Happy New Year. And in case you didn't know, 2005 is the year when half of all Boomers will be age 50 or higher.

Some recent or upcoming famous 50th birthdays include: Bruce Willis, Denzel Washington, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Jobs, Greg Norman, Debra Winger, Kevin Costner and tennis star Chris Evert.

Maybe this will be the year that we stop calling folks over 50 things like "seniors" or "mature adults." Let's try calling them "adults."

This month's newsletter has three stories, the first recognizes the importance of April 12, 2004. Called "Respectable" the article credits Dave Letterman and Billy Crystal for giving us permission to get older. It happened on Dave's show, on Dave's 57th birthday.

The second feature, called "Pennies from Heaven," explores and explodes the myth that Boomers will inherit trillions from their parents and as a result, the financial services industry is due for a huge windfall.

Lastly, we write about a new lifestage magazine, called GRAND Magazine, in "Anybody Seen My Baby."

Meanwhile, at the Boomer Project, we have had brisk sales of our research reports, especially "50 Things Every Marketer Needs to Know About Boomers Over 50," More reports are in the works and should be available by the end of January.

And we're still booking participants for our January 12th "Webinar" presenting the findings of the latest wave of the Boomer Project/Survey Sampling International Boomer Marketing Report. Make your reservation today.

We'd love to hear any thoughts you have on any of these articles. Just drop us a line.

Matt Thornhill
The Boomer Project

Not surprisingly, in October, comedian Richard Lewis was a guest and started talking with Dave about how his body had become a mushy mess since he had turned 50. Dave joked that he had recently gotten up in the middle of the night and had passed a mirror and thought an old, naked guy had broken into his house.

See, now "old" is funny. And respectable.

We recently came across an interesting and insightful article dispelling the myth that Boomers are going to inherit tens of billions of dollars from their parents, creating a windfall for the financial services industry. The article, written by David Gaffen, can be found at the Registered Rep web site.

Gaffen reports that the current estimates of $41 billion transferring are quite likely wrong, as well as ridiculously overblown.

The hope in the financial services industry is that Boomers will start showing up unannounced with a large check from Grandma's estate, ready to invest. Gaffen's article warns the industry not to hold its breath.

Our most recent wave of the Boomer Project/Survey Sampling International Boomer Marketing Report national research found that the financial services industry is doing a woeful job at reaching and connecting with Boomers, especially Boomers over 50.

Compared to younger adults, those 25-35, Boomers over 50 have considerably lower interest levels in learning about products and services from banks, insurance companies and investment firms. Perhaps that's because so few Boomers over 50 say that financial services companies are doing a "good job" in:

Our read of these results, combined with Mr. Gaffen's report that there won't be a huge transfer of wealth, means the financial services industry has some serious work to do. Boomers over 50 aren't going to get the big lump sum and they aren't particularly interested in financial services products or services, or the advertising.

Executives in the industry will need to adjust their expectations of the next five to ten years if they don't modify their marketing behavior to better reach and motivate this segment.

That is, if they don't want their whole sky to fall.

Last fall, in Florida, a great-grandmother of 58 launched a new magazine called GRAND. The target: grandparents today. On the first cover (coincidentally) was Billy Crystal.

Is there a market for a lifestage-based magazine targeting grandparents? According to most research we've seen, and our own Boomer Marketing Report, there's room for lots of them.

And GRAND is off to a great start -- in less than six months they've gone from start-up to now being distributed nationally in Barnes & Noble.

According to AARP's "Boomers at Midlife" report from 2004, 37% of all Boomers are grandparents already. More importantly, in 2005 half of all grandparents in the U.S. will be Boomers. And they already spend more on their grandkids annually than do the previous generation of grandparents.

Boomers will transform what it means to be a grandparent - just as they have transformed every other lifestage they've encountered. If you're doubtful, remember, this is the group that proudly displayed "Baby on Board" stickers when they had children. How proud do you think they'll be when they have grandkids?

Our advice to any company with products or services to sell to older Boomers is to think about how they can appeal to this new lifestage. Restaurants who have Kiddie Menus and Senior menus might want to think about Grandparent/Grandkid-themed menus and promotions. Same for movie theaters, and theme parks. Even vacation resorts.

The grandparent business will be big business. And GRAND Magazine is just the start.