What happens when the baby boomers die?

[LargeSquareRock]

Sorry about the title, but that’s literally it. I’ve wondered this since I was a child.

Obviously we are about to enter a 20 year spike when a smaller number of tax payers support a higher number of elderly people in healthcare and elder care.

What happens in 20 years when the spike is over? Do we have empty care homes, plentiful housing and easily available health care?

I really have no evil agenda asking this- demographics has always fascinated me.

Lots of ‘elderly baby boomers’ currently pay tax.

My parents are in their 70s and pay tax 🤷🏻‍♀️ don’t believe everything you read in the daily mail.

I have no doubt. But since I was a little girl in the 1980’s I have read article after article about how this massive glut was coming, and how governments and society need to prepare for this massive unprecedented change. Well, what happens when the glut passes?

I’m in Australia so the Daily Mail isn’t high on my reading list. What happens when the massive society-changing glut has passed? It’s not an agenda-driven question. I’m just curious.

Birth rate has been below replacement for 50 years so the problem will continue with Gen X , it might be a bit less drastic though

I think we’ve peaked in uk life expectancy and see a lot more chronic illness in younger people so will unfortunately need to provide the same levels of support in terms of health and social care - just go younger people

The next generation becomes old and the cycle continues.

That is true. Can immigration mitigate this?

Not on the same way. It is the first time in history that a high birth rate, high longevity generation will be supported by a low birth rate generation.

This fascinates me too OP. What will happen to the property!?

Yes! These are the questions that fascinate me.

I am 77 and pay tax. I do wonder why my local council.are spending millions on building care homes that will not be needed in 20 or 30 years time. A cheaper more temporary building would be a better idea.

I expect the baby boomers’ children will have grown older and be needing health care, care homes etc.

Your parents (unless they are currently higher rate tax payers) and the majority of people will never pay enough tax in their life to make up for pensions and healthcare costs.

You need to earn 41k a year to be a net contributor.

Well maybe those people who arrive on boats will help with the birth rate. I’ve had 4 kids, done my bit for the birth rate.

The baby boom was a good twenty years long, I'm from the latter end of it.
I'm retired but still paying plenty of tax

The ones I know who need care aren't Boomers, they were born either before or during WW2.

But the baby boomers have had massively fewer children than their parents.

There will no doubt be another generation of folk needing care etc. Overall people are still living quite long lives, on average. How it will all be paid for, who knows.

More homes come on to the market gradually as the generation passes away but you won't notice because the population is growing too fast.

There should be less call for elder care - hip replacements, dementia, cancer etc but because the younger generations are so much less healthy - obesity, upfs, much higher car use and therefore less fitness in childhood etc, the NHS will have to reallocate resource to reflect future need.

But there will be fewer elders to run charities, provide free childcare, work for social enterprises, staff parish councils etc.

I guess carehomes will offer psychiatric care instead to cater for the massively increased number of drug abusers.

Fewer jobs will go to the early retired (B&Q, supermarket checkouts etc), so more employment opportunities for younger people.

This will be a massive win for whatever government is in at the time as the housing crisis could be made much better.

If boomers are living until their 80s roughly we’ll see the impact until between 2035 and 2045?

My 82 year old Dad pays more tax now than when he was working ,granted he's been retired for nearly 30 years.

It will help with doing the jobs that need doing but we are a low wage economy so there won’t be enough net contributing tax payers.

Taxing the billionaires and corporations also depends on them making money from extracting the surplus labour of workers and selling things to people with money, so if there are fewer workers and the economy shrinks then there won’t be as much to tax.

My PIL pay taxes and so does DH's 90+ year old grandma and my 92 year old aunt.

My PIL and many of their friends make a huge contribution to society with amount of voluntary work they do- FIL does it 5 or 6 days a week almost full-time and MIL does something 5 days a week although not all day. They are amazing. Our neighbour works at a local heritage centre 3 days a week and gardens at 2 National Trust gardens, his wife cooks lunches for 80 people twice a week and volunteers at a local foodbank 2 days.

Much of what supports our local communities works on a voluntary basis staffed by retired baby boomers.

Their children will likely inherit it.