What Every Boomer's Investment Adviser Should Know

To relate to their Boomer clients, investment pros need to know stuff like . . .

How much did the first Corvette cost?

When did Dylan release "The Times They Are A Changing'?

When did IBM introduce the PC?

How high were mortgage rates in 1981?

In what year did Viagra first go on sale?

Fortunately, a few weeks ago The Washington Post covered these questions and others in a clever timeline for the Boomer era, What a Long Strange Trip It's Been.

Not all Boomers share the same memories or the same outlooks. Those born in the late 1940's experienced JFK and Camelot. Those born at the tail end of the Boomer cohort grew up with Watergate, long lines at the gas pumps and double-digit inflation.

Most Boomers were born into an age of rising stock prices. But look what happened in 1965, when the last Boomer baby turned one. As shown in the chart from iTulip, the real Dow Jones Industrial Average began a slow, devastating crash. The youngest Boomers, still in school, may not have noticed. But the 1965-1982 catastrophe still influences the thinking of older Boomers.