Baby Boomers Will Trigger Many Trends
Boomer companions/caregivers where chosen as one of the top jobs of the near future, as chosen by MSNBC. They’re absolutely right. In fact, the Boomers will trigger several huge trends that have already begun to reveal themselves and will be in full swing just 2 years from now.
There are 78 million Boomers, and in the next couple years many of them will be turning 65, making them eligible for Medicare. 78 million! To give you an idea of how many people that is, it is the same amount that live in our three most populated states:
The Baby Boomers are going to begin retiring and hitting up that Medicare. Expect a surge in age-related illness/treatments such as Alzheimer’s and Diabetes in the next couple years. But is that really all that 78 million people can give us?
Hell no. You see, these people will be retiring and that will set in motion oodles of trends.
To start, someone must fill their positions at the workplace as Baby Boomers are one third of America’s workforce. This is something I pointed out in a post about Generation X. Gen X is set to take over. Know their tendencies, likes, dislikes, whatever.
Second, these people may be retiring from their careers, but some (actually, I think most… and so does CNN) will move on to an every-day job… either by necessity to pay the bills, by choice to fill the time, or to fulfill their lifelong dream of starting a business. You should see a boom in the following industries due to retired Boomers:
- Senior job placement and training services. To help them find a job they’ll be happy with.
- Volunteer and non-profit (especially the Peace Corps). Now that they have the time, many will volunteer it.
- Consultants. Many of these seniors will become consultants for the very field they retired from.
- Temp Agencies. Many people turn to them, and Boomers like them because it’s most likely how they started.
- Houseboats. Both sales and rentals. Boomers love them and can now actually spend time in them.
- RV’s. Oh this will be big. You heard it here first: I don’t care about the gas crisis, Boomers LOVE their RV’s. Boomers love to travel, and they’ll do it in an RV.
Third, Boomers are going to want to live in their dream home. The key is WHERE their dream home is located. Like I said: they love to travel, so Boomers have timeshares, second homes and favorite vacation spots all across the U.S. These are the places they will want to move to. So where are these?
In no particular order:
- Flagstaff, AZ
- Tucson, AZ
- Sedona, AZ
- Palm Springs, CA
- San Diego, CA
- Lake Tahoe, CA
- Aspen, CO
- Boulder, CO
- Tampa, FL
- Port St. Lucie, FL
- Sarasota, FL
- Key West, FL
- Orlando, FL
- Boca Raton, FL
- Fort Myers, FL
- Cape Cod, MA
- Santa Fe, NM
- Las Vegas, NV
- Reno, NV
- Myrtle Beach, SC
- Hilton Head Island, SC
- U.S. Virgin Islands
- Anywhere Hawaii
- OK, anywhere Florida
- The Caribbean
Boomers already own timeshares or second homes in these cities. I feel there will be a significant surge in population in most, if not all, of these cities/places over the next couple years as the Boomers move in permanently. They are already familiar with them and will want to spend their remaining days, and money, in the place that most makes them happy. Expect healthy real estate markets in these cities.
I’m sure there are plenty more trends as 78 million people are bound to produce many. Are there any you can see the Boomers setting off?
What Careers Will Be Most Popular In 4 Years?
MSNBC has posted it’s top 10 hot jobs for 2012. One or two of these may be a bit of a reach, but I think they are certainly on to something on every single one of these. A couple may even ring a bell. That’s partially because I’ve already blogged about their industries.
- Organic food producers, retailers
- Computational biologists
- Parallel programmers
- Data technologists
- Simulation engineers
- Boomer companions, caregivers
- Genetic counseling
- Brain analysts
- Space tour guide (Blogged about it here)
- Robot builders, tenders (Blogged about it here)
Loads of opportunities for domainers here. I think if you focus a small portion of your portfolio to some of these you can’t go wrong.
Your Macs, iPods And iPhones Are Now Being Targeted
11 posts on the front page of Domaining.com are reporting the sale of Property.com.
Not here! I have a Mac trend instead!
