... come on now, don't be shy ...

Nobody sane would actually admit to ikea shelving, so we know you are telling porkies.

Are you one of those forum booster persons, y'know, paid to liven forums up?

Sunray Blue, Sunray Blue, Sunray Blue, this is Sunray Red, I say again.

Have you a link confirming this statement ? . Over.

We know Fred thinks he is entitled to a 4 bed farm conversion because he earns it (he's an employer, y'know).

What's going to happen to Fred when he gets past 40 - do you think he's going to give it all back?

i should at least be able to afford something bigger than my employees.

If the boomers are so concerned about the young why are the old fart nimbies universally opposed to new development and housing? If you cared about people there would be no need for ridiculous x5 income mortgages that require working couples, is it any wonder we have a birth rate below replacement level? Boomers are their own worst enemy, they will have precious few to leech off in the coming years.

i should at least be able to afford something bigger than my employees.
and yep. id probably split with th loot to spain before these rancid tesco rock concert attending boomers suck the very lifeblood from my savings like dracula locked in a blood bank

OTTAWA - Canada's universities are gearing up for a hiring boom in the public sector as aging baby boomers retire from their government jobs.

Four Ontario universities the University of Ottawa, Ryerson University, York University and the University of Toronto are the latest in the rush to create new public management or public policy programs and tap into the thousands of jobs that will open up at all levels of government as boomers retire over the next decade, said Sandford Borins, president of the Canadian Association of Programs in Public Administration.

Three of the schools are starting master's degree programs and the University of Ottawa is launching a mid-career management program that's aimed at producing better financial and human-resource managers widely considered big management weaknesses in the federal government today. The University of Saskatchewan and University of Regina are also teaming up to explore putting together a graduate program.

More and more, older CIOs are getting into the consulting game. For some, it's a way to keep busy after retirement. But others have no choice.

Increasingly, baby-boomer CIOs are finding themselves the victims of subtle age discrimination. As they get older, finding that next job gets harder.




"We recognize that we're going to have a tough time going against the 30-year-olds," he said. "There's no use complaining about it. We are what we are."

MarkG Today, 12:45 PM | Post #20|

An acquaintance of mine retired from NASA recently and said that some huge percentage of their engineers are retiring in the next decade. I don't see how they can be replaced, but I guess it will give opportunities to supplement their pensions with consultancy work.

4.11.06
Baby Boomer Retirement Crisis

Yet another article about the abyss facing baby boomers in retirement - there won't be enough tax payers to fund pension payments for everyone, and baby boomers haven't been saving nearly enough to have a "self-funded" retirement.

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald lays out the problem very clearly. Some of the points are universal, applying equally to baby boomers in the US, UK and Australia:

"To give you some idea of the challenge, to retire on 45 per cent of your pre-retirement income you need to have contributed 12 per cent of your salary every year for 40 years."

"With the male retirement age averaging 58 years, drawing on retirement savings at 60 per cent of salary will see the money run out at age 72. But, if retirement is postponed for only two years (until 60), the money would last until 79. Working an extra two years funds a further seven years of retirement."

An interesting read, though everybody should be thoroughly familiar with all this by now, and have an action plan in place to look after themselves in retirement.

Mr. Novelli's book required no research. All he did was apply arguments made by PWD's and provided a new title. Improving health care, redesigning retirement, changing the workplace, creating elder-friendly communities. Which of Mr. Novelli's bright ideas are original? None. The only difference is that the shoe is on a different foot. The baby-boom generation is the most prosperous in the history of the world, yet when offered many opportunities to make changes they chose to oppose them. As more of them retire, they are beginning to experience the results of their opposition to change.

Mr. Novelli, has done nothing more than claim to have invented the wheel. His book is plagiarized ideas, requests, demands, and or pleadings from a group of people that have fought this fight for much longer than his group. I guess the old saying, "What goes around, comes around," is true.

Teach Your Parents Well
By Dan Caplinger
November 10, 2006

Many baby boomers approaching the end of their careers are facing some tough times ahead. Whether they just neglected to put enough money aside for their retirement or they never felt as if they had enough knowledge to save properly, some are nearing the point of no return as far as their prospects for financial security during their golden years are concerned. While it's never too late to start accumulating a retirement nest egg, these folks are probably kicking themselves for not doing something about their futures sooner.

