Baby Boomer Stats – Wednesday Wisdom

I thought it would be fun to share my thoughts about a demographic to which I enjoy belonging, Baby Boomer women – born between 1945 and 1965. 

Currently, there are about 50 million Baby Boomer women in America alone! Look at these interesting statistics…

According to the Wall Street Journal, every eight seconds someone in the United States turns sixty as the baby boomers get older. Look at these statistics that happened when baby boomer women broke the “glass ceiling”…

Women now hold nearly half of all executive, managerial, and administrative jobs in the United States.

Women today earn 58% of all college degrees granted and 59% of the master’s degrees. (National Center for Educational Statistics)

Women now comprise as much as 40% of the field in Ironman Triatholons. Huge numbers of women now compete in this grueling event of endurance and strength.  (Paul Huddle, Multisports.com, Encinitas, CA.)

Women now…

–        Control 4 trillion in annual consumer spending. ($4,000,000,000,000)

–        Buy 2 out of every 3 cars.

–        Take 50% of all business trips.

–        Control 51.3% of all the personal wealth in the country.

_              Influence 95% of all US consumer spending and make up 85% of all consumer buying.       

–               Initiate 74% of all new business start-ups in the United States.

                (Center for Women’s Business Research)

We Baby Boomers are strongly bonded with one another because we’re aging together. The absolute truth is that most of us don’t like getting older because we lose things as we age!

That’s right – you know we do! We lose our smooth skin, good eyesight, strong muscles, and big chunks of our memory. We even occasionally look over our shoulders and wish for our youth again.

However, what we’ve gained is significantly more important than what we’ve lost. We’ve gained wisdom, empathy, perspective, and most importantly, an increased ability to love.

Baby Boomers, I invite you to enjoy aging and take every opportunity to love more deeply and serve more often. As you do, your “golden years” will be sweeter and filled with joy, purpose, and love.

Dr. Paula Noble Fellingham