Optimism
I frequently write about the tremendous benefits that technology is bringing to our aging population. I also point out that the elderly are too often victimized by their own outdated expectations; not understanding that they can typically live not only longer, but better. One of the common beliefs based on past experience and wisdom it that the benefits of technology are focused only on young people. In reality, technology companies using the best economic and market research resources are realizing that senior citizens now control a large part of the disposable income in our society, and they are rushing to meet their needs and desires. Most savvy businesses will soon follow.
What are we talking about here? In late 2009 a research project from AARP and Microsoft revealed that the 50-and-over-crowd will make up one-third of the U.S. population and will outspend younger shoppers by an estimated $1 trillion this year. I am aware that most of us will immediately react by saying, “They are talking about some other senior citizens. I’m certainly not rich.” For most of us that will be true. However, we must be aware that we can still reap the benefits of this phenomenon if we keep our eyes open for them. Just prior to his assassination in 1963, U.S president John F. Kennedy said, “A rising tide lifts everyone’s boat.” Just so, the rising tide of technology will elevate the lives of seniors if they let it.
Seniors should be interested in the emergence of a technology economy that is focused on them for two good reasons:
- It will mean a better quality of life for us. I have written extensively about this elsewhere, but it bears repeating because we are so often mired in the outdated expectations of growing old as lonely, sick and depressed individuals. But when we look optimistically at our current circumstances, we will see a much different picture. For example, the Internet is, for the most part, free. I am aware that many people have to pay a monthly charge to have local carriers deliver an Internet signal to their homes. However, the infrastructure for transmitting the signals around the world is free. In more and more communities the local signal is free, as well. This is primarily because even the local cost of delivering the Internet is very low, and is actually decreasing as wireless delivery becomes more common. Optimistic people are going to use this inexpensive resource to engage in exciting lives.
- Seniors can earn money longer and more easily. An enormous amount of money can be earned working from home by means of personal computers and the Internet. Moreover, as the population ages, more and more of the business economy is controlled by senior citizens. For example, I am acquainted with a man who retired from a “9 to 5″ business when he was 60 years of age. He had been involved in purchasing and managing a certain type of specialized equipment for the last 20 years of his career. Immediately upon his “retirement” he was approached by one of the vendors of that type of equipment and offered a very lucrative position selling it, on his own schedule, with a company car and all other expenses paid. He traveled with his wife (when he wanted to) at the vendor’s expense. When he wanted to stay home he used the telephone and Internet to communicate and do paperwork. Did I mention that he made an excellent income, as well? Why, you may ask, did that vendor compensate him so well to jump from being a buyer to being a seller? They told him candidly that it was because most of the big buying decision-makers for their equipment were his peers, senior citizens or approaching senior citizenship, and they trusted him for that reason.
The possibilities for making money while working in your pajamas are too numerous to list here. Nevertheless, they are abundant and potentially lucrative. Moreover, senior citizens are more effective at doing business with other senior citizens than younger folks.
Whether you want to work or play in your retirement years, or do both, this is a great day in which to live. If you are a senior, or approaching seniorhood, and feeling discouraged about growing old, start looking up at the potential of technology to put years on your life and life in your years! If you know a senior who needs some encouragement, urge that person to get on-line and start surfing. The opportunities are springing up much faster than we can explore them. We just need to move beyond our outmoded ideas and expectations about aging.
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