Being 'time affluent' the overlooked asset of older consumers? Good report from Agewave.

This report from Agewave has some fascinating numbers about the difference between the generations, not in their income, not in their wealth but in the amount of their time they control. In particular the amount of time they can spend on 'leisure'  - not a word that has a single definition.

It is all obvious stuff but this report presents it in a very engaging way. As soon as you start thinking about the difference between consumers in terms of the time they control it sparks a whole range of new marketing ideas.

A couple of Dick Stroud caveats.

I can be older and have a lot of time but not the disposable income to do much with it.

I can be older and have a lot of time but not be in a state of health that enables me to do much with it. Consider this statistic. In the UK the difference between in life expectancy of parts of London and Glasgow it 10 years.  Worse still, there are parts of the UK where the difference between the period of disability-free life expectancy is 18 years. Yep, get your head around the fact that females in Glasgow City, only live to the age of 55, before they suffer major disabilities.

Finally, if you look at the final chart in this blog you will see that a lot of spare time that older people have is spent sitting in front of the TV. Is this 'leisure' - guess it is.

The report also has research about the desire for experiences over stuff. This is well documented but worth repeating.

That all said, the concept of being 'time affluent' is fascinating as long as you remember the caveats. Dick Stroud