Marketing to older audiences. Myths and Legends - Part One

Just how wealthy are 'older people' ?

The statement that 'older people hold 80% of the UK's wealth' is repeatedly quoted as though it were an incontrovertible fact requiring no substantiation or support. In fact, it seems to have become an accepted myth: if you read an article on the subject of marketing and older people, there is a very good chance you will read this 'fact'.

The most recent example of this is in the current 'engage' newsletter, issued by Age Concern and Help the Aged. This introduces recent research conducted by 20plus30 and Mature Marketing into older consumers and the recession. Both newsletter and research report boldly assert (without referencing a source) that: 'Despite older people holding 80% of savings and investment assets...'

Our own extensive review of data and research relating to older people (available at no charge via www.rhcadvantage.co.uk) could find no support for this assertion. There is some evidence that older people hold a disproportionate amount of wealth - however, it is also claimed (by Age Concern / Help the Aged) that over 2 million older people live in poverty. Where a source is given, it is often either vague ('according to a report from the Henley Centre') or attributed to a secondary source (for example, the only publicly-available data from Age Concern/Help the Aged on this subject references a book - 'Older, Richer, Fitter' - published in 2005).

Probably the most extensive, thorough and impressive research programme ever conducted in this area was the COI 'Common Good' research project (2006). This commented on the "statistic" of older people holding 80% of the UK's wealth as follows: 'there is insufficient data available to support this apparent fact and we have been unable to find support for it."

Can anyone provide a definitive - by which I mean primary, and reputable - source for this alleged 'fact', please? Or, may I suggest that it is no longer used, and we find some more accurate, meaningful and properly sourced facts to put into the public domain? If we are to overcome the inherent ageism of UK society and business, and the many incorrect assumptions held about older people, we must not fall into the same trap (by propagating allowing our own inaccurae information to be propagated). And in any case, why should 'wealth' be allowed to become the most important 'fact'? Wealth is relevant only if one can establish a direct relationship between wealth and expenditure.