If you are a boomer (born between 1946 and 1964) you will definitely be hitting age 65 by 2030. Unfortunately, if you are a boomer and you think you will take your well earned retirement and live the high life you may be in for a surprise because we predict the future will be slow.
The key problem as we have written about many times is that there aren’t enough people to back fill the retiring boomers. Here is a case in point, CNBC is reporting of massive airline pilot shortages. Because of covid and the drop in air travel, airlines offered retirement packages to many pilots and many of the pilots decided to retire. Travel is now back up but there is no way to get those retired pilots back.
“The pilot shortage for the industry is real, and most airlines are simply not going to be able to realize their capacity plans because there simply aren’t enough pilots, at least not for the next five-plus years,” United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said on a quarterly earnings call in April. Kirby estimated the regional airlines United works with currently have about 150 airplanes grounded because of the pilot shortage.
CNBC
So what does a pilot shortage mean? Well it means there won’t be enough flights to take people where they want to go and that it turn means waiting for a flight to be available to get you where you need to go.
The problem doesn’t stop with pilots, there are shortages of nurses, teachers, doctors, judicial officers, and on and on. There will be long wait times for court appointments, medical visits, educational entry, travel, dining and more.
So what can a retiring boomer do? The best thing to do is have sufficient funds to pay a premium for guaranteed service. Airline customers that have “premium” status on airlines will likely get a guaranteed flight where as other will have to wait. We expect all service models to change into a tiered system of perhaps bronze, gold, and platinum where platinum members received top priority service.
Alternatively, someone that doesn’t want to sacrifice on amenities and wait should consider relocating to another country with a younger population.
Stay tuned and stay solvent.