Study Shows Baby Boomers Are Mellowing

Whatever happened to all those liberated young revolutionaries whose marching orders of “Make Love, Not War” turned America upside down in the 1960s?

A new study by the Dell Webb Corp. strongly suggests most have become parents who honor their own parents. Mature members of society who value family above all else. Adults who believe in romance.

As the nation’s foremost builder of master-planned retirement communities, Dell Webb has a vested interest in the older Baby Boomers who led the ‘60s revolution. In the next few years, the leading edge of that demographic group will become eligible for admittance to the developer’s Sun City housing tracts designed exclusively for adults 55-plus.

“It was imperative that we know more about this huge mass of prospective new customers coming our way,” says Dell Webb spokeswoman Martha Moyer at corporate headquarters in Phoenix.

Last year, Dell Webb released its first Boomer survey. It targeted only the Boomers turning 50. This year’s follow-up survey covers the spectrum, 1946 to 1964. “Actually those 18 years produced two generations of Boomers, as responses to our survey make quite clear,” says Moyer, who helped design and conduct the study.

“For example,” she told me in a telephone interview, “the 50-year-olds we sampled last year started saving for retirement at the median age of 34 and expect to retire at 63. By contrast, Barely Boomers, as we call the younger component in this year’s study, started saving five years younger - which is great news - and they expect to retire two years earlier.”

Barely Boomers, born from 1959 through 1964, also are much more likely to relocate upon retirement, Moyer reports. “And finally,” she says, “a considerably higher proportion of the Barely Boomers (fully 80 percent) expect to work during retirement, at least part time.”

In sum, said the researcher, “Retirement is changing fast. Future retirees will be more mobile. They are charting a whole new lifestyle. The entire financial basis of retirement will change.

“People will no longer work until 65 to accumulate the money they need, then just stop working. Instead, already we see that Boomers are eager to try out new careers in what, until now, were generally regarded as the retirement years.”

Technology will enable “retired” Boomers to work at jobs far from their places of residence. “We know a lot of Boomers plan to work out of their homes,” Moyer said, “which allows them to choose when they want to work and when they wish to play. Hence, in some of our communities, homeowners are demanding a detached guest house that can double as a home office.”

Turning to cultural issues, the current survey indicates that family life is overwhelmingly the highest priority of a majority of Baby Boomers, with 54 percent of those polled placing the family first. “This was a huge surprise to us, and a real turnabout,” says Moyer.

“Financial security came a distant second, with just 15 percent making it their top choice,” she said. “Third in importance was career, with 7 percent rating it first in importance.”

In a similar vein, Boomer attitudes toward parents appear to have come full circle. More than any other generation in history, Boomers rejected parental values. Now, asked who are their heroes, overwhelming they responded: Dad, one; Mom, two. Number three? John Wayne.

Likewise, the free-love movement celebrated by demonstrators against the war in Vietnam now takes a back seat to romantic love.

“Nine of 10 Boomers in our survey say romance is very important to them,” marveled Moyer. “Isn’t that wonderful! Romance is alive and well. Later generations have experienced the sad consequences of too much free love.

“In addition, we see here a maturing response. We know from experience that people tend to become more conservative as they age,” observed Moyer.

“Obviously, had we asked these same questions 20 or 30 years ago, the answers would be much different,” said the researcher. “But the pendulum swings right and the pendulum swings left, as with so many things in life.”

, DataTimes MEMO: Associate Editor Frank Bartel writes on retirement issues each Sunday. He can be reached with ideas for future columns at 459-5467 or fax 459-5482.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Frank Bartel The Spokesman-Review