Old people can be so many things—wise or foolish, active or dependent, living or dying…I guess they’re like most other people when it comes down to it. But whatever their personal qualities, there’s one thing we can rely on: the elderly constitute a huge business opportunity, one that will keep growing for some years to come.
A silver tsunami of problems is coming our way, close up and personal: dementia, incontinence, loss of mobility, hearing and vision…all the age-related conditions we can imagine and maybe a few more we haven’t thought of yet. And right there, ready to handle each problem (while making a big profit) are the businesses that provide goods and services to address every old-age issue.
Unless some of our brightest scientists come up with a miraculous cure for aging, many entrepreneurs stand to make a fortune on high-tech hearing aids and the like, while other enterprises may crash and burn. I’m thinking about those large assisted living communities which are so cost-prohibitive for most people (and will only become more out of reach for our shrinking middle class) that many are bound to fail.
Tied in with the economic realities I see a paradigm shift in the younger-elders, the boomers who want it their way, thank you, and will figure out how to stay in their own homes. In addition to hired caregivers for the most disabled, I envision a wave of intentional communities—middle aged adults moving into the homes of older people, where they will help keep the household running and provide basic help—the elders watching the kids when their parents are unavailable—until the oldest members die off and the caregivers themselves grow old and recruit a new crop of not-quite-old people to help them…a continuing cycle of chosen families…
As typewriters have been replaced by computers and i-phones, so family structures also change. Fewer people will marry and move to the suburbs (a trend already established) while more adults are living together in a variety of relationships. But as the French say, “plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.”
| Intentional Community, North Carolina |
The idea of people living in the same household, caring for and helping each other—wasn’t it like this before, back in the good old days? Before assisted living and nursing homes, this was what life was supposed to be…and may be again.
