Don’t call me old

Australia has a new term today. While 10 years on, there will be few who will remember the details of the Rudd Government’s latest Intergenerational Report, one thing will stick in their mind: the baby boomers have been referred to as the “aging generation” throughout the entire report.

That name will stick like mud. And the baby boomers will hate it.

After all, they are maturing not aging. They are reaching the third stage of life – not the exit sign. They are spending millions on looking younger, not older, thank you very much.

The aging generation as they have now been dubbed has given the Coalition a new line of attack. Abbott, as he did today, can now accuse Rudd of demeaning older Australians with the suggestion that they are responsible for the nation’s economic problems.

But politics aside, Abbott has a point. Lumping an entire generation into the “ageing” category is extremely limiting. Within this old fuddy-duddy group you have a huge array of very wealthy, sophisticated people with masses of money to spend – or leave behind. You also have a deep skill set, leadership skills and acquired wisdom.

And these people have time on their hands and the energy to spend their money and pass on their skills. They will not take kindly to being dumped into the ageing category.

Entrepreneurs will not find a lot that is new in today’s report. But what we must keep in mind is the huge array of opportunities that the baby boomers represent.

There are huge opportunities to create new goods and services to tempt baby boomers to spend their wealth.

Yes, they are getting older and they might need rails in their homes to help them get up the porch or onto the deck. But they had better be designer and fit in nicely to the garden landscape.