key to aging well are friends and the changing roles you play in each others lives.

If you read the results of our survey earlier this week, you’ll see that the many marketers we surveyed have a surprisingly unified and positive attitude about boomers. In broad strokes, most boomer-savvy marketers think of boomers as optimistic, selflessly concerned about their legacy, a hot target for marketers of technology, increasingly catered to by younger marketers and a major factor in the next election. Of course, marketers who stand to make their fortunes off the $2.1 trillion dollars this newly-rediscovered group of consumers represent, have a vested interest in being hopeful and generous, shall we say, about the boomer generation. We should pay serious heed, for reasons to be cited below—but with caution, for other reasons to be shared later.

For the rest of today's blog, continue at The Boomer Blog

Did you happen to catch the full-page Smith Barney ad that ran in the Wall Street Journal on March 27? (And one assumes elsewhere, as well.) This is an ad that really gets it right.

For the rest of today's blog, continue at The Boomer Blog

“Baby boomers.” Two words you are probably hearing a lot of these days…or maybe, two words you’ve heard a lot your whole life. 78 million strong, this colossal demographic demands to be heard, and has been so wildly probed, prodded, discussed and sounded over the years, that I would venture to say if aliens do exist and are tuning into us earthlings, the cosmos too is abuzz about boomers.

For the rest of today's blog, continue at The Boomer Blog

The Pew Research Center recently released a social and demographic trends survey, which won headlines in numerous publications along the lines of “Baby Boomers more gloomy than younger and older adults.” Other even larger surveys, such as the Natural Marketing Institute’s Healthy Aging Boomer Database study, with which FH Boom collaborated, have uncovered similarly newsworthy stats. Is this good or bad news for marketers? And more importantly, is this even true?

For the rest of today's blog, continue at The Boomer Blog

In the previous blog, we exposed the spiritual underpinnings of the leading edge of boomer women, the group that has a history of influencing the culture as a whole. But hers is but one voice amongst many in search of meaning in their personal lives, work lives and, of special note to marketers, even in their role as consumers of products and services.

For the rest of today's blog, continue at the Boomer Blog

By guest blogger Christine Owens, a senior associate at BCC & Associates and adjunct professor at Columbia University, teaching in the graduate program of Non-Profit Management.

The CIVIC generation (born 1901-1924) is well known for its charitable generosity and volunteer activity. Members of the ADAPTIVE generation ( born 1925-1942) are transferring tremendous personal wealth to both their children and charitable institutions, and the IDEALIST generation ( born 1942-1960) is engaged by hands – on charitable and volunteer efforts that is part of a grand moral movement such as Habitat for Humanity. This is according to Charles L. Eastman, “Philanthropic Cultures of Generational Archetypes.”

How do you define your freedom? What does freedom mean to you as you age? Do you feel more restricted and less free than in your younger years?

As you find yourself increasingly dealing with age-related issues and decisions that may change how you think and live now and in your future, we invite you to share your comments on growing older and how it’s affecting your outlook on life. To kick-off the conversation, Eileen Marcus shares her thoughts below.

FREEDOM’S JUST ANOTHER WORD …
… For nothing left to lose. That was my mantra for life. When I was young, it meant way open vistas of life unlived, people I hadn’t yet met and loved, and places still to be seen and experienced. Freedom was all that and the knowledge that I had years to do it all. But with this view from the other side of sixty, freedom has new meaning for me and not all of it positive.

Continuing our series “Freedom as we Age”, another perspective on aging and freedom follows below.

GOING GRAY GOLDEN GIRLS STYLE
By Samantha Palans

I can’t exactly speak from direct experience about aging and its potential to wreck havoc on my personal freedom.

I only recently discovered the first silver strand in my otherwise brunette mane-- a dramatic experience, but no doubt due to some freak accident or bleach conspiracy. That’s what I’m telling myself and I bribed my hairdresser to confirm it. The power of third-party validation cannot be underestimated even when it’s a flat out lie. So, perhaps denial (supported by a loyal hairdresser) is the first step in growing older.

That said, I recognize I -- as well as my fellow Gen X’ers -- will at some point have to face living in old age. We can’t avoid it so why not embrace it? I know this is easy for me to say as I type this with my nimble, non-arthritic fingers, but I want to grow old Golden Girls style.