S2-EP4: Aging Myths & Misconceptions and How They Translate Into a Missed Market Opportunity
SUMMARY
What if more people recognized that those 50 and up are a vast, diverse and untapped source of potential dollar revenue as well as being overlooked contributors to society? That was the topic of a NEXT FOR ME event in New York City on Oct. 7, 2019: “Myths & Misconceptions: The Truth About 50+ Consumers.” The event was co-hosted by Stria News, Silvernest, and this podcast.
EPISODE NOTES
Recently, this podcast was invited co-host a NEXT FOR ME event in NYC called “Myths & Misconceptions: The Truth About 50+ Consumers.” [Full disclosure: NFM is a sponsor of this podcast.] The other co-hosts were Stria News and Silvernest. Stria News is a media platform for the longevity market that inspires cross-sector solutions for our aging society. Silvernest is an online service that pairs boomers, retirees and empty nesters with compatible housemates for long-term home sharing.
The event took place at Trove Social, a social club for people in their prime, in lower Manhattan. About 50 people attended, all of whom are active in one way or another with the midlife reinvention movement. That included members of the media, marketers, entrepreneurs and consumers.
The goal was to discuss, honestly and openly, the myths and misconceptions surrounding the age 50+ demographic and how this translates into a lost market opportunity. And to bust those myths. You’re probably familiar with a lot of them:
- Older people are grumpy.
- Older people hate technology and don’t use it.
- Older people don’t spend money.
- Older people don’t have sex… and they don’t want to.
- Older people have less to contribute.
The underlying question: what if more people recognized that those 50 and up are a vast, diverse and untapped source of potential dollar revenue as well as being overlooked contributors to society?
Some of us might still be having sex while others don’t. Some of us love technology and the latest iPhone while others tolerate it or ignore it. The point is that the millions of members of this age 50-plus demographic are all different. And yet we all seem to be confronted with the same ageist attitudes and the same misconceptions about who we are as individuals.
In this episode Debbie chats with Jeff Tidwell, co-founder of Next For Me. This is a follow-up to Debbie’s conversation with Jeff in EP8 of Season 1. She also talks to Susan Donley, founder, publisher and CEO of Stria News, and to Wendi Burkhardt, co-founder and CEO of Silvernest.
PHOTO: Debbie, left, and Wendi Burkhardt of Silvernest.
Mentioned in the episode
- Next For Me’s Oct. 7, 2019 event in NYC
- “An Unabashedly Honest Conversation on the Realities of Aging” (article in Stria News by Carolyn Jacobs on Oct. 21, 2019)
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Credits:
- Host: Debbie Weil
- Producer: Far Out Media
- Music: Lakeside Path By Duck Lake
Connect with us:
- Email: [email protected]
- Twitter: @debbieweil
- Insta: @debbieweil
- Debbie and Sam's blog: Gap Year After Sixty
Thanks to our media partners
Encore.org, our newest media partner, is an ideas and innovation hub tapping the talent of those 50+ as a force for good. Founder and CEO Marc Freedman is an award-winning social entrepreneur and author, most recently, of How to Live Forever: The Enduring Power of Connecting the Generations. Looking for a great gap-year transition program? Check out Encore Fellowships, which match skilled, seasoned professionals with social-sector organizations in high-impact, paid assignments.
Modern Elder Academy is a program dedicated to navigating mid-life transitions. MEA, based in Baja California, Mexico, provides the place and the tools to start reframing your lifetime of experience. Grow whole, not old. Founder Chip Conley is a New York Times bestselling author, award-winning hospitality entrepreneur and a rock star of the mid-life transition movement. His newest book is Wisdom @ Work: the Making of a Modern Elder.
Next For Me is an important new resource for the 50+ crowd focused on rewriting life. Taking a gap year or timeout may be the best way to figure out "what's next" when you're in this stage of life. Founder Jeff Tidwell explains, Next For Me "connects and inspires our generation to evolve our post-50 lives through new work, a new purpose, or a new social contribution."