Bloomberg Businessweek Europe - 23.09.2019

39

September 23, 2019

Edited by

Dimitra Kessenides

S O L U T I O N S

As boomers age, they try not to lose touch

with other generations

Staying in

The Mix

Retirement

ILLUSTRATION BY INKEE WANG

Members of the baby boomer generation, who in

their youth proclaimed, “Don’t trust anyone over

30,” would rather not be segregated with peo-

ple their own age as they grow older.

As they watch their elders living longer—to

age 83 on average in Singapore, 81 in the U.K.,

and 79 in the U.S., with more people becoming

centenarians each year—boomers are reject-

ing the notion that they should spend their later

years devoted to leisure, isolated from the expe-

riences of younger people. Growing numbers

of U.S. boomers—currently 55 to 73—are work-

ing beyond the traditional retirement age, going

back to school, and choosing to age in place

in familiar neighborhoods instead of moving to

senior communities. As a result, they’re con-

necting with people of diverse ages.

“For the first time in history, there are multiple

generations alive together for long stretches of

time, and that’s creating more contact and sim-

ilarities among older, middle-aged, and young

people,” says Laura Carstensen, a Stanford psy-

chology professor and director of the Stanford

Center on Longevity. “When you have people in

their 70s sitting next to kids in their 20s in class-

rooms and workplace cubicles, you get more

creativity and productivity, research shows, and

less age stereotyping.”

A 21-year-old today is more likely to have

a living grandmother than her counterpart