Unfortunately, some of these boomers are probably your parents, siblings, or close friends. For better or worse, the decisions they make can have a huge impact on your own financial situation. Increasingly, people in their prime earning years face the prospect of not only having to support themselves and their children but also helping their parents and grandparents make ends meet. Given the difficulties that young and middle-aged adults face in juggling all the financial obligations they have, helping to support their parents may well be the straw that breaks the camel's back. At best, having to provide for some or all of your parents' living expenses can leave you in a much less favorable financial position with respect to your own needs. Even if it makes you uncomfortable, you owe it to yourself to make sure that your parents are being responsible for their own financial affairs.

Helping them, hurting yourself
At first, you may think that helping out your parents won't be that tough. After all, if you're pulling down a good salary, writing a check to mom and dad every month or two probably doesn't seem like that big a deal. Maybe it means that you contribute a little less to your 401(k) or save a little less toward college expenses for your kids, but you can easily tell yourself that you have plenty of time to take care of that further down the road.

Running the numbers, however, paints a much different picture of the consequences of helping out your parents. The impact of diverting some of your savings away from your own financial goals can be greater than you think. For instance, say you decide to give your parents $1,000 each month over the next 20 years. That comes to a total of $240,000. However, in addition to giving up that money, you'll also have missed out on the returns you would have earned if you had invested that money. Assuming that you could earn an average return of about 8% by using a simple large-cap stock ETF like SPDR Trust (AMEX: SPY) or the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (AMEX: VTI), your parental support would cause you to miss out on over $350,000 more in investment returns. If you could have gotten a 10% return from your investments, that number rises to over $525,000.

You may well feel a filial obligation to take care of your parents when they need you. Yet just as your parents shouldn't sacrifice their retirement to pay for things for which you can take responsibility, you shouldn't sacrifice your own needs to pay for things they should provide for themselves. In trying to balance your duty to your parents with the other obligations you have to your own family unit, it's important to make sure your parents are doing everything they can to help themselves before it's too late.

Teach by example
It's awkward to bring up financial topics with family members. Many parents prefer to keep quiet about personal finances for a variety of reasons, ranging from embarrassment at realizing that their children are better off financially to fear that children may try to take advantage of them by asking for gifts and other types of financial assistance. Unfortunately, the shame that keeps some parents quiet often prevents them from getting the help they need early enough to make a difference.

One way to break through the silence is to share your own financial experiences with your parents. If you have worked hard to learn more about budgeting, saving, investing, and reducing common expenses, your parents may well benefit from your knowledge. By talking openly about your own financial difficulties, not only will you make it clear that you feel comfortable sharing your personal experiences with your parents, but you'll also make it easier for your parents to pipe in with their own thoughts. In many cases, opening the dialogue leads to a flood of communication and valuable information, and you may well find yourself answering all kinds of questions about financial matters. Once the word gets out, you might even start getting calls from aunts and uncles and other relatives who've heard that you're the financial expert of the family.

Find outside help
Yet there's always the chance that you may be unable to get your parents to follow your advice. In those cases, it may be best for you to remove yourself from the discussion and find your parents some outside sources of objective information. With some families, parents are more willing to listen to unrelated professionals than to other family members. Even if your parents have to pay for professional financial help, it may be worth it if they get good advice that they're willing to follow.

On the other hand, there are some free resources that your parents can look at to get their feet wet planning for their retirement. Local libraries often carry copies of helpful financial planning books from well-known authors. Alternatively, you can suggest that your parents take a look at the Motley Fool's own Rule Your Retirement newsletter. After your parents sign up, they can spend the first 30 days looking at the advice that Foolish retirement expert Robert Brokamp and his fellow writers have for people getting a late start on saving for their golden years. The newsletter is free during the trial period.

Nagging your parents about their financial situation can be challenging, but it's the sort of gift they will appreciate -- once they get over the shock of taking advice from their children. By ensuring that your parents can take care of themselves during retirement, you'll sleep easier for their sake and be able to focus on your own financial needs.

For further reading:

Touchy-Feely Finances. Ew.
Ask Mrs. Riches: Your Aging Parents
Retirement, Baby Boomers' Way

PM: Address to the London School of Economics
Saturday, 11 November 2006, 8:27 am
Speech: New Zealand Government
Friday 10 November 2006

Rt Hon Helen Clark
Prime Minister

[url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0611/S00207.htm]Address to the
London School of Economics[/url]

Modern New Zealand in a Changing World

1.00 pm GMT

Friday 10 November 2006

(2am, Saturday 11 November 2006 – NZ time)


Thank you for the invitation to address an audience at the London School of Economics once again.

