New Attitude

A couple of months ago, I was vacationing with my family at the Club Med in Cancun when I got to know an affable Frenchman, Michel, a former school teacher who now was pursuing the good life. He maintained a home in Paris and a pied a terre on the Mediterranean coast, and he took two long (by American standards) vacations every year. He'd visited most of the Club Meds between the Maldives and the Turks & Caicos islands.

Although Michel was about my age, give or take a year, he was retired already. I figure I'll be working full time at least 10 more years, until I'm 66 or 67, and even then, I'll likely work on and off on projects of my choosing. It's my sense that Michel and I are fairly representative of the Baby Boomer generations of our respective countries. We have very different expectations about what retirement means and of the obligation of the state to meet those expectations.

Here in America, the ambition of the Silent Generation (those born between 1926 and 1945) was very much like that of the Europeans -- to retire as early as possible with enough money to travel the world, have a house on the beach, sail boats, play golf or pursue their personal interests. To both the Europeans and the Silent Gens, retirement marked a dramatic life transition: a move from the world of work to the world of leisure.

There is widespread recognition in both Europe and the U.S. that the dream is unaffordable. Yet it has been difficult both here and there to reform the pension and health care systems. Working through their lobby, the AARP, the Silent Gens in the U.S. have stridently opposed efforts to dial back their retirement privileges. Indeed, during the Bush administration, they succeeded in winning an expansion of the Medicare program that will cost trillions of dollars over the next half century.

But the Baby Boomers may be a different story. While Boomers still look to government for Social Security and health care benefits in their old age -- they've paid into the system, by George, and they want to get something out of it -- they aren't dogmatic about retiring early. Boomers, as a generation, have found meaning in life largely through their work. Their identities are tied up in their jobs. Surveys have found that a majority of Boomers see work as a way to stay mentally engaged, remain connected to other people and otherwise retain their vitality.

Boomers are redefining the work/retirement transition from an all-or-nothing proposition to an opportunity to re-set the work-life balance. In a survey conducted by the Age Wave consulting firm, "Retirement at the Tipping Point," only 30% of Boomers said they saw themselves never working again. Forty-three percent said they expected to go back and forth between periods of work and leisure, while 22% said they probably would work part time. Many Boomers fantasize about starting a new business, often based around a personal interest, or about applying their skills for a worthy cause.

This new Boomer attitude is a very good thing. For starters, Boomers have failed miserably as a generation to save for their retirement. They'll need the money. What I find most reassuring, though, is that they aren't looking to the Big Daddy in Washington, D.C. to bail them out. Americans know they screwed up by failing to save. They also suspect that Big Daddy may not be able to afford to maintain Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security at current levels in face of the retirement tsunami.

Boomers will have to save more (which means spending less) and they'll have to work longer, if they want to enjoy a secure and comfortable lifestyle in their old age. When the federal government faces insolvency 20 or 30 years from now, Boomers will have no choice but to fall back upon their own resources. They had better start preparing now. They appear to be doing so.