The Power Years Part 2

4. We'll be Wiser about What Matters

"Having climbed much of the mountain, you now have a pretty good view of life. As we accumulate and make sense of life's lessons, most of us have come to appreciate that the joy that money alone brings is fleeting, and that true happiness revolves around love, relationships, and our sense of fulfillment at work and at play.

Most of us reach this basic understanding in our middle years--sometimes precipitated by the death of a parent, our kids leaving home, or the failure of a career or marriage. But for the most part, by the time we're fifty and still young enough to shape our later years, we understand that money, while it's important is not what underlies happiness..."

5. We'll have New Freedoms

"The kids are gone or soon will be. College and house are paid for--well, mostly paid for... In addition to braces and summer camp and all the things you put in your house are largely paid for; you don't need a lot more stuff. With many of your biggest parenting-related financial obligations coming to an end, you'll be endowed with greater freedom to do the things you've always wanted. Meanwhile, your busy schedule is beginning to let up, providing you with a windfall of free time that will let you take on new challenges or pursue hidden passions and long-suppressed dreams."

"And because the economy will want to simultaneously prevent a brain drain and declining consumption by keeping all of us earning and spending longer, it will become easier to stay at work or start a new career. The vacuum of workers maturing means that older adults will be in demand and more able to choose our own schedules, and still remain valuable. With the rise of flextime and part-time schedules and contract and project jobs and job sharing, there are millions of exciting paths for us to explore in the work world--throughout the world. With online universities, we can retrain at home or pursue a life as a writer or artist or some other dream."

6. We'll still have Clout in the Marketplace

"Our huge numbers and often free-spending ways have ensured throughout our lifetime that anyone with something to sell would be inclined to tailor it to our wants and needs. Our demographic and financial wells of influence won't run dry as we mature. We will live longer and healthier and remain active consumers... While we are just 30 percent of the population, we control more than 70 percent of all the wealth and account for more than 50 percent of consumer spending. As we mature and collectively inherit an estimated $20 trillion, we will be as cherished as ever in the marketplace."

"Advertisers will need to break free of their addiction to youth. Many wrongly believe that all adults have already chosen the brands they will stick with for life, while young people have yet to choose their cola, sneaker, cell phone, or whatever. This flawed view will stop paying off; marketers will increasingly come to realize that at fifty or sixty we not only have money to spend but also are eager to ditch our old lipstick for the latest colors. As we age, we will remain interested in new adventures and experiences, and we will spend freely to reach our full potential in the power years."

7. We'll be Open to Change

"Personal growth and self-improvement are the new order, and as this mind-set blossoms, it will open the doors to fulfillment and achievement that might otherwise have been stifled. The world of continuing education may best illustrate the appetites of a generation that loves to learn and grow. Already a thriving adult-education industry has begun to flourish, including magazines, books, audio, video, Internet learning programs, and adult-education seminars, workshops, and courses."

"About forty million adults participate in one or more educational activities each year. As the need to continuously upgrade skills becomes a requirement, lifelong learning will become commonplace. In response, colleges and universities have begun to aggressively pursue adult students. USA Today recounted: 'admission officers and financial-aid directors from campuses across the USA echo the message: Older students are as desirable--often more so--as the traditional 18-24 college crowd. And they're just as eligible for grants and loans as their younger brethren.' Adults, they say are better motivated, usually have educational goals in focus, and have experiences to share with younger students."

I think Dychtwald and Kadlec make a pretty compelling argument for why the remaining years for the boomer aged American are accurately characterized by them as the power years. But at the same time, I wonder who is getting this message out to these very people?

I heard recently about a man who was laid off from a large company that he helped start with two others some 20 years ago. The man is 60 years old, and his company has pretty much told him that his value to the organization is no longer great enough to warrant him staying on the payroll. He expressed to my friend that even though his work culture is telling him that he is no longer valuable, he has never felt like he had more to give in terms of wisdom, expertise, and even energy.

I wonder how many millions of boomers are feeling a similar kind of dissonance.

While the culture is trying to tell them they are finished, they don't at all want to feel like they are. And in fact they aren't. Could it be that this is a prime opportunity for the church to rise up and bring this information out of the closet and thereby affirm to these oncoming millions of mature adults that perhaps the best years of real life and significant contribution are still ahead of them?

Questions to ponder:

How should this information influence the way our churches seek to connect with the Baby Boomers?

What are some of the differences you notice between the boomer and the builder in their perspectives on aging?

What kinds of things might need to change in the way you do ministry with older adults in order to engage the boomer more effectively?