It is not far short of five years since I was last here, speaking on the topic of implementing a progressive agenda in New Zealand after a decade and a half of neo-liberalism.

At that time our government had been in office for just over two and a half years and was busily engaged in resetting the compass for New Zealand’s direction. Much has been done since to put in place a solid foundation for social democratic policies, which I believe New Zealanders are fundamentally more at ease with than those of the neo-liberal variety.

My topic today is “Modern New Zealand in a Changing World”. It may therefore seem ironic that the occasion for this visit to London is the dedication of the New Zealand Memorial at Hyde Park corner on Armistice Day. Does this not hark back, you might ask, to an earlier era when New Zealand was first a colony and then a loyal dominion within the British Empire?

Of course in part it does, and that in itself is an accurate reflection of that part of New Zealand history. New Zealand’s kinship and closely allied status with Britain saw us commit without equivocation to the South African War, the two twentieth century world wars, and the Malayan Emergency. We were also together in Korea and at the time of the Malaysia – Borneo confrontation

But New Zealand’s links with Britain today are thoroughly contemporary. British people are the largest group of migrants to New Zealand and the second largest group of tourists. Britain is the third largest foreign investor in New Zealand, and it is our fifth largest trade partner.

So, apart from the common heritage, political and legal systems, and shared values, there is also a constant updating of the relationship through a strong flow of people, investment, and goods and services.
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Over the last seven years as Labour governments have served in both Britain and New Zealand, there has been a lot of interest both ways in the policy approaches to common challenges. When Rt Hon Tony Blair came to New Zealand earlier this year, our two governments formalised an agreement on policy dialogue and exchange of ideas.

Both our governments are committed to innovative, open market economies which are also job rich; to strong public services; and to a strong social safety net. I venture to say that we have both enjoyed considerable success across these areas.

In New Zealand we have enjoyed close to the longest run of economic growth since the Second World War, with the economy now around a quarter larger than it was seven years ago.

Our unemployment has halved, and regularly sits at around the lowest in the OECD. Figures out in New Zealand this week put the rate at 3.8 per cent, and that has been achieved at the bottom of the business cycle.

Our major family tax credit package will by next year have dropped our child poverty rate to below the European Union average.

We have invested heavily in education at all levels, particularly in early childhood education to boost participation and quality, and in tertiary where affordability had become a significant issue. Our students and graduates now enjoy interest free conditions on their student loans, provided they stay in New Zealand.

The numbers in work based, industry training, including apprenticeships, have doubled, and we have a particular focus on school to work transitions through trade and vocational training.

Health has absorbed rapidly growing funding, as we move to achieve shorter waiting times for elective surgery, support the care needs of our older citizens, and provide more affordable primary care.

In housing, having re-established a fair rents policy for the public stock and increased the number of homes in it, we have turned our attention to first home ownership and how to support those who can service a mortgage but cannot muster a deposit.

We have already implemented a mortgage guarantee scheme for those in that category, and have been studying the shared equity scheme here in Britain as we design one for New Zealand.

As well, a new savings scheme will have spin offs for aspiring home owners.

New Zealanders traditionally have low rates of savings, other than in home ownership.

We do have a universal pension scheme, paid at age 65 at a rate of no less than two thirds of the net, average, ordinary time wage for a couple, and pro rata for a single person. This rate enables our older citizens to live in dignity and participate in society.

New Zealand Superannuation, as our pension is called, is now underpinned by a dedicated fund, invested in each year from the government’s sizable operational surpluses. It will be drawn from at the height of the demographic bulge, when post war baby boomers reach retirement, to cushion the fiscal impact of pensions on the reduced proportion of taxpayers in the population. The philosophy is for government to save now to save universal pensions for the future.

Private savings, however, certainly boost living standards in retirement, and we have designed new schemes to encourage them. Employer subsidised superannuation has been reintroduced for the core public sector with good take up rates.

But the major innovation is the new Kiwisaver scheme.

Beginning next July, all employees signing on to a new job will be automatically enrolled in a quality assured savings scheme. While they will have a short period in which to opt out, the expectation is that making the act of saving as easy as this will lead to good take up rates.

Every new account will be kick started with $1,000 from government. Savings will be locked in until retirement, or may be drawn on for a first home deposit. In the latter case, the government will contribute $1,000 per year for up to five years of savings to help with the deposit.

Delivery on social policy which provides opportunity and security is fundamental to a social democratic programme., In our government’s agenda, delivery for families young and old, is one of our three top priorities.

