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The Social Security Administration's simulation model known as MINT (Modeling Income in the Near Term) is used to examine the projected health and economic status of Baby Boomers and their parents during retirement. Projections indicate that boomers will enjoy higher levels of economic well-being and health than their parents, yet the distribution of income and wealth is more unequal among Boomers. For example, the ratio of income to poverty-level income grows three times faster at the 90th percentile than at the 10th percentile. Health problems are concentrated among persons of lower economic status in both generations, but the degree of concentration does not increase across generations.

This chapter assesses Baby Boom retirement prospects, comparing the outlook for this cohort with experiences of previous generations. The impact of aging is assessed using the Social Security's Model of Income in the Near Term and project retirement incomes for a representative group of individuals born between 1926 and 1965. Results indicate that Baby Boomers can expect to have higher real incomes and lower poverty rates in retirement than current retirees. However, the gains in family income are not equally distributed: for instance, never-married Boomer women will be relatively better off while high school Boomer dropouts will be relatively worse off than current retirees. Boomers' post-retirement incomes are not predicted to rise as much as pre-retirement incomes. Additionally, certain population subgroups will remain economically vulnerable, including divorced women, never-married men, Hispanics, high school dropouts, those with weak labor force attachments, and those with the lowest lifetime earnings.

This chapter compares retirement expectations, retirement patterns, and expectations of future work across different cohorts of the Health and Retirement Study, including the new cohort of Baby Boomers currently in their late fifties. The Boomers appear more strongly attached to the labor force as they enter their retirement years than were earlier cohorts at the same age. Compared to the preceding birth cohort, they expect to retire nearly one year later, they are 14% more likely to expect to be working full-time at age 65, and they are 21% more likely to expect to work in the future if they are not currently working. These differences are not entirely explained by cohort differences in socioeconomic status, pension incentives, demographics, or health. In all, Baby Boomers may have stronger preferences for work than previous cohorts.

This chapter uses the Health and Retirement Study to describe the relationship between work and health for older persons by age. It examines patterns within a given cross-section and also trends in health at ages 51-56 between 1992 and 2004. Most retirement occurs well before the onset of work-limiting disability, leaving a large reserve of potential for longer worklives. Baby Boomers will likely have to draw on this reserve, yet its health is not demonstrably better than that of persons born a dozen years earlier. Nevertheless, advances in medical care for health conditions that most 51-56 year olds have not yet encountered may still yield better health at older ages for the Boomer cohort.

This chapter asks how well Baby Boomers are protected against later-life health shocks. While exposure to such shocks is relatively high, the realization of risk appears unlikely and relatively little wealth is at risk. Almost one-quarter of the original Health and Retirement Study cohort was uninsured at some point in the six-year window before Medicare eligibility, but only 2% had an uninsured hospitalization in this window. Moreover, the amount at stake for the median uninsured person is relatively low. Since many in this age bracket approach old age in poor financial shape, lack of assets may be a larger problem than lack of health insurance. Policies aimed at preventing poverty among the elderly may be more important than policies to expand health insurance coverage among those on the verge of retirement.

This chapter evaluates housing wealth and its potential role in Baby Boomers' retirement wellbeing. The Health and Retirement Survey is used to compare Boomers' wealth position to that of the immediately preceding cohort, just prior to retirement. Results show that Boomers have more valuable homes but have also borrowed more against them, so they have a similar fraction of assets allocated to home equity as their predecessors. Unlike prior studies, this chapter shows that people do view housing as a source of wealth that can help them finance their retirement needs. Indeed, a substantial fraction of older households do move and appear to liquidate some home equity in the process. Consequently, some of the recent home equity extraction may be related to the aging of the population rather than a cyclical response to rapid house appreciation.

This chapter compares the saving behavior of Early Baby Boomers (age 51-56 in 2004) and its predecessor cohort in the Health and Retirement Study (age 51-56 in 1992). Results indicate that the Boomers accumulated more wealth than the previous cohort, largely because they benefited from rising house prices. Nevertheless, some Boomer families are less well off, particularly those headed by those with low education and low income, and minorities. The survey also shows that many Boomers have not planned for retirement, and like the earlier cohort, nonplanners have much less wealth than planners. In other words, lack of planning is tantamount to lack of saving, irrespective of the economic changes observed over the last dozen years.

This chapter focuses on how Baby Boomers compare to prior groups on the verge of retirement. Specifically, it evaluates the stock of health which Early Boomers bring to retirement and compares it to two prior cohorts at the same point in their life cycles. In the Health and Retirement Study, it appears that Boomers on the verge of retirement are in poorer health than their counterparts a dozen years ago. Boomers indicate they have relatively more difficulty with everyday physical tasks in addition to having more pain, more chronic conditions, more drinking and psychiatric problems, than their HRS earlier counterparts.

This chapter focuses on several different dimensions related to the health of baby boomers, highlighting boomers of color whenever data are available. It also presents a profile of current and projected health care needs and financial costs of baby boomers, with particular attention to debates about Medicare. How the nation addresses these health care and cost challenges will play a significant role in the well-being of this cohort. Just as with Social Security, debates over Medicare raise profound ethical questions about intra- and intergenerational tradeoffs in how we spend health care money. The discussions cover the role of racism in creating health disparities; the health issues and concerns faced by boomers of color; the need for a medical workforce prepared to meet the diverse medical needs of boomers; and uninsured boomers.

