Boomers Put "Old" on Hold

Today's Washington Post includes a special section about "Fifty Plus," focusing on Baby Boomers.


We're interviewed for a segment about Marketing to Boomers.


Also interviewed was Nora Ephron, the Hollywood producer and writer, who shares her thoughts on the downside of "getting older" (and she cautions against using the word "old," saying that using "older" is better and less painful to hear).

Dr. Leo Cooney, chief of geriatrics at Yale University School of Medicine, is another expert interviewed about life after 50. He is more encouraging than Ephron.

Recently, we spent time with Dr. Richard Lindsey, an accomplished geriatrics physician in his own right, who told us an observation from his years of work with older adults.

It's sobering news for ever older Boomers: Dr. Lindsey's experience is that once people over 50 start having health issues, especially with some sort of illness or physical limitation necessitating surgical or medical enhancement (think knee replacement, stent for an artery, blood pressure medicine, etc.), you never go back to a better state of health and fitness before your health issue began. In other words, you'll have a new "normal" and you'll spend the rest of your life trying to maintain it.

We think this will be a difficult reality for older Boomers to accept. Helping them through this stage could turn into another business for "coaching." We can see it now -- Health Coaches to help Boomers maintain some level of vitality.

Wait, it's already being done (by Bob, of course, but it feels more like a guru site than a real health coach). The folks over at myHealthCoach.com present a better case, but you can't try it out before you commit your first $45. We bet business isn't "booming" yet.

Actually, this could be great consulting gig for retired RN's paired with Nutritionists and Personal Trainers. Anybody heard of a good example in the marketplace? Let us know.