Grandparents are showering their favorite grandchildren with a whole lot of love and presents.
According to a New York marketing and demographics firm, people in the 45-to-69 age bracket spent more than $8 billion in gifts and goodies for their grandchildren last year. According to Packaged Facts of New York, this age group controls $160 billion, or half of the disposable income in the United States, and is growing by 75,000 people each month.In contrast, the 77 million Generation Xers, age 14 to 33, purchase about $125 billion in goods each year.
Meanwhile, the median net worth of older households was $73,500 in 1988. Net worth was below $10,000 for 17 percent of older households and above $250,000 for 14 percent. Median income of older people in 1993 was $15,000 for men, $8,500 for women.