Baby Boomers

The greatest transfer of wealth in history has just begun. Beyond the inheritance of the Rockefeller progeny, thousands of times greater than the Fords or Carnegies, the baby boomers are beginning to inherit the wealth that their parents accumulated.How large a pie is that? Baby boomers, those over-studied, over-taxed and over-stressed Americans between the ages of 30 and 45, stand to collect more than $6.8 trillion from their parents.This impending transfer of wealth has many implications for charity.

Baby boomers have lived through the assassinations of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Martin Luther King Jr., the race to the moon and the Communist threat, Watergate and a few wars. Along the way, most became comfortable using computers and the Internet. Now, as they ease into their golden years, they'll be part of another change: They'll be the first generation who can apply for their Social Security benefits completely online. Yesterday, the Social Security Administration announced that people who reach retirement age, as early as 62, can go to the federal agency's Web site and fill out a benefits application.

WASHINGTON - The time when aging baby boomers will place an overwhelming demand on the United States' long-term care system might be more than two decades away, a report released yesterday said. Improved socioeconomic conditions and higher education levels among the baby boom generation have contributed to a decrease in disability rates, according to the report by AARP, the nation's largest lobbying group for older people. Previous studies had predicted a substantial increase in demand for long-term support services as the 76 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 reach the ages of 75 to 80. The oldest baby boomers will reach age 75 in 2021.

Susan Reimer 's recent column on Social Security Dilemma completely missed the mark ("Don't blame boomers for Social Security dilemma," April 22). Neither Baby Boomers nor the lack of new workers has anything to do with the current Social Security dilemma. The problem lies with Congress and the politicians in Washington. Social Security was originally set up in the 1930s as a "pay as you go" retirement system. Money was collected from workers and supposedly invested and saved for their retirement.

Eric Liu, conscientious twentysomething, was reading a Washington newspaper when he came across yet another story slamming his generation.Loser, it virtually screamed.And that was it. Mr. Liu decided he'd had enough of the stereotypes. He wasn't undirected or misguided or devoid of any sense of fun. He wasn't a slacker, either. "There was no one answering back," he says. "No one from my generation was telling the mainstream press 'This isn't right. It's inaccurate. It's not fair.' "So, on a gamble, he withdrew his post-college life savings -- $2,000 -- and with the help of some writer friends started his own magazine to make things right.

Remember the days when a dollar bought more than a candy bar and Fred and Wilma were the hottest couple on television? When life was simple and Bugs Bunny was as cool as bell-bottoms?Cartoon characters like the Flintstones, the Jetsons and Bugs were big hits with baby boomers then, and still are. That's why the Deluxe Corp. is targeting boomers with its Stars collection check package, which is available through participating financial institutions.Deluxe is banking on checks featuring cartoon and comic strip characters B. C., Bugs Bunny and Friends, the Flintstones, Ziggy, Garfield, the Jetsons and the Simpsons.

Those ads: Americans may not trust advertisements, but they like watching or reading them, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In surveying more than 1,000 adults, the researchers found that 52 percent like to look at most ads they're exposed to, but the same number believe that ads cannot be trusted. Also, Generation Xers like ads more than baby boomers and older Americans.Not like mom's: The home-cooked meal continues to become a thing of the past, according to the NPD Group, a market research firm based on New York's Long Island.

Mutual fund companies and their fund investors have enjoyed a booming stock market together with the historic shift toward individual investing.At least one of those two trends is headed inexorably toward a major change that will alter the face of fund investing and might disrupt investing relationships that have developed in recent years.Whether the current bull market in stocks ever ends, the clock is ticking on the ability and willingness of baby boomers to invest at the levels they are today.

Hollywood -- Shari Lewis describes her new PBS children's series, "Lamb Chop's Play Along," as the first "anti-couch potato" show."This is totally an audience participation program," Ms. Lewis said. "The audience gets to participate physically, vocally, musically and imaginatively. They get to join in the songs, the games, the stories. They get to hop along and sing along and count along."It may be difficult for most baby boomers to believe, but the diminutive Ms. Lewis, who turns 58 this week, and her beloved puppets, Lamb Chop, Charlie Horse and Hush Puppy, have been entertaining children for more than 30 years.

A 10,000-square-foot house. Say that to yourself a couple of times, just to let it sink in. The average square footage of a new American house is 2,300, and there are plenty of 4,000- and 5,000-square-foot residences overwhelming their undersize lots. But 10,000 square feet? (Actually, 9,842 square feet air-conditioned; 13,035 total, including outdoor living space.) Here's the best way to describe it: You invite a couple of hundred people to a party, and the house is so spacious that someone can find a room to be alone in for five minutes.