Boomers take 60th birthday in stride

NEW YORK — Members of the generation that didn’t trust anyone over 30 are starting to turn 60, and they’re apparently finding it isn’t so bad.

A survey of Americans born in 1946 — the leading edge of the baby boom — found most were substantially satisfied with their lives, although many want to make some changes in their lifestyles in the next several years.

The study released Monday was conducted for AARP, the Washington, D.C.-based seniors advocacy group. It aimed to determine how baby boomers, who make up the largest generation in U.S. history, are making the transition to their mature years, AARP said.

Among the leading-edge boomers is President Bush, who turns 60 on Thursday.

The study found that three in four 60-year-olds were satisfied with the way their lives were going, and four in 10 said they were doing “better than they had expected” at this point.

But many felt they could make improvements, with 87 percent wanting to take better care of their health, 72 percent planning to spend more time on hobbies and other interests and 47 percent hoping to do more volunteer work.

Other areas targeted for improvement were personal finances, religious or spiritual life, and relationships with family and friends, the study found.

Among the questions asked of the leading edge boomers was whether it was harder turning 60 than it had been turning 50.

Some 37 percent said turning 60 was “more significant” than turning 50, 30 percent said the milestones were equal in significance and 17 percent said turning 60 had less meaning. The others were indifferent.

They also expect to retire later. At age 50, the median projected retirement age was 62 year; at age 60, it’s 65.

Asked if they wanted to live to be centenarians, 22 percent said they’d like to live to 100 and 16 percent said they wanted to live into their 90s.

But fewer thought they’d reach those milestones, with just 9 percent of the leading edge boomers saying they expected to live past 100 and 13 percent saying they expected to live into their 90s.

AARP said the telephone survey of 800 adults born in 1946 was conducted in March and April by ICR, a market research firm, based in Media, Pa.