Senior Citizens Are Big Spenders Too, Finds New Study By Agewell Foundation

Senior citizens are emerging as a prominent consumer group in India with improved purchasing power, a new study by Agewell Foundation has found.

Family visits to the mall are no longer restricted to just younger people reaching for their wallets. A new study by Agewell Foundation has revealed that grandmothers and grandfathers are spending well too.

Titled Changing Patterns of Income & Expenditure of Older People in India: An Assessment, the nationwide study by Agewell Foundation revealed that elders are increasingly becoming open to spending money and even using accumulated savings. The study noted that one-fifth of the elderly population took up jobs or other income-generating engagements as their main source of earnings. However, monthly pension remained the primary source of income for 60.4 per of elders.

About 20 per cent elders interviewed for the study said their main source of income was money earned in the form of rental from their land/house properties and interest on investments.

Other sources contributing to senior citizens’ incomes included land properties (65.5 per cent), house property (74.5 per cent), or some kind of investments (41.42 per cent). Fifty per cent senior citizens had jewellery and other valuable ornaments, and 48.5 per cent had other valuable properties as a source of income.

The study also highlighted the various income categories of older people. While 32 per cent were found earning between Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 20,000 every month, 27 per cent said they earned more than Rs. 20,000. Every fifth elderly interviewed earned a monthly income between Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 10,000.

Despite the earnings and investments, older people are not spending the majority of their income on shopping, travel or other leisure activities. The study found that a large chunk of senior citizens’ earnings (31%) was spent on medical expenses. About 90 per cent of the respondents termed health care related requirements as their major need.

Despite the non-surprising revelation about health, the study goes a long way in proving the purchasing power of the senior demographic, whose numbers will rise to 143 million by 2021 in India, according to reports. Himanshu Rath, Chairman of the Agewell Foundation, said with the increasing purchasing power of the older persons, the survey pointed out the need to give them due importance in marketing and advertising strategies.

“With changing patterns of income-expenditure in old age, role of older persons in today’s market-oriented economy is becoming more significant with every passing day. They are not only growing in numbers and living for longer years, but they are also emerging as influential consumer/buyers section now,” he said.

For the survey, a nationally representative sample of 10,000 older persons was formed and elderly respondents were interviewed by Agewell volunteers spread across the country from March-April 2018.

This study will certainly work towards changing perceptions of the spending habits of older consumers in the near future.