One of the main draws for Macs is the sense of security that you have in that malware is designed for Windows. Combine that with the halo effect (iPod, iPhone) and you have about 8% of computer users on macs.
And they’re just going on with their malware-free happy lives.
Not so fast.
You see, these people who were fed up with the viruses and spyware on their PCs moved on to Macs. Only… it was their OWN computing habits that got them the malware. It was their downloading of p0rn and pirated software. It was their not having a firewall or anti-virus software. It was their not running anti-malware or anti-spyware software. It was their own fault for not taking preventative action and being reckless of the tubes.
Virus programmers realize this and are starting to target Macs because the users are easy victims. For example, a Mac trojan came out in June and is capable of doing everything a PC trojan can do, such as stealing passwords and opening firewalls. So are the Mac’s OS’s really more secure than Windows? Or is it that no one really paid attention until fairly recently?
So here we are in the third week of July and Apple STILL has not fixed the security issue.
But that’s not all! Your iPods and iPhones are vulnerable too! With the ever increasing popularity of these two gadgets, the probability of malware grows higher.
Don’t worry though, just visit your favorite Mac site that focuses on security issues like malware. Oh noes!! Where the hell are you going to find one?
There’s your opportunity.
With Macs being targeted and the vulnerabilities of the iPod and iPhone, now is the time to prepare for it. Sites will need to be built to provide Mac users with the proper downloads and content on how to protect themselves from malware.
You can build them yourself, or sell them some domain names.
Forbes Publishes Real Estate List, Geodomainers Find Mother Of All Affiliate Sites
Forbes has published its top 10 U.S. housing markets for investment. Such lists from sites of authority help you make an informed decision when buying domains, especially geodomains.
The article cites the U.S. as the top nation for international real estate investment. The increase is expected to be about 16% from last year; 16% of $230 billion is nothing to scoff at. Foreign investors, like those from Australia, are taking advantage of a low U.S. dollar and are pouring money into U.S. real estate markets.
The article also states that these investors aren’t necessarily focusing on houses or single apartments, but have bigger aspirations. They’re buying up entire office buildings and apartment buildings.
If you want to cover an outside-the-box real estate niche, build your site with foreign investors in mind. There are actually more revenue opportunities by doing this.
- Flights. These investors will need to fly to the U.S.
- Hotels. They will need to stay somewhere.
- Restaurants. They will need to eat somewhere.
- Learn English CDs/books. They may need to brush up or learn it all together.
Adding flights, hotels and restaurants to real estate is the jackpot of all affiliate sites.
Without further ado, the top 10 U.S. housing markets for investment:
10- Orlando
9- Phoenix
8- Las Vegas
7- Chicago
6- Boston
5- Seattle
4- San Francisco
3- Los Angeles
2- Washington DC
1- New York
The Asian and European investors prefer the areas along the coasts, which is obviously reflected in the list itself.
This is a wonderful niche for geodomainers. Finding a good domain name may prove difficult, as these are major cities and the quality domain names are already snatched up. But when you add the foreign investment angle, you may have an easier time finding one that will suit your needs.
Luxurious Trend For The Geodomainer
There isn’t a huge market for buying or renting private islands. However, it is a highly targeted consumer. And when someone has that much money, the money doesn’t even matter.
Just about everyone has had the fantasy at some point in their lives of owning their own island. Celebrities such as Richard Branson, David Copperfield, Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio (and his eco-resort) have been in the news recently regarding their own private islands.
Of course, owning an island isn’t neccessarily new as celebrities and millionaires have been buying them for a long time. If you would like to buy one, then you should read this how-to guide. The growing trend is actually renting private islands (or parts of them) for weddings, secluded romantic getaways and parties.
A couple articles/sites worth researching:
- 10 private islands you can’t afford to live on
- Forbes most expensive islands of 2007
- Private Islands Online
- Private Islands Blog
Good luck finding any private island/resort affiliate plans; I couldn’t find any. The way to monetize this would be to list these islands with reviews, and sign up with a flight affiliate.