But we need a strong economy to do that well – good social policy is resource intensive.

So another of our top three priorities is achieving economic transformation, by building a qualitatively different economy which produces goods and services the world will pay a premium for.

Those who knew the old Kiwi economy would hardly recognise it today.

Tourism competes with the dairy industry as the top export dollar earner.

The turnover in the screen production industry almost equals that of forestry and of horticulture.

International education, the technology sectors, the marine industry, and niche manufacturing are all important second tier export earners.

In wine, New Zealand competes well at the premium end of the market.

We launched Kiwifruit to the world as an exotic fruit and set the standard for quality and branding, commanding a premium price.

Meantime our mega dairy co-operative is the world’s largest trader of internationally traded dairy products, and along with our meat industry has made considerable strides in lifting the value of what it exports – in dairy’s case by focusing on the development and branding of functional foods.

New Zealand has been unusual as a developed economy in having such a large primary sector base. But that base itself is being transformed beyond recognition, as it must be to thrive in the 21st century.

Our relatively small land mass and first world living standards combined mean that our commodities will find it increasingly hard to compete on volume and price in a more open agricultural trading system. The low cost, high volume producers stand to be the big winners from a successful WTO round.

So we have to be more strategic, innovative, smart, and skilled in how we take our primary industries and indeed our whole economy forward.

Our time in government has been marked by a strong focus on education and skills; science, research and development, exporting, and on the enabling technology and creative sectors which help lift the value and profile of our industries and of New Zealand as a whole.

Current priorities are heavy investment in the transport infrastructure; far reaching telecommunications legislation to get faster cheaper broadband services; getting more effective commercialisation of our innovations; reviewing the business tax regime to encourage more investment; working with major sectors like food and beverage and tourism on higher value strategies; and lowering the barriers to our trade through bilateral and regional agreements - and through the Doha Round if it can be revived.

Of course towering over the ability of all nations to make economic and social progress is the challenge of climate change. As we speak, negotiations have begun in Nairobi around the way forward for parties to the International Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. They occur in the wake of the Stern Review which paints a bleak picture of a failure to act.

New Zealand has ratified the Kyoto Protocol, even though it poses major challenges to us. Of our top four trading partners, two – the European Union and Japan, have ratified, and two – Australia and the United States – have not.

We believe in being part of the solution to global problems, and, as a major primary producer, we have much to lose from unstable and extreme climatic conditions. We are also a nation with a very long coastline where communities dwell. Our neighbours on the small South Pacific atolls are in an even more dire situation.

Our problem in meeting our Kyoto commitments is that around half our greenhouse gas emissions come from our agricultural sectors, and there are neither quick nor easy solutions to lowering them – although we will be world leaders in the research into how that might be achieved.

As well, the combination of a high exchange rate and low commodity prices have led to land being deforested for the more profitable pastoral agricultural uses – which both diminishes our forest sinks and increases methane emissions.

We are now engrossed in a comprehensive revamp of our climate change policies – ranging across policies for forestry and agriculture, and the energy and transport sectors.

It will take bold strategies for us and for other nations to achieve greater sustainability, and perhaps even carbon neutrality.

But future generations won’t forgive us if our legacy to them is an irretrievably damaged planet.

Sustainability of course is not just about dealing with threats to the environment; it also presents significant opportunities. As the world has seen through the industrial, technological, and digital revolutions, the development and adoption of new technologies are, in themselves, drivers of greater wealth and prosperity. Nations at the forefront of the sustainability revolution will not only benefit environmentally, but economically too.

I would, however, sound a word of warning about any rush to judgment in our distant markets like Europe about what is sustainable production.

New Zealand gets very nervous when concepts such as taking into account so called “food miles” are raised as potential barriers to our food exports. It should be noted that the energy used in the production of lamb in the United Kingdom is four times higher than the energy used by New Zealand lamb producers, even after including the energy used to transport New Zealand lamb to the United Kingdom. The equivalent figure for dairy products sees the UK using twice as much energy per tonne of milk solids produced as New Zealand does, again including the energy associated with transport of the product.

After years of working to lower Europe’s trade barriers to our food products, it would be a rich irony indeed if spurious new environmental barriers were erected in their place.

In a fast changing world, environmental issues have leapt to the top of the global agenda, along with trade and terrorism. The big challenges nations large and small face defy national solutions and demand multilateral action.

New Zealand is a firm multilateralist – as small countries must be. We depend on a stable, rules-based international environment. We don’t have hard power, only soft.

