The greying of Mickey Mouse

A short supply of kids but a plentiful supply of oldies means if you are Walt Disney you need to take some drastic action.

With Japan's birthrate in decline, Disney has accepted the stark economics of the new market: the largest group of customers with the money and the time to spend a day on Splash Mountain or Pooh's Hunny Hunt is mostly retired.

To entice this burgeoning segment of society on to the rides the company is offering a cut-price season ticket for the over-60s and has made older people the park's new “core target”.

This got me to thinking of what other kids products might be re-positioned for their grandparents. Baby buggies morph into wheelchairs? I wonder what the makers of Barbie Dolls will do? Dick Stroud

Savings company believes we should save more - Wow

According to ‘research’ (GFK NOP), the median sum of savings and investments accumulated by people in the UK aged 50 years old is £7,179. That is a scary number, a very scary number.

On the back of this data the head of savings at Abbey, said: "Although the over 50s have been one of the most successful generations, many people need to save more to achieve a good retirement"?

So what did Abbey do to help out: "We launched our 50+ Saver account to reward those over 50 who want to save more."

It is great to know that the UK has such concerned financial services companies.

The serious point to this item is the huge disparity in savings (as distinct to property) wealth amongst the UK’s 50-plus. Dick Stroud

What will happen to all the dankai no sedai’s cash?

A good question.

I bet you didn't know that the Japanese for Baby Boomer is dankai no sedai.

This article is written by an American and looks at what life holds in store for the dankai no sedai and how companies might encourage them to part with their hard earned dosh. Dick Stroud