ReBootYourLifeToday

Wow - Women Over 55 Are In Demand - Why?

We’re in demand because we buy lots of stuff and advertisers and economists are just now figuring it out.

 We are not in the coveted demographic of people between age 18 and 34. Most TV, internet and magazine advertising is aimed at this age group.  Why? Because they’re just starting out and they buy everything - clothes, cars, homes, furnishings, baby stuff.   We’ve been written off because, well we’re old ladies, right? 

 I say think again and so have the manufacturers, advertisers and economists.  We're now a coveted group too.  What are we buying?  Anything that says “anti-aging” in the label.  According to a report from market research company Global Industry Analysts the market for anti-aging products is predicted to reach $115.5 billion by 2010.  That’s just for moisturizers and anti-aging creams.  It doesn’t include many other products such as the $7.2 billion spent on hair coloring (not all hair coloring products are bought to cover gray hair, but it is the largest part of the hair color business.)  The anti-aging market also includes tooth whitening products, fancy eye glasses, and on and on.

And there’s the increase in women over 55 using dating services.  The Executive Director of Match.com, one of the largest Internet Dating sites, stated that “Match.com is focusing its target marketing on the Baby Boomer generation as they are our fastest growing age group.” There are even many dating services that are dedicated to people over 55 and they are doing very well.

Is there more?  Of course we haven’t touched the cosmetic surgery market.  Botox injections alone accounted for about $480,000 million in sales in 2009.  Botox is just a fraction of what your dermatologist or plastic surgeon can do for you and it all costs big bucks.  Even in these hard economic times, or maybe because of them, women are still spending tens of thousands of dollars to look younger.   (Looking old is bad news in the job market.)

 Well how do we pay for all of the above?  The US Census says that 40 million women over 55 are in the workforce.  There are more mature women in the workforce today than ever before in history.  That means we have bucks to spend on ourselves and we do it happily!

 So what does all this mean for us?  It means we are getting respect and attention.  And isn’t it just about time?

Times They Are A’Changing – We Need to Change With Them

First the frivolous stuff:

• While I was waiting in the dentist office I picked up a copy of People Magazine.  Holy Cow! who are these people?  Yes, I recognized Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan, but what about all the rest of them. And what’s up with the people who are famous for being famous – no talent, no accomplishments just good at getting attention.
•  I was in the drug store checkout line and the guy in front of me had shaved his head and replaced the hair with tattoos of bright colored snakes covering his forehead, head and back of his neck.
•  My 7 years old grandson can run the computer a lot better than most adults I know.  Is he just a really smart kid?  He’s smart, but the point is that most of his friends can do just as well.  If a 7 year old can do it, so can we.
•  My daughter hadn’t lost her AmerExp card, but a replica was being used all over the country to charge over $15,000 in 6 hours.  How could that happen?  Apparently when you put your card into the pump to pay for gas someone can put some little copying devise in the slot and can make a copy of your card in an hour, then they sell the cards all over the country. 

 Here’s the serious stuff from the July 26, 2010 issue of Newsweek http://www.newsweek.com/

In 2000 there were 12 billion emails sent every day – 2010 there were 247 billion emails sent every single day!

 In 2000 there were 200,000 text messages sent daily – 2010 4.5 billion people were texting every day.

 The number of blogs are up from  282,242 in 2000 to 1,052,803 today.

 In 2000 there were only 4 reality shows – today 320 – now that’s a growth industry!

 Daily newspapers are down from 1480 dailies in 2000 to 1,302 today and more are closing every day

 Daily snail mail count in 2000 was 207.8 million pieces of mail– today down to 175.67 million

 So what does all this add up to?  As the guy with the tattooed head would say, “It’s the 21^st Century, Dude” 

 A lot of the changes are due to advances in technology.  Those changes are stunning and we need to learn how to use them, at least some of them.  Do you know how to use Twitter?  How about You Tube?  Are you on FaceBook?  You lived just fine without all this stuff for decades so why bother now?  Because if we don’t keep up, we run the risk of becoming obsolete, irrelevant and left behind.  There are classes to learn how to use all the latest gadgets and widgets.  If you have someone who can teach you that’s great, if not take a class.

