The Boomerang Generation refers to those born in the 1970s and 1980s. So allegedly, these people are the children of baby boomers. But the term does not apply to all people in that age bracket. It more specifically refers to those who, due to economic conditions and challenges, are back at home with their parents, the senior citizen empty nesters. So the “boomerang” part of the phrase is quite clever.

However, the boomerang concept is not limited to the 70s and 80s groups. Everyone is at risk. With the business / corporate financial failures, mortgage crisis, layoffs, gas prices, etc, many who are trying to conserve their financial resources are forced to re-evaluate and revamp their living situations. I’ve thought about renting out a room in my house to tide me over until Noble & Associates Consulting and / or Noble Finances start bringing in some substantial revenues. And, sometimes it’s the senior citizens and retirees who are moving back with their children. So there are variations on the boomerang theme.

I’m not in touch with the economic situation in other countries. But. we in the United States need to pull together to help each other out. Just saw a video of the Donnie McClurkin story. Marvin Winans allowed McClurkin to stay in his house for months. But there comes a time, when helping becomes enabling. So McClurkin was kicked out. Each situation is different.

As Shakespeare says “The quality of mercy is not strained”.  When it becomes strained, it’s up to you to take the appropriate action.

Sandra Noble
NOBLE FINANCES
NOBLE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC

So, now I’m confessing. My blog post titled “Business People Over 50 – Who are we?” ended with the statement “no twittering for me”. Well, I’ve learned to never say never. I admit that I am now twittering or more correctly tweeting.

The younger set primarily uses text messaging to do their tweets. I turned that feature off on my phone. Since I have no texting capability, I assumed I would never do tweets. However, I discovered ping.fm. It allows me to use the internet to enter my tweets. And the beauty of ping.fm is that it sends my postings to multiple social networks.  So, my entries are simultateously sent Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, Plaxo Pulse and now Delicious. Ping.fm makes it easy to actively participate in the Web 2.0 social networks.

There are those who allegedly use Twitter for business. I’ve attended teleseminars on the business use of Twitter as well as on the business use of Facebook. Business people under age 50 are using Twitter and other social networks. I have my doubts about the participation of the over 50, senior citizen group. I’m on Twitter and I’m over 50. I’m making a concerted effort to keep up with web 2.0, internet marketing and other new technologues and techniques. The purpose for this blog is to share my journey with other AARP qualifiers. Hopefully, I can help ease the process for my contemporaries.

Not convinced about the benefits. But for now, I’m trying Twitter.

Sandra Noble
NOBLE FINANCES
NOBLE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC

Why?
Telecommunications used to be big in Atlanta. Telecommunications has taken a deep dive. And lots of other major employers in metropolitan Atlanta are faltering. And of course, the problem is not unique to Atlanta.

The three main effects of the recession or the financial downturns:
1) people are prematurely forced into requirement,
2) people are laid off and
3) pension funds and retirement accounts have lost value.

We’re not even going to talk about real estate, which in years past have been a source of funds for the senior citizen group. Our homes were the investments that were supposed to allow us to sustain ourselves after our working days were over. The equity that has been lost in our housing has forced the AARP aged folks to continue working to get the extra or essential spending money.

In an ideal world, many more would choose to retire. But the economic climate, both national and personal, removes some of the options. So I, as a late stage entrepreneur, am not alone in working long days and in pursuit of the dollar.
Sandra Noble
NOBLE FINANCES
NOBLE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC

Even when people are highly motivated, change can be stressful and scary. As we age and move into the over 50, senior citizen ranks, it is more difficult to change. The spirit may be willing, but the flesh is weak or inflexible. People issues have crippled project of all kinds project – whether technology or process, or organizational structure or management. Stress and post implementation distress must be expected and accommodated.

Bottom line: To make an organizational change successful, it has to be well planned, with simple steps that are well communicated.

See the July Newsletter for details about Michael Nearman of AGSI who addressed the June 2008 Atlanta SPIN (Software & Systems Process Improvement Network) meeting.

Sandra Noble
NOBLE FINANCES
NOBLE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC

Currently, there have been no abuses of this ruling. But, businesses should consider the impact of trade secrets and sensitive data being accessed and copied by customs agents and Homeland Security personnel. Should you leave home without your beloved electronic devices? Get POGO’s article.

