What is Retirement Research

One of the most ignored markets in global industries is the retired/old-age bracket.  By saying that this market is “ignored,” the implication is that it is untapped.  Thus, marketers and businessmen alike must identify this market as a large opportunity for products and marketing strategies.  However, it is inherently difficult to find out what is going on in a sixty or seventy year old mind.  Marketers and businessmen can think and speculate all they want about what the retired market wants/needs but the fact of the matter is that only cold, hard market research can come up with any concrete trends in the interests of the elderly. 

Where can one find these market studies? Surely there is a better way to go about this than paying $600 per article to worldwide statistics and marketing groups such as Euromonitor™? There are several ways of coming up with data for the elderly market and there are free goodwill sites that actually care and nurture the elderly where data can be gathered by well-intentioned marketers and product developers. 

Retirement Study Projects

There are several retirement research projects that conduct their studies and publications online.  One of the most famous ones is The Retirement Research Foundation™ found at http://rrf.org/.  The foundation has existed for twenty-five years and has invested approximately $160,000,000 in retirement research.  The RRF doesn’t study retired people for market research or business plans, but because of their genuine moral concern for the ageing people of society and their ever-changing issues in life.  The foundation exists to allow development of improved services and care for the elderly and to seek and research information about diseases that are prevalent in the elderly population.  They will surely allow for some of their research to be attained by companies seeking to help their plight. 

Several American universities also conduct retirement research programs.  The general mission of these studies is to improve society and the continuous social interaction between the ageing population and the rest of the population.  Some universities study the needs of the elderly while some study the policies needed to achieve better the general welfare of the aged. 

More Retirement Study Projects

A good, free and well-meaning source of information is the Center for Retirement Research in Boston College™.  The mission of the Center for Retirement Research is dual – to address issues of the elderly and to closely watch the policies concerning the aged such as pension.  The website http://crr.bc.edu/index.php contains several research articles and percentages that concern the old-age bracket.  This research could prove to be useful for deciphering the wants and needs of the aged as well as the needs of the industries that cater to them. 

A reliable site for retirement research is the Retirement Research Center in the University of Michigan™.  The center is more closely studying the policies regarding the elderly and the general coherence and harmony of society.  The website features newsletters, policy briefs, working papers and events regarding the elderly population in society.  The website is also linked to resources on the elderly in Federal Government Sites and in the University of Michigan™ database itself.  The information in the site is overflowing and it should be a goldmine for free information about the issues and interests of the elderly population.  The website can be visited at http://www.mrrc.isr.umich.edu/.

There is also a retirement research division within the National Bureau of Economic Research™, although it looks as if it is still a growing endeavor.  The Center is funded by the Social Security Administration™ and is part of its Retirement Research consortium.  Therefore this site must be watched as it may become a valuable future resource.  The website is at:

http://www.nber.org/programs/ag/rrc/. 

Why Study Retirement and the Retired?

As was mentioned earlier, the elderly claim a significant piece of the market.  A popular example of an industry that benefits from the old people would be the real estate industry in the Florida area.  Retirement research is definitely profitable and must be taken into account by any entrepreneur or marketer when making important decisions about products and industries. 

However, as we see in most of the websites, giving much attention to the elderly can also be considered a vocation.  One can actually start a career with enough knowledge about the elderly and the retired.  Service employees can definitely gain something from this as there is a large demand for people who can take care of the old.  There is something to be learned from the way old people act and it would help caretakers, nurses and even doctors to their jobs better. 

Therefore, retirement research does not exist just for the interests of the marketers and industry moguls but also for those who truly care about the welfare of the elderly.  Of course, there is always a chance that a holistically well-meaning product appears and takes advantage of the retirement research to vastly improve the lives of the elderly while making a good profit in the process.