Our changing world has seen us increase our focus on our immediate neighbourhood and broader region.

In the South Pacific, we have worked on an ambitious regional plan focused on growth, development, and sustainability. The Pacific’s small economies run the risk of even greater marginalisation and dependency in a globalised world.

And in the twenty-first century, fragile states can become havens for criminals, through money laundering and the drugs trade – and even unwittingly assist financial flows to terrorist organisations. Good governance, economic and social stability, and environmental sustainability are increasingly the focus of Western development partnerships in the region.

The past three years have seen us playing a significant role maintaining law and order in the Solomon Islands, which has become our biggest development partner.

And in recent months, we have had troops and police in East Timor again, after the serious breakdown of law and order there.

These episodes, and the recent rumblings of the military in Fiji, remind us that democratic institutions are dependent for their stability on democratic values and the rule of law, and can be easily shaken where those have not firmly taken root.

Interesting moves are afoot in the regional architecture of East Asia, leading to the establishment of a new forum for dialogue – the annual East Asia Summit.

New Zealand, as a longstanding ASEAN dialogue partner and development partner, took the further step of acceding to ASEAN’s Treaty of Amity and Co-operation, thus securing a seat at the East Asia Summit as a founder participant. I note that only this week, former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir himself commended New Zealand for its efforts to identify itself with Asia.

East Asia has been the main focus of our bilateral negotiations for free trade agreements. We have now concluded FTAs with Singapore and Thailand; and have a Trans-Pacific FTA with Singapore, Brunei, and Chile.

We are currently negotiating FTAs with China, Malaysia, and all of ASEAN. New Zealand has reasonable prospects of being the first developed country to conclude an FTA with China. Given that we are an overwhelmingly open economy, and that our major exports face significant tariff barriers in China, we see this as a highly desirable outcome.

Overall we are seeing our relations with East Asia grow and develop at a fast rate. East Asia accounts for a significant amount of our trade. It is a source of tourists and migrants. Our universities and cities have many linkages. Increasingly we feel at home there.

There is a new dimension to our outreach to the region – and that is through interfaith dialogue.

Next year, New Zealand will host the third regional interfaith dialogue, bringing together multi-faith delegations from South East Asia, Australasia, and the South Pacific.

As so many conflicts in the region and worldwide relate to tensions between faith communities, so a solution to those conflicts may lie in seeking to increase understanding between faiths.

New Zealand can be seen as a relatively honest broker in this respect, with its even-handed policy on Israel and Palestine, and its non-participation in the war in Iraq.

At home too we are emerging as an increasingly multi-ethnic, multi-faith society which, by world standards, lives harmoniously.

Modern New Zealand and our world today are light years away from that earlier era which saw New Zealand function as a dominion in the British Empire and an offshore farm for Britain itself.

Today we have a sophisticated economy, a multicultural society, and a great deal of confidence in the part we can play in the wider region in which we live.

We maintain close contact with those who form part of our wider community of values in Europe and North America, and we engage fully and willingly in international efforts to make our world more sustainable, more peaceful, fair, and just.

re kiwi gig last post:

Didnt mention the sheepish girlfriends then?

Revenge of the retiring Baby Boomers! Parasite kids left to life of slavery

Japan's Baby Boomers will start retiring en masse next year, running the risk of driving loads of young Japanese and foreigners in Japan into a new form of slavery, according to Weekly Playboy (11/27).

Japan is estimated to be home to as many as 640,000 young people judged to be either NEETs -- those Not in Education, Employment or Training -- or freeters, who are basically part-time workers and the mass retirements are likely to offer them little respite.

"Japan has few working couples. Freeters here don't live alone like they do in the United States or Europe, instead scrounging off their parents so they don't have to pay for things like rent or utility costs. Home ownership rates among those in their 50s and 60s is really high and freeters can basically get by provided they still live with their parents," Masahiro Yamada, a professor at Tokyo Gakugei University, tells Weekly Playboy. "But, if parents are only living on old-age pensions, their kids can't ask them to support them anymore. 'Parasite freeters' scrounging off their parents may soon slip below the poverty line very quickly."

Freeters are said to average an annual income of about 1.4 million yen, with the roughly 110,000 yen that gives them each month barely enough to cover most rents let alone other expenses like food, utilities and mobile phones. It's certainly not enough live on in pricey Japan. Deprived of their now-retired parents' financial resources and with little hope of being given salaried jobs, the mass of freeters face an uphill battle as older Japanese give up work.

