RASCAL REPORT
An eye on baby boomers since 2022
Odder still how possessed I am with the feeling that now, aged 50, I’m just poised to shoot forth quite free straight and undeflected my bolts whatever they are…
These are the soul’s changes. I don’t believe in aging. I believe in forever altering one’s aspect to the sun. Hence my optimism.
– Virginia Woolf
Age is really just a number
Today, more people are experiencing a disconnect between biological, chronological, and emotional age due to increased life expectancy. It's now also clear that there are epigenetic reasons that contribute to this. This series turns traditional norms on their head by exploring countercultural trends and new ways of living, thinking and being.
Managers want hard workers — so they're hiring older ones
Some hiring managers are setting their sights on older employees rather than younger ones due to a difference in work ethic. With the economy slowing down, companies need fewer people and need the people who are there to be OK with working hard. Instead of trying to convince younger generations to be something different, some companies are saying, “Why don't we just go hire people who are naturally predisposed to work harder?”
University of Chicago survey findings: Prepare yourself for some vertigo. This portrait of the country you think you know is going to leave you dizzy
The changing skin color of our American group portrait. The evolving views on race and gender. The fact that movie tickets no longer cost 35 cents — and movies aren’t shown only in theaters anymore. The appearance of menus that no longer offer a glass of tomato juice as an appetizer but do include salad items that sound like entries in the periodic table of the elements. Annual prices for a year in college that are at about the level of Ted Williams’ final baseball salary. Phones that aren’t used mainly for making phone calls.
Social Security is now expected to run short of cash by 2033
Social Security has been called the third rail of American politics - anyone who tries to tinker with it is likely to pay a big political price. But we were reminded again today that, if nothing is done, Social Security recipients are on track for a steep cut in benefits in about a decade.
Baby boomers have taken over as the largest share of both home buyers and sellers
This marks the first time in about a decade that millennials didn’t account for the most buyers. Whether this is a lasting change is unknown, but barriers to first-time home buyers haven’t gone away. They’ve just changed. The challenges of last year’s hyper-competitive market have been replaced with higher interest rates this spring. Both dynamics favor boomers who can leverage their accumulated home equity and can more often make cash offers.