People 60 and older report higher life satisfaction than those who are younger. Younger people have far more to look forward to than they expect when it comes to growing older. According to a new AARP survey that compares beliefs about aging among different groups, the youngest adults are the most pessimistic about advancing years, while the oldest pain the rosiest picture.
Nearly half (47 percent) of those ages 18 to 39 believe it’s “normal to be depressed when you are old.” Not so, according to those 60 and up: Only 28 percent agree that being depressed is normal, and a mere 10 percent say old age is a “depressing stage of life.”
And who is the least satisfied with their lives? The youngest group: 40 percent say they are “not too/Not at all satisfied” with their lives, compared to 33 percent of those 60 and over and 28 percent of those ages 40 to 59.
The findings of this new survey are further confirmation of something a lot of people, especially older people, know instinctively, and that is that our upper ages can be great.
While older adults have an upbeat estimation of their own lives, they take a dimmer view of how consumer-facing industries treat them.
A whopping 80 percent of those 60 and over say the fashion industry serves younger consumers better. They pass similarly harsh judgment on the technology industry (70 percent), the sports industry (72 percent) and the entertainment industry (60 percent).
Despite the massive and growing size of the 60-plus population, which already accounts for more than $7.1 trillion of annual spending in the U.S., we don’t see a lot of products and services being developed specifically with the interests and needs of older people in mind.
So all you grandparents and older mentors out there let the younger generation know there is plenty of entrepreneurships and inventing to be had to make us who are already 60 or older even more satisfied with our lives!
- by Tammy C. Vaughn
