My good friend and colleague, Lynda Smith, sent me an article recently that got me thinking about how companies and countries need to have strategy for the ageing Baby Boomers. Lynda runs an excellent consulting firm, The Refirement Network, that focuses on this issue, and additionally helps those facing retirement to think about it differently (hence the name of her business).

The article she sent me (read it here) highlighted research that placed South Africa in the top ten best retirement destinations in the world. The particular slant of the article was to indicate that this would result in upward pressure on suitable house prices. But there’s more to it than that.

Companies in areas, regions and countries that are good retirement destinations should strategise about the products and services that retirees of the future will demand. This is everything from high tech setups in their homes together with technical support services, to healthcare and wellness issues. A quick moment of pondering adds so many other items to the list, including education (yes, the 65+ market is ripe for continuing education), transport, financial advice, providing the luxuries and nostalgic items from their home countries, entertainment, security and so much more.

The SA government should be marketing South Africa as an attractive retirement destination, as should the coastal cities in the country. And businesses should be gearing themselves up for this too.

What are you doing?

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