Not Acting Their Age
No company illustrates this shift more than Del Webb. "We're seeing these people coming younger and wealthier and healthier than their parents," says the vice president of market research, Paul Bessler. In the early '90s, the median annual retirement income of Sun City buyers was between $35,000 and $40,000, says Bessler, and median net worth was between $400,000 and $500,000. Now, the median income is between $60,000 and $80,000, and net worth between $700,000 and $1 million.
The changing demographics have led Del Webb and other developers to build more-luxurious homes and to emphasize lifestyle over location. Prior generations "viewed retirement as an ending," Bessler says. "What I am seeing [today] is just the opposite: `Now it's my turn. I'm just beginning life.' "
Another change: a more youthful clientele, coupled with second careers in retirement, has spawned a demand for new amenities. One of the most popular options at Del Webb's multigenerational community outside Phoenix is "La Casita"--a separate, in-law suite often used for a home office. Entertainment rooms and wine cellars are also in demand. "They've always put an emphasis on lifestyle issues, and that will be reflected in retirement, too," says Wake Forest University Prof. Charles Longino.
An expert on retiree migration, Longino has detected changes in the pattern of retiree living. In addition to Florida, popular destinations nowadays for retirees are the mountainous areas of the West (Utah, Nevada, Colorado) and smaller states in the South (Tennessee, the Carolinas, Arkansas). Among the places where the retiree population is growing fastest: Henderson, Nev.; Park City, Utah; Prescott, Ariz.; and Georgetown, Texas. What many of these places offer, somewhat ironically for mobile boomers who have lived life on Internet time, is a sense of community and a slower pace. "Our analysis shows that the fastest-growing elderly populations tend to be in smaller and medium-sized metropolitan areas in the `new West' and `new South,' " says Frey. Another phenomenon, as boomers stay put and age, is the graying of once-hippie havens like Burlington, Vt.; Madison, Wis.; and Boulder, Colo.
Some aging boomers with adolescent or younger children still at home, or with elderly parents, are opting to stay put. In some cases, one half of a retired couple may still be working. To accommodate these folks, Del Webb built its first "four-season" retirement community not far from Chicago in Huntley, Ill. Huntley is where retired TWA flight attendant Carolyn Kleen, 58, and her husband, Jim, 61, a high school art teacher, moved to in June 1999 from nearby Elgin. "We have family here and love the change of seasons," says Carolyn, who takes line-dancing classes and belongs to the Prairie Singers chorus. Jim's mother, 90, was "a major factor in staying nearby," says Carolyn.
Caring for one's parents in one's own retirement--now that may be the perfect boomer irony. A generation that has defied its age with herbal tonics and exercise comes face to face with it.
Ah, but not too soon. For now, let's do as 56-year-old Barbara Lawson does. Up at 5 a.m. for her exercise regime, the Arizona transplant (she moved to suburban Phoenix from Texas after the death of her husband and the loss of a corporate job) is, as she joyfully decrees, "on the cusp" of being a boomer. The former corporate health manager has her own company teaching seniors how to stretch and do strength-training. "I am a boomer by psychology," she says in her own age-defying way. "Now, I am ready to reinvent myself."
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