Are you active in politics?  Do you keep up with all the amazing new trends in the country?  Do you vote?  I can hear you saying, “Politics are a dirty business and I don’t want to upset myself.”  True enough, but if we don’t keep up with what’s going on, we lose touch with our time and place.  Again we become irrelevant and left behind.

Are in touch with how the latest generation feels about everything from gay marriage to car buying?  According to research just released by Honda Motors, young people don’t see cars as status symbols or a sexy projections of themselves.  They see cars as polluters used to get them from point A to point B. They see cars as a necessary evil, not something to covet. How’s that for a change in outlook. 

So who cares what these kids think?  We should care a lot because it’s those kids that will pay for our social security benefits, Medicare benefits and many other things that will affect our lives in the future.

Not only should we care what young people think, we need to accept their views and come to terms with how they will change their world because it’s our world too.

If It Bleeds It Leads

My grandson who is a first grader got a final assignment before summer.  He was to chose 5 letters from the alphabet and write a story using words beginning with those letters.  He called to read me his cute little tale about how much he’d love to have a dog.

 His call was coincidental as I’d been thinking about words and how powerful they are.  It seems so much of what we hear today from political debate to reality shows is mean spirited, full of criticism and derision.  

Years ago in Journalism 101 I learned the motto of every newsroom is, “If It Bleeds It Leads.” In other words, bad, nasty news sells.   It sells so well that it’s all we get.  Today we have things that were non-existent when I took Journalism in college.  We have a 24 hour news cycle, video cameras on cell phones and You-Tube.  So we’re constantly surrounded by bad news.  

Just for fun I tried to think of some good news.  I started by looking up how many babies are born every day in the US.  Answer is about 11,000.  Babies are our future and although not always expected, are on the whole very good news.  By contrast I looked up how many people are murdered every day.  Answer: 45.  In a country of over 300 million people 45 is a miniscule number, but which do you think will get the most news coverage?   

According to the Commerce Department 600,000 new small businesses are started in the US every year.  I know 7 million people lost their jobs as a result of the Bush era and many are still suffering.  But wouldn’t it lift everyone’s spirits if some attention were paid the 600,000 new businesses that brave, visionary people are starting?   

Every year 80 top students are chosen to become Rhodes Scholars.  Do we ever see profiles of these remarkable young students?  No, we hear an endless listing of Tiger Woods’ mistresses.   The number of heart attacks and the mortality rate for heart attacks has been dropping since 1995. Do we ever hear about that?   I could go on and on.  But you get the idea.   

There’s a lot more good news generated every day than anyone who lives in our society would believe.   I think all that bad news wears us down – at least it wears me down, so I decided I’d start looking for good news everywhere I go.   I don’t go to state dinners at the White House, and my input is not solicited at the G-20 Economic Summit, so I have to find my good news in everyday happenings.  For example, when I picked up my cleaning, Evelyn who owns the cleaners, told me her son had just been admitted to medical school.  I know the kid and I was proud of him too.  My 86 year neighbor just had his hip replaced.  He’s recovering very well and told me he’d soon be back on his treadmill and walking 5 miles a day.   

The first grade grandson who wrote the story about wanting a dog, has a brother who just graduated from pre-school.  One of the songs the kids sang at their graduation program was about leaving the world a little better than they found it.  I think that’s an outstanding goal for all of us.  So I’ve turned looking for good news into a daily adventure.  I’ve heard some great stories and then I make a point of spreading the good news.  I try to tell at least one other person about every piece of good news I hear. 

The stories I hear are hardly Breaking News on CNN.  They’re personal experiences that are important to a small number of people.  But life is like that.  It’s made up of moment in time experiences.  Looking for good news is fun and it makes me feel like I’m making the world a bit better.  If you find good news stories send them to me, I’d love to hear them!