"We
are at the beginning of a new era, a lifestyle
revolution that will transform who we are and what
we do, as people and as consumers. The predictable
linear, chronological life pathways of past
generations -- from school, to marriage, to work, to
children, to retirement -- made sense when the
average human life span was shorter. Now, life
expectancy has soared to age seventy-seven and
promises to rise further, and we are starting to
make decisions based less on age and more on
lifestyle and life stage. Maddy Dychtwald, a leading
expert on generational marketing, offers a radical
new view of how Americans live, work, and buy
according to the new freedoms and responsibilities
of our shifting age demographics, and the staggering
implications for the marketplace, the workplace, and
our lives.
Longer, healthier lifetimes
have resulted in a dramatic change in the way we
perceive our options. Highly educated and
independent men and women are finding adventure,
challenge, connection, and a sense of purpose at all
ages. People now return to school at age thirty-five,
have children at forty-five, start new careers at
fifty, remarry at seventy. This cyclic approach to
life, Dychtwald observes, has begun to replace the
old linear path.
Drawing on her studies of
demographics, Dychtwald examines how age is becoming
less and less of a determining factor in our choices,
and less relevant to how we are defined in our own
eyes and by society at large. She brings into focus
the wealth of opportunities opened up by the new
cyclic approach. Providing examples of pioneers on
nonlinear life paths, the author explores
increasingly widespread phenomena such as lifelong
learning, serial careers, the revamped institutions
of marriage and the family, expanded recreational
pursuits, healthy aging, and
»nonretirement.«"
