Daily Conversation of Gen X and Boomer Friends

By Michele Scheib, AARP Volunteer

The front edge of my generation, including those close to me, turns 50 this year. It helps that we have friends among the Baby Boomers who have made this milestone seem not so monumental. Transitions in life come at every age, and for some it will be at 50 and others 43 or 59.

At each dinner party this summer, which is a struggle to arrange in our busy lives, conversations with these older friends shift to their early retirement plans, and eventually, financial concerns. How do they know if they will have enough? Where should they be investing? What should they do before Medicare covers them? We don’t get very far with answers.

They seem to have acquired a sense of financial resiliency at some point in their lives, and a lessening of financial burdens with mortgages about to be paid off or children about to be on their own. For my boomer friends, there are still parts of their careers that they enjoy and yet are looking forward to having more time for volunteering, gardening, traveling – and they will find a way to get by through living more simply.

While retirement is too far away for me to envision, we all have a positive view of retirement when the conversation comes up. It’s a chance to leave work behind and be happy in new found freedom. We feel there will finally be time to socialize more, write that book, and take advantage of off-peak travel discounts. Sure, we all know the aches of an aging body may be on the horizon (in fact many of us have had an injury or two already), but we figure we will have more time to exercise and take better care for our bodies.

Our generation has also seen the parent of a friend or spouse die before 70. Concerns about our own mortality, and leaving enough time to enjoy retirement, seep into our thoughts.

We see some of the downsides of later life, too, through our parents and/or grandparents – the possibility of greater isolation, reduced energy level, the stress of living on a fixed income, predatory scams, and a possible change in housing – parts of retirement we don’t yet associate with our own futures.

The more my generation is exposed to and learns about navigating the topics of aging, the better we will be able to support the generations before us, as well as be more prepared for the road ahead through better financial or social planning. At the very least it will help with a gentler, instead of monumental, transition, no matter if change happens at 62, 75, or 84.