Foreigners have been suggested as one way Japan can cope with the diminished workforce as people get older and have too few children to replace them. However, the weekly warns that Japan is hardly a land of milk and honey for foreigners, particularly those who come into the country as trainees. Foreign trainees, the weekly says, have been behind plenty of problems, notably the case in August where a Chinese trainee was responsible for crimes on a Chiba farm that resulted in three casualties.

"The farm owner paid the trainees about 100,000 yen a month. Even though trainees are supposedly forbidden from working overtime, the farmer was giving them 450 yen an hour and getting them to put in about 50 hours of overtime a month," a reporter for a Chiba newspaper tells Weekly Playboy. "The trainees were getting peeved over being worked so hard and being paid so poorly."

But foreigners traveling to Japan, ostensibly to pick up technical skills, had better get used to poor pay and rough working conditions, as many of the roughly 100,000 foreign trainees already here could probably tell them.

"It's wonderful that foreign trainees can come to Japan and learn technical skills, but the reality is that they are almost always used as cheap labor by small and medium-sized companies struggling to find people to work for them," Kensuke Onuki, a lawyer specializing in cases related to foreign workers, tells Weekly Playboy. "We've got to get rid of this exploitative system where the gap between good intentions and reality is too large." (By Ryann Connell)

November 15, 2006

You are determined to keep this thread going aren't you!

Rising inflation, energy prices top agenda at G20 summit in Australia

Bernanke will participate in the discussion on another agenda item — how countries need to prepare for looming demographic challenges, Kimmitt told reporters in Washington on Tuesday.

Bernanke last month warned in a speech that the burden in the United States from the impending retirement of 78 million baby boomers would impose severe strains on the federal budget and the U.S. economy unless Social Security and Medicare were revamped.

Americans need to work during "retirement": poll

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Millions of Americans are finding that they will have to continue working during their supposed retirement years, a new survey of baby boomers shows.

This realization is turning their worldview upside down -- changing everything on where they might live, what they might do in their golden years and ultimately what is most important in life -- according to a poll commissioned by financial firm Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

"The average 70-year old is probably pretty well situated now because they had pensions and will get social security," Pamela Moret, executive vice president at Thrivent said in an interview on Tuesday.

"But the same does not hold true for baby boomers where roughly 25 percent say they have saved nothing for retirement," she said. Baby boomers are the post-war generation of Americans born between 1946 and 1964, which are just now starting to reach retirement age

This thread needs to be humanely put to sleep. After retiring around page 20 it has outlived its productive usefulness by a good number of pages by being kept artificially alive using extensive expensive resources and frankly smells of piss. Oh and look its just wet itself again. Now who's going to change its nappy and mop up that mess?

Excesses of success
Simon Canning
DECEMBER 19, 2006
SANTA isn't coming down the chimney this year. He's arriving in a delivery van. The $4000 plasma screen and surround-sound system simply wouldn't fit in the sleigh. Christmas isn't for children any more. It's for cashed-up baby boomers, empty-nesters and DINKS (double income, no kids) who are offered champagne during their VIP shopping nights as they shower each other and themselves with extravagant gifts.

Where once wide-eyed children would run out on Christmas morning to see a tree surrounded by toys, now there is little space for kiddie knick-knacks in between the high-priced sound systems, iPods, designer-brand fashion and jewellery.

Mark Uncles, marketing professor at the University of NSW, who has been researching the spending habits of Australians 40 and older, says Christmas has evolved into the perfect excuse for expensive self-indulgence.

"There is longer life expectancy, decreasing birthrates, more disposable income that people have available," Uncles says. "They can spend it on themselves and they can spend it on others. They are increasingly spending it on themselves at this time of year."

While many are splurging on electronics, fashion and jewellery, Uncles says the Christmas list is expanding. "I would add to that list short breaks and short vacations, there is huge growth in that area," he says. "One way of characterising many of these areas, such as gaming and electronics, is they are almost adult toys. Toys do figure in it, they are adult toys."

But material goods are not the limit on the increasingly sophisticated adult wish list.

"There are even more sorts of high-end things such as cosmetic surgery," Uncles says. "It is very much something they are giving themselves, but to them it is treat time, a time for self-fulfilment and feeling good. If it's for a partner it's in the context of jewellery -- it might be too much of a latent hint if it is cosmetic surgery -- it is a token oflove."

Uncles says for those buying short breaks and vacations for Christmas, it is a shared present. "It's not just treating yourself but treating others who are near and dear."