Sandra Noble
NOBLE FINANCES
NOBLE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC

Found a kindred blog written by someone who appears to be from both Canada and the United States. She provides a definition of business baby boomers in the post What are Small Business Boomers?

Since I plan to live to age 120 or longer, I don’t personally think of myself as middle aged, let alone a senior citizen. Theoretically baby boomers can include some 40 something people.

But, I’m sticking with the AARP definition, because I think there is a technology and cultural divide that starts around age 50.

Do you know anyone over 50 who likes text messaging?
How many of the over 50s even utilize that tool?

An over 50 friend of mine told me that I could turn off the text messaging capability on my phone. Without delay, I got that done.

So no Twittering for me.
(And if you don’t know what that means, you’re one of us.)

Sandra Noble
NOBLE FINANCES
NOBLE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC

Read the whole ““Why Business Analysts Are So Important for IT and CIOs” article in CIO.com

Sandra Noble
NOBLE FINANCES
NOBLE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC

It doesn’t help to hear that Europeans and citizens of many other countries have long been faced with high gas prices. Or that, people in many countries are accustomed to spending much higher percentages of their incomes on necessities like food and clothing. Any decrease in standard of living is traumatic. The post World War II American dream was that the standard of living would be higher for our children. But that expectation is changing. All change requires adjustments. And the fear and stress associated with financial downturns can have profound effects on health and emotional well being.

As in software or technology implementations, satisfaction and success comes when the impacted people / users / employees embrace the changes. This is not automatic, especially in large scale implementations and projects. The consultants at Noble & Associates Consulting, Inc have found that change is rarely embraced unless change management programs have been put in place.

Americans who manage to still have adequate disposal incomes, are still vacationing. US travelers to Europe are shocked and disheartened by the lack of buying power of the US dollar. Other Americans are just bemoaning the fact that they either have less spending money or that the money they do have does not go as far.

So how can Europe be of benefit to the United States and it’s de facto recession economy? I saw a Managing Automation blog post about increased interest in procuring good, services and workers from the US. Due to close quarters and limited land mass, small cars have been in vogue in Europe. Our automakers are fighting for survival. As US automakers finally get on the fuel efficient bandwagon, perhaps they can sell more cars domestically and internationally. And, as suggested by the “Manufacturers Set to Take Advantage of the Downturn” article, perhaps the laid off engineer or executive should be floating their resumes overseas.

Sandra Noble
NOBLE FINANCES
NOBLE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC

Two or three years ago, I heard John Di Lemme speak. He’s a powerful speaker, motivator and success coach. He made his millions in multi-level marketing. At that point I was neutral about MLMs and even respected some of the people I knew in them. Then there was the onslaught of the YTBs – a travel MLM. But since I rarely take luxury vacations anymore, that had no appeal. But recently an old friend has a very upscale professional approach to YTB. Much more palatable, but still didn’t move me.

I think I’ve found an MLM that is different. No ordering, no inventory, no deliveries, no collections, no customer contracts, no customer risk. Sounds good to me. So, I’ve decided to let down my defenses and my disdain about network marketing income opportunities.

Sandra Noble
NOBLE FINANCES
NOBLE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC

I didn’t write them off altogether, since the benefit part was intriguing. Stories of writing off vacations and travel appealed to me. Not to mention the possibility of a big boost in my finances and financial situation. I even did a light weight query of some of my friends. All the ones who I thought would be good at it had already heard about it and or tried it.

At that time, MLMs were structure as the infamous “pyramid” structure. What that meant was that new people coming in could never make more than those above. Organizations with that structure were deemed illegal. And thus, they went away or were restructured.

One problem with MLMs is that the product costs are inflated to fuel the payouts to the independent marketers. And then there were the personal disasters I heard about. There was the scenario of people with garages full of product inventory that they could not sell. For couples (meaning married people) in the business, when the business failed, the marriages generally failed also.

But, there are people who swear by MLMs or network marketing. Not sure I have the personality for it.

Sandra Noble
NOBLE FINANCES
NOBLE & ASSOCIATES CONSULTING, INC