Social researcher Neer Korn has offered fascinating insights into next wave of retirees in Australia ahead of the National Retirement Living Summit this coming November, giving advice that retirement village operators and lifestyle providers will have to change their attitudes towards retirement to keep up with the new breed of the ageing population.

Korn suggests that Baby Boomers will be reinventing the definition of retirement as they age. “Older Australians, especially those that lived through the Great Depression and war years, expected to grow old gracefully, shut away from society. But Baby Boomers have always had a different attitude. They intend to age disgracefully, ” he says.

This means that the evolving group of ageing Australians will have demands to meet a dynamic lifestyle expectation that includes intergenerational interaction, continuing work in a part-time or consulting capacity, and most importantly, a place to live in an inner-city cafe culture setting, close to family and friends.

Korn predicts a ‘revolution in retirement villages’ which will mean reimagining bricks-and-mortar buildings and how they are marketed, adding that retirement village operators should avoid advertising that emphasises ‘bingo, bowls and couples holding hands on the beach.’

“Because old people fall into a stereotype, and when they have been ageing in a certain way for generations it’s hard to challenge the stereotype. What we are seeing is a revolution.”

This revolution will bring with it 100-year-olds running marathons, climbing Mt Everest and touring with rock bands. While this may seem surprising at first, meeting this market is where the future of retirement living will be found.