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couple of days ago, we were talking about Gen Alpha. Perhaps the most familiar generational group are the Boomers, often called Baby Boomers. They are the ones born after WWII from 1946 to 1964, when the birth rate was booming in the US and other countries. Those who fit this category are currently between the ages of 60-78.
Are you a Boomer? If so, a recent article from The Wealthy Boomer sheds some light on issues you might be facing. Written by boomer Andrew Parker, the article is titled 25 Hardest Parts About Getting Older That No One Ever Talks About1 — well – nobody except fellow boomers!
The article listed several things we would expect: more medication, a social calendar filled with doctor appointments, less mobility, memory decline, physical ailments, and physical changes which may include disturbed sleep patterns, digestive issues, and more urgent trips to the bathroom. If you are a boomer, you know that this isn’t fun nor funny.
Here’s a side note. These are called The Golden Years. I’ve heard many say that they wonder who came up with that idiotic concept. I have an answer: Del Webb, “founder of The Del E. Webb Construction Company … Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona … it became … a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange in 1960. The same year, the corporation unveiled Sun City, outside Phoenix, as the first community designed for senior citizens.”2 The Golden Years was an advertising pitch.
“Webb and his company—which would revolutionize retirement living in the U.S. through the Sun City brand of communities—coined the “golden years” term in 1959 to cast retirement as the time for a life of leisure. Instead of being dreaded years of decline, retirement would become something people longed for,” The Washington Post explained in a 2005 article. “Through the magic of marketing, retirement no longer meant only the end of work. It was sold as the beginning of a new, even a better life.”3
Back to our story – the Boomers are also facing issues we might not have thought about. There are financial issues, retirement planning that may have fallen short, and learning to live on a fixed income. Social issues such as a declining circle of friends and living with the grief of many departed loved ones catapults some of our elders into depression.
Then, there are issues like role reversals (the parent becomes the child, needing care), loss of independence, navigating insurance and Medicare, finding purpose, and being overwhelmed by the changes in technology that creates angst in the aged.
One of the most despicable things that happens to the elderly are the scams. The Golden Years is a scam as most of the elderly can attest. But there are shysters and con artists who target elderly people, talking them into foolish purchases, taking their money and then doing either shoddy work or no work at all. The elderly are left with empty wallets, baffled how this could have happened. Their only recourse is legal, but most will not choose this tedious option and will simply suffer the loss.
Spiritual scammers abound as well. 2 Peter 2:1-3 warns, “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. (2) And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. (3) And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.”
Many elderly, as well as those not-so-elderly, will see the commercials and write a check. They’ll receive the request in the mail and off goes another check. The “ministries” will promise miracles, blessings, or say that they need these funds to help starving children or to continue propagating the Gospel. Without the funds, their ministry will be diminished or dissolved.
We are living in a day where we need a heightened sense of discernment as well as skepticism. If someone is saying that they need a decision right now or the offer will disappear, we need to tell them to disappear! We need to take time to think, pray, and investigate the legitimacy of what’s being sold.
The most egregious scams are those selling salvation or a plan of salvation that isn’t the Gospel. Jesus addressed these in Matthew 23:15, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.”
Today, let’s guard not only the elderly but everyone, including ourselves, from the scammers. Take to heart the truth of 1 John 4:1. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
1https://thewealthyboomers.com/hardest-parts-about-getting-older-that-no-one-ever-talks-about/
2https://www.datanyze.com/companies/del-webb/10862801
3https://www.usmoneyreserve.com/news/executive-insights/why-is-retirement-called-golden-years/
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