The Hindu Business Line : Baby boomers turn ‘boomerangst’ generation

Macbeth tells Seyton of many things that should accompany old age, such as ‘honour, love, obedience, troops of friends’ but, on a practical note, he concedes that he would look to have, in their stead, ‘curses, not loud but deep’.

Perhaps, the ‘curse’ for today’s old threatens to come in the form of financial anguish they’d leave behind for the middle-aged ‘baby boomers’ marching in legions towards retirement, and their descendents, as a new book on ‘how demographics are changing the global economy and our world’ highlights.

There are at least three issues that the ‘boomerangst generation’ will have to confront, writes George Magnus in The Age of Aging ( www.wiley.com). The foremost issue is of rising personal debt, “incurred as a result of longer periods in, or higher costs of, education, ease of access to credit, and, possibly, the cost of buying a home”.

This is currently proving to be the cause of much unfolding angst, you’d agree; some of the biggest financial institutions have been collapsing under the weight of runaway personal debts.

Magnus fears that large debts can have tremendous demographic significance for those in their 20s; “it can act to defer marriage, family formation, and parenthood, and it can negate the impact of education,” he cautions.

The book cites a finding from a survey of 18 to 24-year-olds – that 15 per cent of them think an ISA is an iPod accessory, and 10 per cent reckon it’s an energy drink. (For starters, ISA, or individual tax-free savings account, is a financial product available to residents in the UK, and it is designed for the purpose of investment and savings with a favourable tax status, as Wikipedia informs.)

The author would like to think that by saying ‘iPod’ young people would actually become aware that they were ‘Insecure, Pressured, Overtaxed, and Debt-Ridden,’ but somehow, that seems rather fanciful, he concedes.

The second issue facing the boomerangst generation is gender inequality, leading to difficulties in finding marriage partners, especially when “the most educated and marketable young people in relatively poor countries and regions tend to foresake their communities or countries to find careers and partners in more prosperous ones”.

Magnus gives the example of the eastern parts of Germany, where it is women who are better educated and more marketable. “When they leave their towns and villages, they leave behind disproportionately large male populations.”

The third issue is the changing structure of the global economy, with the US steadily losing its pre-eminence in driving movements. “The future belongs increasingly to Asia, specifically China and India, and to other young, dynamic emerging markets,” declares the author.

In conclusion, he outlines ‘life-changing developments’ confronting the boomerangst generation. “First, it may find that parental wealth slips away into the financing of longevity and old-age care instead of into an inheritance pot.” Second, it will become directly involved in wider generational policy debates, be they about financing age-related spending, pension, inflation and taxes.

Third, different types of family structures and support networks will emerge, Magnus foresees. Many will have to get used to living alone in older age, he adds.

As more and more people want to live a dignified and satisfying old age, with more of it active or at work, a major task is to bring in changes to social attitudes and public policy, in the work, education, health, and care sectors, Magnus urges.

Recommended read for the sympathetic insights it offers.

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Baby boomers turn ‘boomerangst’ generation