Oldest Boomers Say Health, Money Are Biggest Problems

If traditional "middle age" is from 40 to 60, then the first baby boomers are moving on. But a survey of 800 people born in 1946 shows that many aren't ready to be "old." Although generally satisfied with their lives, virtually all plan to continue to improve their lives.

On the positive side, a remarkable 77% were "satisfied with the way things are going in their lives." Retired people were even more satisfied -- 85% of them, in fact. So were 81% of those working and 60% of those looking for work.

Other good news is that 44% of the first boomers report doing "better than expected" in their relationships with family and friends, and only 7% said they were doing worse. Many also found their spiritual life going better than expected.

Two perennial problem areas stood out.

We've written elsewhere about how tightly linked physical health is to happiness, and this survey backs that up. 34% said that physical health was the area they most wanted to improve over the next five years -- the most popular response. 32% of the sixty-year-olds were doing "worse than expected" in terms of physical health; only 28% said they were doing "better than expected." People with less household income were more likely to be concerned with improving their physical health than anything else.

The other major area that people wanted to improve was their personal financial situation -- whether they earned under $25k / year or over $75k / year.

Looking ahead, health and personal finances were the two leading roadblocks to "achieving what you really want out of life." Of the 65% of respondents who said they faced such a barrier, health and financial issues were the reason given by more than half -- 36% of the total.

The survey is available as a pdf here.