This chapter lays out the myths of the so-called ‘generation wars’ waged between the Millennials and Baby Boomers and the damaging effects of this generational conflict. The current generation war is presented as a clear conflict between two opposing sides. On one side are the Baby Boomers, born in the twenty years or so following the Second World War; on the other are the Millennials, born in the final two decades of the twentieth century. The chapter shows how the feverish debates about generational conflict reflect very little about the lives of people in any generation. It argues that Boomer-blaming is a narrative that has been constructed by political elites of Western societies to suit their policy agendas.

This chapter introduces the baby boomer generation and examines why boomers are poised to wield such a significant impact. It begins with a brief historical overview of how and why the baby boomer generation developed. It identifies the social forces that contributed to the birth of the boomer generation, including the Great Depression, World War II, and the expanding economy and optimism about the future in the 1950s. It considers the variations within the boomer generation, including differences in age, sexual identity, and ethnicity. The chapter also discusses how the boomer generation is redefining older adulthood. Along with impressive medical gains in the length of life, boomers are exploring how to improve the quality of life as well.

This chapter considers the economic and financial status of millions of baby boomers as they face retirement. It describes the financial power of baby boomers, who are widely considered the wealthiest, healthiest, most vigorous, and best formally educated soon-to-be-older adult group in the history of the United States. It looks at the poverty rates of boomers of color, which are dramatically higher when compared to their White, non-Latino/a counterparts. The chapter concludes by posing the question whether retirement is even a viable option for many boomers of color. It argues that old age and retirement will not constitute “golden years” for countless numbers of baby boomers of color. Their economic situation places them in an at-risk category for severe economic hardships and the social and health consequences associated with a low income level.

As Baby Boomers move into their 60s, they are focusing policymaker and media attention on how their generation will manage the retirement phase of their lifetime. This book acknowledges that many, though not all, in this older cohort have accumulated substantial assets, so for them, the question is what will they do with what they have? It provides a detailed exploration of how people entering retirement will deploy their accumulated assets in the near and long term, so to best meet their myriad spending, investment, and other objectives.

Assessing savings sufficiency requires detailed information on both potential retirement benefits and the characteristics of a national sample of older citizens. The analysis uses the Health and Retirement Survey and the New Beneficiary Survey linked to administrative records to assess and compare the saving adequacy of two different cohorts. Specifically, the two groups are compared in terms of their annuitized net wealth (ANW) and ANW relative to the poverty line, as well as the near-poverty line. Results show that the mean wealth levels of both new retiree cohorts rose over time (by about two-thirds for wealth and by half for ANW), but the chance of meeting social adequacy targets has also risen. This shortfall is concentrated increasingly among non-married persons, and those with low human capital and labor force attachment. In other words, vulnerability during the working life appears to persist into retirement.

Pension wealth plays a critical role in older individuals' retirement behavior and financial security. Accordingly, the magnitude and distribution of pension wealth is important in the ongoing debate about whether Baby Boomers have adequate retirement savings. This chapter summarizes the results of a long-term effort to develop an improved calculator to measure defined contribution pension wealth of older Americans, implemented using the Health and Retirement Study. Results show that pension wealth resulting from voluntary saving (and accrued earnings thereon) comprises half of DC pension wealth calculated for HRS respondents with matched summary plan descriptions. These are lower mean estimates of DC pension wealth than previously found, mainly resulting from changes for the wealthiest tail of the pension-wealth distribution. The findings imply that researchers must think more carefully about the economic assumptions underlying pension measures.

This chapter discusses the demographic profile of baby boomers, including age distribution, geographic location, racial and ethnic breakdown, as well as other important demographic parameters. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, baby boomers represent 26.4% of the US population, or an estimated 81.5 million people, up from 62 million in 2000. Around one-third of baby boomers were unmarried, with the majority of these being either divorced or never married, and 10% were widowed. In 2006, five states accounted for almost 36% of the US baby boomer population: California (8,809,000 or 11.5%), Texas (5,637,000 or 7.3%), New York (5,081,000 or 6.6%), Florida (4,647,000 or 6%), and Pennsylvania 3,373,000 or 4.4%). The remainder of the chapter covers US population projections and the impact of the rising number of boomers and older adults in the nation's prison system.

Generations are groups of people that were born at the same historical time, that experienced historical events at similar ages, and that consequently developed a shared identity. As a result, the members of a generation resemble each other in their life-courses patterns. They, therefore, drive demographic change through different mechanisms. Moreover, since generations differ in their size, they contribute to population ageing to different degrees. This chapter uses data from Finland to illustrate generational differences in the live-course. It does this by comparing baby boomers to previous and later generations. Baby boomers are those individuals who now reach old age and who are said to be a major contributor to population ageing because of their high number.

Embracing a view of boomers of color as possessing assets and strengths that can be incorporated into practice opens up a new world for social workers, along with numerous corresponding challenges. This chapter outlines the implications and challenges for social work in meeting the projected needs of baby boomers of color over the next decade, and doing so while tapping their strengths and assets through an embrace of democratic participatory principles associated with social justice. It presents recommendations for policy, practice, and research that attempt to identify and support the potential key contributions of baby boomers of color. A special section on nursing homes addresses the potential role they can play in being ready for future residents of color.

This chapter begins with a brief history of the women’s equal rights movement, and then explores women’s responses to the issue during the 1960s and 1970s. Most of the women examined here were right-wing and actively opposed the ERA, but some supporters are included in the chapter. It explores the clashes between those women who favored the amendment, and those who opposed it. It looks at the reasons why many women joined together to campaign against the ERA, examining such demographic factors as age, social status, and occupation. The chapter ends with a sampling of baby boomers’ reflections on what the conflict over the ERA meant for them.