Baby boomers

Baby booners (베이비붐 세대/生育高峰世代) are people who were born between the years 1955 and 1963 in Korea.

In the United States, baby boomers were born during the demographic Post–World War II baby boom between the years 1946 and 1964, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The term "baby boomer" is also used in a cultural context.

In Korea, baby boomers, numbered over 7 million people or around 15 percent of the whole population, are believed to hold a considerable portion of the nation's wealth and consume expensive goods. But the statistics show the other side of the reality.

Characteristics
The Korean baby boomer generation is characterized as:
 * very small number with stable bases of occupation and income; but
 * greater numbers are after retirement or engaged in simple labor work subsequent to business failure; *considerable number of baby boomer applicants for personal rehabilitation proceedings; and
 * so many divorces (33 percent of the whole group) compared to 26 percent in other age group.
 * It is also remarkable that 25.9 percent of baby boomers, whose utmost life goal was the ownership of their own houses, are home owners while it is limited to 16.6 percent for the other age group.

Unstable self-employed
It is demographically conspicuous that more and more baby boomers are entering self-employed markets as they come near to retirement. In the years from 2007 to 2011, self-employed people were decreasing all over the age group while the number of the aged of 50 years and over was on the increase. The self-employed baby boomers represented 29.7 percent of total households.

In 2012 alone, a shortage of regular jobs amidst the recession was prompting many people to set up their own small business or go into direct selling. According to research by Hyundai Research Institute, there were 7.2 million self-employed people as of May 2012. The figure was calculated based on the OECD gauges to include unpaid family members helping out with the business in addition to the owner. The number surged by a whopping 650,000 from February to May in 2012.

But the market is mostly saturated, and people starting a small business often struggle to make ends meet. According to a study by the Small and Medium Business Administration, 81 percent of small businesses nationwide made less than 2 million won (U$1=1,152 won) in profit per month in 2012. Some 30.8 percent earned less than 1 million won, and 26.8 percent were in red.

The reason for the rising number of self-employed people is that the baby-boomer generation born between 1955 and 1963 are retiring and casting around to earn money. In 2011, the proportion of self-employed people in their 50s was 30 percent, exceeding the proportion in their 40s (28.5 percent) for the first time.

The problem is that a significant portion of the self-employed cannot survive the competitive markets by themselves. In case of baby boomer generation, their failure would lead to very unstable future for their families.

Financial issues
According to a recent survey, four out of 10 Korean baby boomers have not prepared adequate finances for their retirement lives, because they have to pay more for children's education and living expenses than their own future plan.

As of 2012, 80 percent of baby boomers lived with their adult children and dedicated 41.7 percent of their average monthly spending of 2.83 million won (U$1=1,062 won) to their children, because 65 percent of their children were still in school or looking for work. Spending on children shouldered by baby boomers rose more than 27 percent from 930 thousan won a month in 2010 to 1,180 thousand won.

During the period from 2014 to 2030, it is expected that 200 to 300 thousand baby boomers retire each year. As three quarters of their assets are composed of real estate, a little change of their asset-holding strategy would put a great impact to the real estate and financial markets. It's because they prefer income-generating shops or one-room offices to apartments for residence. Out of question, they will convert real estate to cash or other financial assets.

Aging with health problems
In the aging society of Korea, every senior citizen aged 65 or older is supported by six working-age adults between the age of 15 and 64. The aged dependency ratio, which is defined as the number of retired persons divided by the number of the working-age population, was 16.7 in 2013, and is likely to go up to 20.0 in 2018. According to Statistics Korea, the ratio of senior citizens to the entire population was to 12.2 percent in 2013. It means heavier burden to the young generation as well as to the National Health Insurance Service.

At the same time, the aged are suffering from health problems. It is not surprising that 86.7 percent of the old population have one or more chronic diseases such as arthritis, backache or high blood pressure. To make matters worse, more and more senior citizens are living alone with no assistance at hand. They are called as "living alone elderly" (독거노인/獨居老人). Furthermore, dementia (Alzheimer's disease) and geriatric depression (노인성 우울증) are reportedly destroying family relations.

Against these backdrops Healthy aging is a hot topic for baby boomers. Whether the old over 50 are concerned about weight gain, sex drive or chronic diseases, the key to healthy aging is a healthy lifestyle.

Eating a variety but small quantity of healthy foods, practicing portion control and including physical activity in your daily routine can go a long way toward promoting healthy aging. Better yet, it's never too late to make healthier lifestyle choices.

Often, anti-aging therapies don't live up to the claims. You should be cautious in buying anti-aging therapies — such as restrictive diets, supplements or expensive treatments claiming to postpone or even reverse the aging process. There's no quick fix for healthy aging.