Uncles says high disposable incomes are feeding the spending but there are other factors at play. "Particularly in Australia, there's the very low savings ratio," he says. "Here, if we have got it we spend it, and increasingly older generations and older consumers have it. The mortgage has been paid off, the kids have left home, but they are still active and interested in life."

Having yourself a very adult Christmas extends beyond high-priced presents to the way people shop.

Across the country retailers, shopping centres and arcades are hosting VIP shopping nights at which invited guests are plied with champagne and given exclusive access to stores after hours and after the hordes have been shown the door.

Last week, the Ipoh shopping arcade operator held an invitation-only event at its Chifley Plaza precinct in the centre of Sydney. Well-heeled shoppers were offered champagne, wine and canapes and serenaded live by pop group Human Nature as they wandered through high-end fashion and jewellery stores, credit cards at the ready.

John Klein, Ipoh marketing manager, says the event has become an important feature of the Christmas calendar. "Our primary objective is to drive sales," Klein says. Shoppers were invited from the centre's VIP list, while individual stores also invited their special customers.

"Last year we partnered with the Prestige Car group and invited the Maserati Club of Australia," Klein says.

While shopping is the aim of the evening, Ipoh threw in plenty of extras to help get shoppers in a spending mood. Along with Human Nature there were masseurs and two astrologers for fortune-telling.

Klein says the massages and fortune-telling added to the relaxed nature of the evening. "Last year we had the latest Maserati there and created a whole buzz around the car," he says. "This year we had two astrologists doing numerology and tarot cards and three masseurs that were also very popular."

More than 1000 people took part in the three hour pre-Christmas spending spree, each handing over on average more than $300 at shops including Herringbone, Leona Edmiston, R.M. Williams and Crabtree & Evelyn. "People see it as sort of a Christmas party as well, there is sort of a Christmas party atmosphere and it is sort of a social event," he says.

Gill Walker, of baby-boomer marketing specialist Evergreen (aka Tosser), says Christmas is a time for boomers to indulge in what she calls the "what I always wanted" spending.

"I am sure boomers are going to happily spend more on themselves than ever before as the advertising noise ramps up," Walker says. "As many boomers pay off their mortgage (the average age to have paid off a mortgage is now 55) they are suddenly left with an accumulating surplus that can be re-directed into the 'what I always wanted' list. Women in particular feel the sense of retail therapy freedom as children leave home and they enter 'me time'.

"During our midlife we are motivated by self-approval rather than social approval, so when it comes to spending we only have one person to rationalise with, ourselves. In addition, if boomers want something, they now have the confidence and financial resources to buy it for themselves. The wait to be given a gift has been replaced by couples buying what they want for themselves, whenever, or jointly buying shared experienced, such as holidays.

"The hottest items this festive season for boomers will continue to be based around enjoying the experience, such as travel, resorts, technology, good food and wine, home entertainment.

"Take, for example, buying a plasma screen; older audiences are genuinely motivated by the quality of the experience it will offer their viewing pleasure."

The retail figures don't lie. Research company GFK, which tracks sales of consumer goods, shows a large spike in sales of big ticket electronic goods in the lead-up to Christmas. Last year, sales in the consumer electronics market topped $1.5 billion during the fourth quarter and analysts expect even bigger figures this year.

In 2004, GFK reported spending in the fourth quarter in the consumer electronics market jumped by $300 million. Last year it rose by almost $400 million and this year GFK predicts the sector will top $1.6 billion for the first time.

The electronics market is witnessing growth of close to 22 per cent during the Christmas period, while the toy market has increased 10 per cent to 12 per cent. This year, GFK predicts heavy spending on LCD and plasma television sets, DVD players, home audio, theatre and surround-sound systems.

Department store David Jones is having its best Christmas in six years and Paul Zahra, group general manager of stores and operations, says a large proportion of it is driven by adult indulgence. Although Zahra says toys are still important -- with Barbie and Bratz dolls popular -- people are spending more on adult gifts.

"We have certainly noticed that people are trading up in their purchases," Zahra says. "IPods are just flying out the door and the average price is about $300. Plasma TVs, again, we just can't keep up. People are replacing and giving family gifts or larger gifts." Zahra says Chanel No.5 perfume has been the most popular this year, with many customers trading up from the traditionally bigger selling eau de toilette to the perfume, an extra cost of $100. "It has certainly been much more of an adult Christmas," he says.

Uncles says the era of Christmas indulgence has come at the cost of simpler gifts, particularly homemade ones such as jumpers and scarves. "My sense is that it does not happen any more, which may be greeted with gratitude because some of these things were not very attractive but you had to pretend to like them," Uncles says.

