When boomers were getting married (for the first time) in the sixties and seventies, we were encouraged to buy quality furniture, good china, silverware, and the best of whatever we could afford. Affordability was certainly a determining factor and a highly subjective metric, but we did the best we could with the funds available to us. It came as a surprise to me when, now that I’m in my fourth quarter, I recently started questioning the true value of quality.

These days, we’ve come to realize our valued possessions are basically worthless. No one wants our good china, our antique dining room suite, or our silverware. Many of us have already packed up decades of treasures and left them at various charity shops, drop boxes, or, sadly, the dump. Perhaps we’re downsizing, purging, and generally lightening our load of worldly goods after feeling encumbered by the weight of all that “stuff”.

Young people today opt for instant gratification. That usually spells cheap and disposable. I’m beginning to see some merit in that mindset. Even though I’m loath to add to the scourge of landfills, I find myself looking at my dining room suite, my silverware, and other things that I saved for and treasured for years, and I question the wisdom of investing in those things. In retrospect, I think my money would have been better spent on trips abroad, on girls’ spa weekends, and on contributing to my RRSPs.

The Reward

The beauty of saving money from an early age is that when you reach the point of mid-life disillusionment and exhaustion (usually coinciding with menopause), the feeling of having a nest egg instead of a heart-stopping Visa bill is a lifesaver. That stash means we have options—a get-out-of-jail-free card. We may have fewer and less expensive consumer goods, but that nest egg provides the freedom to perhaps step away from a job that is grinding us down or end a relationship that leaves us unhappy and unfulfilled. It could give us the freedom to redirect our lives.

Fashions come and go. This is also true for home goods, personal priorities, and lifestyle choices. That designer watch I spent a week’s salary on in the 80s went out of fashion and didn’t tell time any better than a cheap fashion watch or the clock on the wall. It wasn’t worth the money I spent, and while I did enjoy it for a few years, I sold it on Poshmark for a fraction of what I had paid. Bad investment. Out of sight, out of mind.

The harsh truth is . . . we get tired of things. I now find myself questioning every purchase I make. I avoid malls and window shopping because I already have more than I need. That, and online shopping are why mall space is largely vacant these days. Much as I love my furniture and my handbags, were they ultimately worth it? Would that money have been better invested in a trip to France or Italy? I’m beginning to see the light. While I enjoy what I have, paying more attention to the middle ground when I was younger might have been a better choice.

Facing Facts

Baby boomers must now reckon with the fact that we’re approaching the time of life when we will soon need assisted living, and if we want the advantages of private care, we will need big bucks. Ten thousand dollars a month for private care is not uncommon in major urban centres, especially if someone in the family has special medical needs. We can blow through our life savings pretty fast at that rate. I hope that liquidating my current assets will provide me with a comfortable suite in a private facility that serves above-average meals, and offers a steady supply of free ice cream, streaming services and WiFi. Hopefully, there will be enough left over to buy myself a good bottle of Pinot Grigio to share with my boomer gal pals when we get together for afternoon gossip and drinkies.

It’s too late to correct any reckless spending in my younger days, but it’s not too late to make sure I can afford decent accommodation in private care when I need it. Those carefully-accumulated RRSPs are going to be a lot more valuable and meaningful than that designer bag collecting dust at the top of my closet, or the silverware (silver-plated, of course) that never gets used. In retrospect, perhaps I should have been more resistant to the pull of consumerism in my younger days, but as boomers, we thought we were going to live forever. A bit more balance might have been advisable. Sometimes investing in quality with a higher price tag is warranted, but more often, good value might be a better metric—except for mattresses and shoes. Even good mattresses have a fixed lifespan. My feet, however, are important and worth the cost of industrial-strength arch supports, quality materials, and workmanship.

The boomer generation has always been self-sufficient and we have taken care of ourselves without leaning on our parents for financial support when we became adults. While I did enjoy those lovely consumer goods over the years, I’m so glad I also took trips, created memories, and developed valuable friendships and experiences when I was younger. I’ve reached the age when quality is a questionable buying criterion. These days, I’m prioritizing my future comfort in a private seniors’ facility that provides quality food and free WiFi, over pretty baubles. My quality of life is my priority now. Are you satisfied with the choices you made?