Advice on retirement planning is being offered by many entities and forms of media these days. Those of us in the early baby boom generation are bombarded by offers to have dinner and listen to lectures as to how to invest retirement accounts. Financial institutions offer brochures and television advertisements on the subject, most of which seem to involve sailboats and wooden docks with smiling grandchildren. What’s going on here?
We are seeing the confluence of legislation and business and societal developments that have occurred over a period of many years. First, the baby boom generation is a large cohort within the population. At young ages, they required the building of new schools. In later years, they needed more housing. Now, as they approach retirement age, they are focused on the decisions that need to be made for retirement. There are many of us, and whatever we need or can be sold will be discussed at length in media. New products that we might need, from the basic to the embarrassing, will be prominent on television, radio and the Internet.
