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Boomers Rule

Published: 8:10 AM GMT-07, Tuesday, 30 October 2007

How old is old?  Living in a retirement community, the perception changes. The qualifying entry age here is 62. I’m 65; most people here often call me young. My psychotherapist tells me that my generational cohort is now being labelled the ‘young old.’  My closest friends here range in age from 72 to 89; I regularly say hi to people 90, maybe even a few years older than that, something I certainly never thought I’d be able to (need to) do where I grew up (in Lynn MA, a GE-factory city on MA Bay) when few people seemed to live much beyond working retirement age (my dad only lasted 2.5 yrs after his early retirement at 62.)  With the massive ageing of the Greatest Cohort (the Baby-Boomers, not the WW2-generation that Tom Brokaw labelled The ‘Greatest Generation', to many of their delight as they die off at the rate of 1000/day), all this is quickly changing, obviously to the Boomers’ benefit, so that it’s now commonly quipped that 50 is the new 40, 60 the new 50,  & I suppose, by simple extension: 70 new 60, 80 new 70, just a tad past the current avg. USA life expectancy of 78.  While the numbers are being juggled, do you really think you're getting...old? Why, while Boomers' Rules apply? (More, ah, later.)

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