Are you ready to age?

If you are anything like me, you’d probably answer no the question above.

But are you aware that in fewer than ten years, all the baby boomers will be aged between 51 to 70 years.

And according to a report by management consultancy McKinsey, boomers will account for something like 40 percent of spending in the US by 2015 with roughly similar figures for the UK and Europe.

Those kind of figures tend to impress marketing folks, but according to a new McKinsey survey many aging people ‘face the prospect of shattered expectations’ despite the economic power of their cohort.

According to the survey, a generation that lived through unprecedented prosperity is going to have to learn how to cope with significant financial, physical and social challenges whatever their high hopes for ‘golden years’.

I personally am a very positive person, probably as a result of spending hours trying to master hula hoops in the 1950s. Yet even I felt initially despondent reading the revelations McKinsey’s research portrayed.

It seems that 60 percent of boomers won’t be able to maintain a lifestyle close to their current one without continuing to work, while a similar number already suffer from chronic health problems. More than 46 percent told researchers they feared ending up alone, and 43 percent are frustrated that they aren’t leading the lives they expected to.

Luckily for my own sense of wellbeing, the McKinsey research (bringing together economic forecasting, demographic modelling and market research) did manage to find grounds for optimism. As a generation that has rewritten the rules at every stage of our lives, we apparently feel resourceful and willing to change. Around 80 percent of those surveyed said they believe they can ‘survive anything that life throws at them’.

I’d love to hear what you feel about the ‘aging’ laying ahead, please leave your comments below.

Live long, live well, laugh a lot.