OK, Boomer Healthy and Safe at Your Happy Place

OK, Boomer Healthy and Safe at Your Happy Place in 2020, the youngest Boomers will turn 56. Moreover, they will all be Senior Citizens in less than a decade.

The Boomer generation was once entirely of fire and changing the world—lately, it has been accused of flaming out and being no longer relevant.

According to dictionary.com, “OK boomer is a viral internet slang phrase used, often humorously or ironically, to call out or dismiss out-of-touch or close-minded opinions associated with the baby boomer generation and older people more generally.”

The catchphrase “OK Boomer” has been trending on social media, reinforcing the idea that boomers are disconnected from the rest of the world and live with their heydays behind them.

Is Boomers’ time over? Is this generation in the review mirror of all other generations?

OK, Boomer; How To Challenge Now or Be Society’s Roadkill

Flaming Out

My concern is not about Boomers flaming out or not being relevant; however, my concern is the number of Boomers running out of sustainable income and wealth.

The Boomer generation is forecasted to live longer than any other generation. With different ages having poor health habits and the opioid crisis, Boomers are predicted to have past preceding generations.

On Slot of Centenarians

Between 2030 and 2040, over one million people will be over 100, ten times the current number. These million centenarians are only the tip of the global grey wave to populate this earth.

You might think the coronavirus will impact these numbers; remember, it is about one’s health. Many Boomers can defeat the coronavirus because of their ability to take care of the physical health side of life; financially, boomers may not have the stamina.

Recently, in a column written by Bhaskar Sunkara, the story was about the financial insecurity facing older Americans but (half of those over 65 have less than $25,000 in savings, and one in four have less than $1,000) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/06/ok-boomer-meme-older-generations.

The longevity of baby boomers will strain most countries; many will not have the funds to support their essential living costs.

OK, Boomer Healthy and Safe at Your Happy Place

Covid-19 Crush

The coronavirus severely impacts all world governments. The countries’ indebtedness will strain all government programs, including health care and long-term care facilities.

Boomers will need to protect themselves against being cast aside and considered disposable. Look at the issues at long-term care facilities and how we treat seniors over eighty. As a society, we have allowed coronavirus to run rampage through long-term care facilities, with no one having consequences for their actions.

Many Boomers are hanging on to their homes when they should be turning their most valuable asset into an opportunity to support themselves in their advancing years. Boomers’ homes may be their last defence against society’s attitude to ageing.

Boomers must learn to share their homes and give up some of their pride, OK Boomer.

They must find a way to convert their homes into multiple living units, attract a younger group into their homes and lives, and maintain homeownership until their last breath.

OK, Boomer Healthy and Safe at Your Happy Place

Long-Term Care

If you think long-term care facilities will improve after the coronavirus pandemic, guess again. It takes money, and it takes personnel. As a society, we will be short of both resources.

I am not a big fan of reverse mortgages, lines of credit, or any other scheme that will gobble up your equity and eat up most of your wealth before you depart this world with little left as a legacy.

You might not feel comfortable purchasing investment real estate, but being a Burden Boomer is not what many envisioned.

Financial Heart is in Your Hands

There is still time for a sustainable income in life. How?

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new”  – Socrates.

What does this “New” look like?

My financial advice has been consistent over the last several years: turn part of your home into revenue by developing an income suite or using current or new zoning changes.

OK, Boomer Healthy and Safe at Your Happy Place

You have options.

Option 1:

Many Boomers own bungalows. Bungalows converted into the development of a full-income suite in the basement.

Many towns and cities offer grants to help you access your home’s rental income by adding a revenue suite.

Option 2:

Also, many towns and cities look to create higher density.   We see rezoning, villages and cities converting more areas into R2 and R4 zoning, allowing duplexes or fourplexes on these properties. This conversion of changing your property from single-family use to multiple-family use is easier than you think.

This option offers the possibility of income and provides additional wealth creation through selling part of the development. (idea for another blog post)

Option 3: 

Women are living longer than men.

Many of my Boomers’ female cousins and friends live alone in a big home. Their spouse has passed away. (OK, fellows, prove me wrong)

Many of these women have friendships that have stood the test of time. These widowed women travel together and do many other activities with their friends in the same situation, single big home, and spouse.

If you have a travel buddy, maybe it is time for both of you to consider; one friend sells their home and becomes a tenant and roommate in another person’s home. This move lowers your cost of living, frees up some money to enjoy life, and allows your friend to keep her home and some extra cash for living expenses.

Option 4:

You could consider selling both of your homes and buy something more modest that both of you could live in and share equally all costs. You again free up some equity to enjoy life. (remember to get legal advice to protect your assets)

Option 5:

You could create shared accommodation ideas, go for a coffee, and discuss the options with a good friend.

Any of these options takes you from being a Burden Boomer to a Blossoming Boomer later in life.

OK, Boomer Healthy and Safe at Your Happy Place

It is a wake-up call; your governments are not giving Boomers any chance to have adequate funds and human resources to take care of you in your golden years.

The scientific and medical world will develop a coronavirus vaccine.

Still, this pandemic’s economic side effects have ruined each country’s financial health and its citizens for decades.

Living into your eighties, nineties and beyond should not be viewed by society as long enough.

OK, Boomer Healthy and Safe at Your Happy Place

Are you ready to build something “new” for yourself before this pandemic is the end of you?

 

From Our Happy Place to Yours, Be Healthy and be Safe Until Our Next Post

 

Short Survey – Tied to Upcoming Book Launch (email address optional)

Below is a concise survey: three seconds, not three pages.

The request below for your email address is optional.

If a book on purchasing and renting your first investment real estate property interests you, please provide your email address.

Thanks,

Rick