RASCAL REPORT
An eye on baby boomers since 2022
When you get to my age, you’ll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you. I know people who have a lot of money, and they get testimonial dinners and they get hospital wings named after them. But the truth is that nobody in the world loves them. If you get to my age in life and nobody thinks well of you, I don’t care how big your bank account is, your life is a disaster.
– Warren Buffett
Martha Stewart is the oldest Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover model at 81. She's encouraging older women to 'look good, feel good'
Martha Stewart is a woman of many talents. Now, she can add Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover model to the list. The 81-year-old is one of the latest cover stars on the iconic magazine's 2023 issue, stealing the title of the oldest to pose for the publication from Maye Musk, who appeared on the 2022 cover at age 74.
‘Late for the Sky’—Jackson Browne’s confessional masterpiece
Making his case that 1974 marked the moment when Los Angeles emerged as a crucible for American cultural, political and social values, veteran journalist Ron Brownstein cites new narratives in music, film and television shaped by insights and values shared by the postwar baby boom generation. In his best-seller, Rock Me on the Water: 1974 The Year Los Angeles Transformed Movies, Music, Television, and Politics, Brownstein reckoned, “The most memorable works of early 1970s Los Angeles—from Chinatown to All in the Family to Jackson Browne’s great album Late for the Sky—emerged from the collision of [’60s] optimism with the mounting cynicism and pessimism of the [’70s].”
How baby boomer Catholics are keeping the faith
Amid cultural upheavals in the church and the world, Catholics of the baby boomer generation have had to reevaluate their faith and affiliations. According to a Pew Foundation survey, 38 percent of Catholic Baby Boomers still attend weekly Mass. Some Catholics see that number as a positive, as the younger generations are even lower in their affiliations, with subsequent generations at 30 percent and below. Millennials and Gen Zers now get the attention as church leaders scramble to capture younger generations. But what happened to the Baby Boomers who left? And, perhaps more interestingly, why do the 38 percent hang in there?
From Gen Z to Boomers, how 4 generations see the future of ChatGPT and Generative AI
This roundtable introduces a new series called “Generations,” which brings together representatives from different generations to discuss important business and technology topics of the day. In this debut episode, John Siefert (Gen X) talks with Toni Witt (Gen Z), Ronak Mathur (Millennial), Janet Schijns (Gen X), and Wayne Sadin (Baby Boomer) about the past, present, and future of generative AI and ChatGPT, which in just 120 days or so has grown exponentially and taken the technology world by storm. Should it be feared or should it be embraced? Is it hype or is it the real deal? Do different generations see this topic differently?
What is the ideal retirement age for your health?
Today many more people live long enough to have access to a national retirement fund, often for years if not decades. Average life expectancy in the United States is 76, and in many European countries it’s even higher. The U.S. national retirement age — when you can start claiming full Social Security benefits — has crept up much more gradually, to 67 for people born after 1960. In response, several countries — most notoriously France, where the retirement age is 62 and life expectancy is 82 — are debating raising the retirement age to try to offset the economic pressures of an aging population and the concern that national retirement benefits won’t be able to keep up for much longer.