Firms waking up to the 'charmed generation'

UK businesses are waking up to the spending power of around two million over 55 year olds with the highest disposable income of any other consumer group, the Royal Mail claims.

The "charmed generation" is estimated to have a net capital worth of around £1bn, it said, a level of wealth not expected to be achieved by future generations.

Royal Mail found that the group spends the most on luxury goods and services, making over half of all new car purchases, taking 37% more holidays a year than any other age range and increasingly becoming a source of finance and buying influence for their children and grandchildren's purchasing.

"This group of cash-rich consumers has evolved as a result of affordable housing in the 1960s, with properties significantly appreciating in value over the decades," it said.

The report that a 15% rise in the level of direct mail being targeted at this age group shows that UK businesses are waking up to the spending potential of the charmed generation.

"I find it incredible that a lot of advertising and marketing activity is directed towards what is now coined the iPod generation, when in fact iPod should stand for insecure, pressured, over-stretched and debt-ridden," said Dick Stroud, managing director of 20plus30 Consulting, which carried out the research.

Alex Batchelor, marketing director of Royal Mail, said that businesses should be investing time on understanding the motivations of the older group, and identifying effective ways to market to them.

"Over the next decade the number of people aged 50-69 will in increase twice as fast as those aged 18-34," he said. "Consequently, there has never been a better time for businesses to start engaging with this enormously profitable market."