Grab your earplugs.
Retirement as we know it is about to go “boom.” Gone are the days of tour buses brimming with ”blue hairs” on permanent holiday. Out with Bingo, shuffleboard and Early Bird Specials. In with travel journals, kayaking, ceviche and mojitos.
Welcome to the anti-retirement.
From Woodstock to landing on the Moon, to the civil rights movement, the Baby Boomer generation dreams big. And for many, the dream is not to “retire.”
More than 76 million Boomers are gearing up for another revolution: the anti-retirement revolution. As Boomers shift gears to a post-career life-style, we will do more and see more of the world than any generation before us. We will be the most mobile, healthy, vital, adventurous, and prosperous population over 60 ever to inhabit the earth. We will revolutionize retirement, just as we have transformed other modern institutions, such as marriage, corporate culture, the role of government, technology and civil rights.
So what will we Baby Boomers do with our newfound—or newly re-found—freedom? Soon the world will find out. We know that it is unlikely to involve listening to Wayne Newton impersonators croon on boring Caribbean cruises, hacking divets on South Florida golf courses or cruising to afternoon shuffleboard matches in senior living communities.
Beyond America
According to AARP research, 55 percent of boomers consider themselves “adventurous” and 77 percent consider their own travel experiences more adventurous than their parents'. The next adventure will be beyond America. With globalization, improvements in global communications, easier access to information in exotic locales and lower travel costs, many bold Boomers will seek the “anti-retirement” through exotic and adventurous overseas living. Florida may have been “the go-to-place” for past retirees, but many of today’s Boomers already are expanding their boundaries by going global.
Healthy, wealthy and wise
The overseas retirement phenomenon will also be driven by necessity. The Boomers represent more than 25 percent of the US population of 300 million. Many Boomers’ 401K plans and stock portfolios will not fund long and healthy retirements. Also consider the recent real estate boom and sky-high prices of desirable real estate in places such as Florida and Arizona.
The already fragile healthcare system will not adequately serve all Boomers. Medicare coverage will continue to decline as limited funds are depleted, and many retirees will not be able to afford the premiums and co-pays of private coverage. Yet quality healthcare is widely available in places such as Costa Rica and Mexico, and at a fraction of the cost in the USA. For example, in Nicaragua, out of pocket costs for a routine visit to a physician are typically less than $40. Private clinics in this country offer first class diagnostic services such as MRI and CT scans, and pharmaceuticals are available without a prescription and at a fraction of US costs.
All these factors point toward a future boom in lower cost overseas retirement.
Belize is a great example of the financial appeal of an overseas retirement destination. It’s a stable, English-speaking paradise situated on the Caribbean near the Yucatan peninsula. Retirees in Belize do not pay taxes on their first $75,000 of income, Property taxes on a $500,000 home are about $90 per year compared to thousands for a comparable home in Dade Country, Florida. A relatively modest pension of about $2000 a month will buy a very comfortable lifestyle in emerging retirement destinations such as Panama and Nicaragua.
The next frontier
The revolution is coming; a Baby Boomer turns 50 every 7.5 seconds. As we transition from the daily grind and begin to plan our retirements, many of us will break with convention and continue to experience life to its fullest. Whether taking an exotic eco-adventure to Costa Rica, reuniting with friends in Mexico, or purchasing property in Panama, yesterday’s Easy Riders will transition into the BoomerScapers of today.
© BoomerScape, Inc.