Master Career Counselor

Carla Hunter, President of Career Span, Inc. is a Master Career Counselor (MCC) by the National Career Development Association and a Certified Career Coach by the National Board for Certified Counselors. She is an expert in writing resumes, effective job search strategies and interviewing success. Most recently, with over 20 years of navigating the complexity of today's world of work, she published "Finding Your Place in the World of Work", a career interest inventory (2014) and CareerView, an iPad app. As a private practice career counselor and a workforce development consultant, this blog is Carla's trove of ideas, trends, forecasts, and career tips for finding meaningful work.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Boomer Spending Effect on Economic Downturn

Have you thought about the likely ill effects of the boomers aging? Right now, the average boomer is 53 years old with a median income of $72K. Not bad! Researh has indicated that boomer spending habits change at fifty years old. How you ask? Well, they stop spending. Think about it. By the time one is fifty, the kids are out of the nest and the house has about all it needs and more. The "stuff" of life has been purchased.
If I could guess, I would say that is exactly why Circuit City closed its doors. The boomers were the best customer. They were loyal and spent a lot until the had the 50th birhday dinner. Meanwhile, Best Buy built a new fan base. They may not have the best customer service (Circuit City made you feel like you had a professional stalker following you), but they have bright colors, easy to navigate shopping and quick dispense aisles of the latest products. Circuit City meanwhile sealed their fate by not readying themselves for a new generation of spenders that like it easy, fast, fun and cool.
Finally, have you wondered why the big three car makers are in a world of trouble? Their boomer spenders have put away their wad of cash and are no longer buying. They don't need anything right now. Especially in this contracting marketing that is reeling from their 50th birthday parties.
What the new generation spender (the majority being women) wants is to purchase the fast, fun and easy. If only Ford would get rid of that blue Ford logo (more on this in a later post) and reinvent their definition of cool. Wake up, you boomer driven companies! Your loyal spenders have stopped spending. The next casualties?

I predict companies like JC Penney's, Sear's and even Harley Davidson will shut their doors if they don't pay attention to the new spenders with the debit card. Just watch.

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