The Grandparent Economy: Is Generosity Enough?

Posted on | October 29, 2010 | Comments Off on The Grandparent Economy: Is Generosity Enough?

Mike Magee

As the first of the 76 million US boomers reach the magic age 65 in January, 2011, there has been a great deal of discussion around costs – not the least of it in health care services. But the reality is that this population has the potential to assist Society if their energy and resources are properly channelled. One area whether boomers are already demonstrating significant positive engagement is in grandparenting.

Let’s have a look at the numbers. A recent study “The Grandparent Economy”’ at grandparents.com, says that the roughly 70 million grandparents in the US are spending approximately 52 billion of the more than 600 billion they spend annually on their grandchildren. The number of grandparents is on the steep incline. The numbers today are 20% higher then 10 years ago, and are projected to increase another 11% by 2015. (1, 2) What are they buying for the grandkids? (CONTINUE….)