Episode 49: Tom Egelhoff – “OK Boomer”

Author and radio host Tom Egelhoff is no stranger to change. Over the 77 years he’s spent on this planet, he’s weathered periods of poverty and prosperity, wartime and peace. He’s seen technology shift the landscape of communication and watched medical innovation extend the lives and livelihoods of the nearly five generations that have come since his birth. He’s witnessed many of the defining failures and triumphs of this country’s history—assassinations, explorations, recession and expansion.

While the country teeters on the edge of the largest wealth transfer in its history as aging boomers and traditionalists pass along financial assets estimated in excess of $68 trillion to their progeny, further polarizing the haves and the have-nots and reinforcing unparalleled income inequality, Egelhoff laughs at the worries. A staggering wave of homes and businesses is predicted to hit the market over the next 20 years, but Egelhoff smiles at the financially apocalyptic predictions. The solutions will come when they are necessary, “but they will come in their own time,” as they always have.

In this podcast, Interchange Founder Tate Chamberlin and guest Tom Egelhoff attempt to reconcile the assumptions and concerns – absolutes and possibilities – surrounding baby boomers’ social, political and economic legacy and its impact on generations to come.