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How long will furniture and mattress sales remain slow? At the time I am writing this, the latest government numbers showed consumer confidence continuing to fall, but consumers’ spending keeps increasing, at least on services, disposables and non-durables. Nuts.
But there is a trend very obvious to me and all my peers who read the obituaries every morning. At my age we should go to more funerals and hospital visits and to fewer but more enjoyable weddings and graduations. Of course, the weddings are often the friends’ third or fourth we have attended, and the graduations are for our grandchildren.
The media has noticed this, and it seems most ads are for healthcare supplements, skin creams, constipation, cruises, cheap life insurance and retirement villages.
The largest and fastest growing in the obituary competition are the famous “post-war Baby Boomers,” now aged 59 to 77, and the cause of death reads most often something about the heart, one of the many cancers or some form of dementia. When you read that the average life expectancy of an American male is just over 76, it makes senior citizens like me nervous but brings broad grins to the local funeral homes.
Until about a decade ago, we “Boomers” were the largest population segment in the United States at 77 million, but we have been surpassed by the Millennials.
Even so, we are still the wealthiest generation EVER by a LOT. We bought homes, stocks and started many of today’s most successful businesses long ago, and now they are worth fortunes. Our generation was the first to have retirement plans, life insurance, forced savings plans like 401-Ks and so much more.
As we Baby Boomers go toward our long sleeps on clouds (as we have promised in selling beds for decades), our descendants will be inheriting between $14 trillion and $21 trillion — TRILLION! (depending on the analysis) — and many houses and other real estate.
This will be the LARGEST WEALTH TRANSFER in history, and home furnishings should be one of the larger beneficiaries! Yea, us!
See also: Take a look at the idea of ‘outlets’ | Jerry Epperson
