Survey finds baby boomers high on life

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The Age of Aquarius has become the age of responsibility, according to a new poll released by the Pew Research Center, which reveals that all of those former hippies are filled with optimism and some down-to-earth maturity.

"The generation whose iconic youthful rallying cry was to 'never trust anyone over 30' apparently doesn't feel so bad about approaching a chronological milestone twice that number," the poll stated.

Indeed, attitudes among the 75 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 reveal a fairly contented group, almost four decades after the countercultural upheavals of hippie communes and campus revolts.

The survey, released Thursday, found 72 percent were "very satisfied" with their family life, and 18 percent said they were "somewhat satisfied" with life at home. Only 9 percent were dissatisfied to any degree.

And for all the 1960s-era hoopla about sexual revolution, the generation managed to follow a traditional path: 89 percent got married, with 51 percent saying they married only once and 38 percent saying they married more than once. Seven out of 10 are married, while only 10 percent never wed. Seventy-one percent have at least one parent living, and 83 percent have children.

But life is complicated.

"At a time in life when many are looking ahead to their own retirement, boomers are likely either to have parents who are still living, children who are still young or adult children who are still in need of financial support," according to the survey.

As parents, they are a fairly generous group, with 33 percent saying they have provided primary financial assistance to at least one adult child.

Two-thirds said that paying for a child's college education was a parental responsibility, and one-third said an adult child should be able to live at home if the need arose.

Fifty-six percent said they would take in an elderly parent. About 30 percent have given financial aid to a parent.

But there were some limits on good will. The poll also revealed that only 27 percent think it is their responsibility to hand down money to their children, and just 29 percent said it is the role of grandparents to help with their grandchildren.

The poll also found the group to be "cautiously" optimistic about retirement: 26 percent expect to live comfortably, 29 percent will "meet expenses with a little left over," and 24 percent will meet just basic living expenses. Seventeen percent do not have enough for the basics.

The generation is counting on 401(k) plans to get by, with 49 percent relying on that source of income for their senior years. Another 21 percent look to Social Security, 19 percent to employer pensions, and 11 percent either did not know how they would support themselves or cited another source of income.

The poll of 3,014 adults, 1,117 of whom are baby boomers, was conducted from Oct. 5 to Nov. 6, with a three percentage point margin of error. The complete findings can be viewed at http://pewresearch.org.