Growing old with more money to spend.

The baby boom generation is composed of Americans born between 1946 and 1964. Every eight seconds another boomer turns 50. That is 4 million per year. Today, adults age 50 and over represent 38% of the population of the United States, and that group will explode to 47% by 2020.

According to data collected by the Census Bureau and Federal Reserve, the 78 million Americans who were 50 or older as of 2001 controlled $28 trillion, or 67% of the country's wealth. In 2000 households with someone in the 55-to-64 age group had a median net worth of $112,048, about 15 times the $7,240 reported for adults under 35. Adults age 50 and over control more than $750 billion of all household discretionary income; mature consumers outspend young adults by a factor of two to one.