Customer Reviews

Turning Silver into Gold: How to Profit in the New Boomer Marketplace

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Mary Furlong has put together a book that no one else could have. For over twenty years she's been deeply immersed in academia, the internet, and the real world of business. Few can claim to be a specialist in all three. Add to this her two-decade+ focus on aging - and now on Baby Boomers. This isn't a book anyone could just throw together with a bunch of haphazard research and a cavalier keyboard. Furlong lives it.

The quick version of what TSIG is: Hundreds of companies targeting Baby Boomers are profiled. If you have any interest in Boomers and business and all the opportunities, this is what you need to read. You'll find out what's going on. It's that simple.

Dr. Furlong also has this wonderful egalitarian approach to business. When she talks about companies, small biz entrepreneurs get as much ink as the multi-nationals. In her eyes, they're equals.

Turning Silver into Gold is a judicious investment for intra or entrepreneurs exploring opportunities in the lucrative Baby Boomer market. As a business factor expert, Dr. Furlong provides insightful, industry-specific analysis including vital market statistics and trends. This book holds the power to enrich both body and soul.

The boomers have been a buldge in the statistical charts since they were born. First there weren't enough hospitals to birth them. Then there weren't enough schools to teach them. Then there weren't enough houses for them to buy, etc. etc.

Dr. Furlong is an expert on the demographics of the boomers. She has spent most of her career in studying them as as academic, and practically as a small businesswoman. She has studied what they want, what they need, their financial situation. And more important, she has taken this information and projected it to what the boomers will want, need, and buy as they continue to age.

Her intent in this book is to tell the businessman, small or large how this demographic buldge will affect them in the future. There was a time when everything was aimed at the youth market. As the title says, the future belongs to silver, the color the boomers hair is turning.

Mediocre effort and less than mediocre editing. Author and publisher must have been in a hurry to get this out as there are both grammatical and typographical errors that are blatant. Ideas are obvious, author has managed to turn silver into gold, the question is can anyone else who buys this book. Recommended only if you are completely new to this arena.

I like to hope that I am well read, especially with regard to business books. I must confess I had never heard of author Dr. Mary Furlong until two days ago when her new book jumped off the shelf and into my arms at a B&N store. Never have I been so pleased to be mugged by a book.

For any business person, this is a "must read" book. If you are already operating a business, that business is likely already being impacted by the baby boomer forces that Furlong understands so well. If you are contemplating starting a business, buy this book to better understand how to tap this huge and important market.

In an era where so many business books are a regurgitation of old wisdom or unsupported hype, this book is a refreshing contrast. Dr. Furlong's academic background comes through with her writing style of backing up her observations with documented facts. The fact she has also been a successful entrepreneur comes through in a fast paced writing style that is in sharp contrast to the tomes often coming out of academia.

I especially liked the way she packed each chapter with examples of both successful companies (referenced as the "elephants") and emerging companies that are validating the points she makes.

I raced through this book on a long flight. Two days later I am rereading again and underlining galore as the book is jam packed with so many nuggets.

This has to be one of the ten best business books of the year. Whether or not the author and publisher choose to hype the book to the top of the best seller lists, worry not, this book will help you as a business owner, investor, or advisor to businesses.

Skeptics of enthusiastic reviews will wonder if I know Dr. Furlong. I don't, but I will make it a point to get to know her. I want her wisdom on boomers to be a part of all my business activities.

Most books that address the impact of the baby boom generation contain too many statistics and not enough insights. Mary S. Furlong tries to fight that trend with this slightly disjointed look at data and stories about companies that cater to this demographic group. She relays interesting sagas about entrepreneurs, but sometimes omits the richness of detail that would give them the practical impact they deserve. She weaves five baby boom trends ("global markets, longevity, technology, life-stage transitions and spirituality/giving back") through each chapter of her analysis, as she discusses what the boomer generation might buy, how many of them might buy it and how you might market it. getAbstract finds that she offers good information and solid coverage of her subject.

This is a great book that provides valuable insight into a very important market segment of the future. In fact the future is now.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone looking to get into the Boomer marketplace. Very easy to read, with excellent resources and ideas. Be ready to learn a great deal about a lucrative market.

Mary - thank you for writing this book. It has been a terrific read and extremely applicable to my life in venture capital. You have an amazingly comprehensive view of the Boomer market and I appreciate you sharing it. I found myself making notes in the margins with thoughts to share with our portfolio companies.

I read Mary's book in response to a suggestion from a friend. I plan on creating a distribution chain based out of South America obtaining ophthalmic and optometric diagnostic equipment which is to be manufactured in China. As many of you know due diligence is the key to launching a tennable startup and I found Mary's book to be helpful in putting a name and face to my largest customer base, which is of course the boomer generation. Mary is able to effectively describe this all too often over looked demographic in a manner that is both informative and entertaining. Her insight on the subject matter is profound. After researching her qualifications and past business ventures this comes as no surprise. Throughout the chapters business oppurtunities are explored with exellent case studies presented as guiding lights. I recomend this book to anyone who is planing on understanding and consequently captializing on this limitless demographic.