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.

We are taking in a lot of immigration to compensate. It's usually framed as humanitarian and is actually intended as such but tends to largely attract the middle classes and sometimes dirty money of war torn countries so they bring in more money that way.

It's an interesting question as the earth's population is increasing still, at the moment, i think, but the birth rate is dropping.
So there will be older people needing care, and some financing. But that will pass which I think is what the question is about @LargeSquareRock ?

Migration will mitigate it, I think. But also suspect that much will change re how NHS (for example) works. There the potential of mass migration due to climate change, as well as wars.

I don't know the answer but it's interesting to ponder.

They’ll have to house us renters somewhere.
no idea where the tax comes for that though

I'm 65 and most certainly haven't had enough, and hope to live way past 70. I have a few 70 year old friends who are enjoying their lives very much.

I wonder about this from a mass inheritance point of view. Most people don't actually spend thousands on care homes so the sixty-somethings will inherit homes / money.

I wonder if care in the home will have to be funded as care out of the home is since it’s more common?

Many more people have been born. The boom has continued. There is also a rise in the number of kids with special needs and these will need care and assistance from society when they are adults because they won’t be able to work.

somebody made a v good point about lots of younger people not having decent pensions or owning properties so the state will have to subsidise them and pay their rent until they pop their clogs so I don't see a massive change in terms of government spending. It will just go on other things surely . ( addiction treatment, mental health support etc as well )

I think it’s easy to overlook how much volunteering retired people do that makes our community a better community.

Just in my local area there are
charity shops, food bank, town team who take care of the flowers and organise events for the town, litter picking crew, local (tiny) museum, fundraising groups, lots of church groups and events etc and these are generally run by older people.

Yes the BB's children likely to be less healthy than their parents as they age with increased obesity, chronic disease etc.

I think the number of people born disabled has actually decreased due to prebirth testing and improvements in health care over the decades.
Most people born are able to work, if there are jobs that they are trained for.

Agreed. This thread is showing such a depressing lack of basic demographics and the fact that there are marked demographic differences between generations. And - in the nicest way possible - it’s irrelevant what random poster Xs parents pay in tax.

I think a massive issue in coming years will be the huge variation in the inheritance of the boomer generation’s children. A significant proportion of people will inherit expensive houses and thousands if not millions in stocks and shares. But there will be a huge spectrum with some people inheriting nothing - because, as pointed out above, not all boomers are rich.

And I think this shift in wealth will be so obvious - and perceived as blatantly unfair to many as it’s clearly luck who inherits rather than based on hard work and earnings - that it could damage social cohesion quite badly.

By then there will be so many people on benefits in need of housing. There will never be empty, unused houses. Looking at the state of all the anxious teens, these will probably grow into anxious adults unable to work

Agreed. I couldn’t list what my boomer mum does. Puts me to shame. But what happens to society when they die?

Baby boomers are tax payers too you know. And when you say elder care, please also remember that the much criticised high value assets, such as the homes these pensioners are living in will be sold to pay for that care before the tax payer forks out anything.

And it’s also worth remembering that the baby boomers were probably healthier in diet and exercise than successive generations, so are probably less of a burden on the health service now than those who are currently indulging in fast and ultra processed foods will be. BB’s weren’t sitting playing computer games rather than getting exercise. There was less obesity as well.

I know it’s a bit off topic, but there weren’t the high levels of sickness benefits being paid out to those who choose not to work that we’re seeing now. The benefits system of the time didn’t allow unlimited payment of sickness benefits without stringent assessment and supporting medical evidence.

Won't the next generation need supporting, those in their 50s or just baby boomers, is there a cut off for support

Absolutely right!

Some really sterling work is being done by retired highly skilled people in their mid seventies.

Don't get the hate that a lot of older people get on here- is it jealousy?

Because those born in 1940's/50/s /60's/70's had free education, the NHS was in fine fettle and housing was cheap, proportionally compared to wages? {Plus a lot of women got a pension at 60.

It has to be envy.

@LargeSquareRock there will be cultural & social changes but who knows what that looks like. Schools particularly in London are seeing a big fall in numbers (predicted to be 1/2million over the next 5 yrs) due to faster than predicted birth rate drops with schools facing closure & mergers. So I think London will look different. Other cities may become “bigger” eg more younger people have moved to Manchester.

I can't quite equate the stories of BB's with their huge houses and their stocks and shares and final salary pensions with the idea that they are not net contributors.
People in these positions of which ever generation that need care have to pay for it themselves.
We will be paying higher rate tax when we retire, am I then allowed to live past 67?
Also laughing out loud air the poster talking about all the BB's children with obesity. Huge generalisations being made on this thread.

It's a huge question, isn't it? I think that we can't really visualise what society will look like in 20 years because the effects of climate change are really going to be hitting in that time frame and technology is making huge changes to how we work.
Maybe a positive will be that people in general will work less hours and multiple generations living in the same house will become more common. That would mitigate the need for more care homes for the elderly.

Definite jealousy from some people.

@Kneidlach yes that’s an interesting point & I agree re social cohesion.

Definite jealousy from some people.

I think it’s an issue with comprehension myself…

Well I can't see the younger generations picking up the slack so charities will fold of course. Even if people want to contribute the world we have made where house prices( or rent ) mean both people need to work full time to survive prevents them from doing so. We will see the results of prioritising money above family which is already evident but will only get worse. It is the inevitable outcome in society when money and status is all. And that is a problem no.one can solve really.

Fortunately DS has a lot of his own money and is not obese so has no need of our low value house for a deposit, I'm sure there are many more the same. Not everyone in their 30s and 40s is poor and fat

All the arseholes on here will have to find some other demographic to blame for all societies ills.