The Baby Boom, Amenity Retirement Migration, and Retirement Communities: Will the Golden Age of Retirement Continue?

This article explores social trends that can influence the future development of retirement communities. The leading edge of the baby boom is within a decade of the traditional retirement age. Will this generation experience the same “Golden Age of Retirement” their parents experienced? Will the baby boom make that abrupt withdrawal from the labor force in their early 60s that typified the previous generation of retirees? Changes in Social Security and pension plans along career patterns may produce a phased retirement slightly later in life. Again, changes in pension plans and the age structure of the society may depreciate the post-World War II cohort economic status as they come to retirement. Finally, will the baby boom cohort have similar residential preference as their parents did in retirement? These factors can affect the course of the future development of retirement migration and the traditional retirement community.