BABY BOOMER RETIRING STATS SAY TO START PLANNING AHEAD

There are roughly 77 million baby boomers retiring over the next 15 years, or so. The statistics for a retiring baby boomer indicate that they should start planning ahead, sooner than later. Here’s why:

• Home Values - One of the most common thing a retiring baby boomer does is to sell their “big” home. It took the retiring baby boomer a lifetime to upsize into their dream home but, now with the kids gone (well, most of them. Stats show that 30% of retiring baby boomers still have at least one adult child at home) there is no need to keep up the big house so, they will ultimately sell the home and downsize.

However, with this many homes going onto the market in a short period of time and, with fewer than 30 million qualified millennials able to afford these big homes, the market will get very difficult. Home values will drop, the longer the retiring baby boomer waits to sell their home.

• All That Stuff – Another thing that a retiring baby boomer has is a lot of “stuff”. That’s right, after years of up-sizing into the dream home, the accumulation of furnishings, memorabilia, hobbies and “stuff”, means that, as all these boomers sell their homes, there will be fewer and fewer resources that will the capacity to take these things from them. In fact, consignment stores are going out of business at a record rate as many retiring baby boomers donate their items to charities in order to get a tax right off. And, even the charities are all at capacity and many are turning away items, already.
• Health – I do not consider myself old, at 60, but, already many of my older friends are dealing with health issues and/or death of a loved one. Weddings are now being replaced with hospital visits and even funerals. The stats for a retiring baby boomer shows that they are much closer to some major health problem than they were 20 years ago, Getting the home and estate in order, sooner than later, a retiring baby boomer will have less stress when the inevitable becomes a reality!!!

More often than not, these days, our company sees the emotional, physical and mental stress that a retired baby boomer goes through because they did not plan ahead early enough.

• Living the Good Life – As time winds down, the well prepared retiring baby boomer can truly say that they are “Living the good life”. With retirement behind them, all the home and estate issues taken care of, they can take advantage of doing the things they really have wanted to do. Traveling, living in a warmer climate in the winter, visiting family and friends, are all much easier and enjoyable when they have adequately planned ahead.