Starting about five years ago I began using the term “Income Generation” to describe the demographic encompassing my clients, prospective clients, and myself. To put it simply, the term refers to today’s generation of retirees and near-retirees. That means Baby Boomers but also older Gen Xers, who are also in their 50s now and nearing the age when they’ll need to start preparing for retirement income.

But what makes us the “Income Generation”? Why is it so important for our generation to understand the benefits of investing for income — more so than previous generations? I’ll answer those questions in this report while also sharing a host of facts and tips to help meet your own retirement income needs and goals.

The simple fact is, the Income Generation faces a host of unique challenges — meaning challenges different from those faced by our parents and grandparents. So, let’s start by talking about perhaps the trickiest of these challenges, which is the fact that we live so long.

Longevity
The average life expectancy today in the U.S. is 78.7 years, compared to 68.2 years in 1950. Advances in healthcare have made it possible for people to remain active and productive well past age 65. As a result, you might want to work well past that age, or not retire at all. This is all great on the one hand, but it can also lead to problems, mainly financial ones.

Be aware, if you’re a couple in your 60s today, statistically there is a 50% chance that at least one of you will live into your 90s. That means you need a strategy designed to help provide financial security and retirement income for up to 30 years. Not 20 years. Not 25, but 30 years. Now be aware that the average person is psychologically wired to think and plan no more than five to ten years into the future. And even the average financial advisor doesn’t see much further than that.