Also celebrating are the marketers, who for a generation have been subtly shifting the perception of Christmas from a time of family celebration and togetherness to a retail revenue opportunity.

"It is about branding," Uncles says. "But I don't think it is marketing per se, which is getting people to do all that we have been describing. What we are picking up is changes in society.

"The way people want to live their lives and get self-fulfilment from their lives, which goes well beyond what mere marketers can do. People are half thinking about doing these things, but then need a little extra push."

The "little extra push" means Santa Claus is coming to town, but he may need some help getting in the front door with the load he's carrying.

Simon Canning is <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au">The Australian's</a> marketing and advertising writer.

The Australian

Work It, Boomers

By Michael Seabaugh, December 14, 2006

By Michael Sebaugh

The Baby Boomer generation will never be called the “Greatest Generation.” That title has already been grabbed deservedly by our parents who endured the Great Depression and waged the last truly necessary war. History is still out on us, but one thing is for sure: We will be called the Longest Generation.

The cry from those of other vintages is most likely, “Egads! Not more of them!”

Deal with it. We are here to stay.

I'm 24 and just completed my university studies finally obtaining my Bachelor of Business (Accounting major).

I'm from Burekup WA (Just outside of Bunbury).

My question is as per the subject line "is the great Australian Dream finally dead for and a large part of my generation"

I just read a report that the median house price in Perth (where I come from its even more expensive) is $490K or over 12 times my gross income!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How are we ever meant to afford THAT!!!!!!

Traditionally (way back in the boomers day) it has usually been between 4 - 7 times the average annual gross income.

I'm on $40K as a Banking Officer at Elders which is ment to be quite good for someone fresh out of university.

The average wage in this country is around 50K.

Is it any wonder why kids of today "just don't care"?

Part of the ethos of the country is the dream of owning your own home.

Now that appears for the most part taken away.

And all we seem to get for it in return is garbage:
- Back in my day..........
- You kids don't have the drive.......
- When I was your age.............
- You don't know how good you got it.........WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP!!!!!

The HECS Debts.......
The unaffordable housing........
The attitude of the older generation.......

We're staying at home longer in order to try and save some money so we can make a life for ourselves, and all we get is more crap for that too. You move out of home early and all of a sudden you "have a bad attitude"

Is it any wonder why drugs are such a problem???? "There's no point in working your ass off so you might aswell so smoke some dope, inject some ice etc" you may not be with it but hey i'm sure in your own little world you were having a good time sure you'll screw your life up as you get older but who cares you haven't got much to look forward to anyway.

Your going to have till your much loved parents pass away till you can make a life for yourself.................hang on nowadays its trendy to spend all of the kids inheritence on yourself!!!!!!!!

Here we are generation X & Y everything the previous generation took for granted we have to work our butt's off for and even then don't stand much chance.

Houses are appreciating at a faster rate than peoples ability to save the deposit required.

WHATS THE POINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The baby boomer generation made sacrifices to get where they are and deserve the right to do with their money as they please.

Put down your mobile, ipod, lap-top, diesel clothing, turn off the foxtel and work your back-side off, start small and work upwards. If not stay where you are and rent my place hey!

"When I was a kid I walked 20 miles in the snow to get to school"

"Boomers are allowed to spend their money how they please". - Totally agree, my beef is when it's done with borrowed money.

[url=http://www.newsobserver.com/580/story/525589.html]Our turn's coming
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I continue to read in The N&O, with dismay, about the deplorable lack of facilities in Wake County for the aged and those with emotional problems. In an area that prides itself on wanting to have the best convention center, the best road systems and the best basketball teams, to allow those who cannot take care of themselves to suffer and be tossed aside is unconscionable.

This is certainly not just a Wake County problem. My 87-year-old father, who served in World War II, lost an eye and was terribly disfigured for life, recently had a heart attack and, until a week ago, was living in a rehab center in one of the toniest villages in the country. The center charges $11,000 a month, and yet he was so ignored that he was constantly drugged and also developed a severe infection. He is now back in the hospital. As horrible as this has been, thank God he has insurance. In recent years it's been particularly fashionable to support our troops, but in many instances, when they get old and sick, they simply get ignored.

Why is it, especially given the huge baby boomer population soon to need such facilities, that we allow our elderly, vets and emotionally ill to suffer such abuses? Our parents and grandparents deserve better and soon, so will we.