Like Spanish Conquistador Juan Ponce de León searching for the Fountain of Youth, many boomers are looking for an anti-aging elixir. But attempts to erase the ravages of age can be costly — to your clients’ finances and to their health.

By knowing what’s out there, advisors can steer their boomer clients in the right direction.

“Many boomers grew up with a feeling of entitlement,” says Jason Roth, a psychologist in Halifax. “What we want, we believe, we should get. Boomers take the reality of their mortality as a personal insult and want to change it. As a result, fitness clubs are full and dermatologists and plastic surgeons are busy.”

The aging population is creating business opportunities. Boomers are being offered a plethora of beauty treatments — from wrinkle creams and Botox treatments to visits to spas and plastic surgery. California-based Allergan Inc. estimates this year’s sales of Botox, its star product, will be US$1.2 billion. Once a wrinkle fix for aging celebrities, boomers are having their faces zapped with the refined strain of the botulism toxin — at about US$400 an injection.

While some boomers are spending money on costly skin treatments and other superficial anti-aging procedures, others are joining health clubs and other programs to improve their health.

Peggy Grall, a transition coach in Freelton, Ont., says jobs are one reason boomers want to look youthful. A fall 2006 survey by Retired Worker, a Toronto-based employment Web site, showed more than 5% of workers aged 50 and over would consider cosmetic surgery to get a job, and 17% admitted to changing their appearance to appear younger to employers.

Grall often speaks to groups of displaced executives. “They’re being advised to get themselves in shape,” she says. “Not just to hide their age, but to display their energy, their drive, the ‘fire in the belly’ that 30-year-olds have.

“We may be sagging here and there, but we don’t want to look old,” she adds. “Looking old means a lack of control over an aspect of our lives. It’s embarrassing because we should have done something about it. It’s not OK to grey away.”

This spring, Cleo Chmielinski opened Avalon Woods, a fitness club in Etobicoke, Ont., that caters to the 50-plus market. Boomers, she says, “don’t want to be around 20-year-olds in spandex.” There are no wall mirrors in this gym, and staff are certified in older-adult fitness — they’ve been trained in health issues such as arthritis, heart conditions and osteoporosis.

Larry Barakett, a retired 59-year-old who once ran an insurance and mutual fund distributor, is an Avalon Woods member who is fighting leukemia. “I had no muscle mass. It was time to hook up with a personal trainer, but I didn’t want to be around 20-year-old muscle-bound hulks,” he says, explaining why he joined the club four months ago.

Another reason boomers want to look good is because many are still in the dating game. “This is the generation that has a near-50% divorce rate,” Grall says. “If you divorce at mid-life, you start asking yourself questions such as: ‘How viable am I in the romantic marketplace?’ Pot-bellies and grey hair don’t cut it.”

At one end of the spectrum, she says, are boomers who will do anything not to look old. “They’ll get the full facelifts. There are also the addictive personalities — anything you do addictively you do to get away from what you’re feeling. So, if you are feeling old, you’ll exercise addictively and do anything else you can [so as] not to look and feel old.”

But there’s a growing middle cohort of boomers, Grall notes, who realize they can no longer look 25 but want to look as good as they can: “They’re whitening their teeth, having the odd Botox treatment. And the technology is getting better. My dermatologist tells me about a treatment to rejuvenate the skin’s collagen. The bar has been raised. I don’t recall my mother doing any of these things when she was my age, but I find myself at least considering them. And I think of myself as middle-of-the-road.”

And as boomers age, they’ll need to put more effort into looking good. “There was a time when, if I wanted to look better, all I had to do was watch my diet and exercise a bit,” Grall says. “Now, it takes months — and maybe a small procedure.”

@page_break@Boomers who are fighting the aging process are creating angst and anxiety for themselves, which is counterproductive to health, Roth notes: “When I’m wearing my hat as a personal coach for someone with career issues, I may suggest that person consider updating his wardrobe as he’s updated his resumé. But we need to distinguish between doing this to please others from doing it to be consistent with our own values and needs.

“When I’m wearing my psychologist’s hat,” he adds, “I emphasize self-acceptance — the wisdom of The Little Prince: that what’s truly important is invisible to the eye. How you look should reflect who you are, not what you think will work.”

Roth notes that going overboard in anti-aging can backfire. “On the dating front, you don’t want to attract someone under false pretences or you’ll be forced to live a lie,” he says. “If you’re rejected because of how you look, remember all communication is self-disclosure. What that person has said reveals more about him or her than about you.”

At age 57, Roth’s values mean keeping as fit as possible for health reasons. “My grey hair is turning white, but I’m not concerned about how other people see me. I’ve recently moved to three-day workweeks, phasing into retirement. I hope the future includes bicycling across Canada, and improving my cross-country skiing and white-water river skills. This means staying healthy and fit.”

To keep fit, Roth bikes, hikes or takes long walks daily, and does strength training with a personal trainer. He also takes reflective time and time for play.

Says Roth: “And I remind myself daily to maintain a sense of wonder at the world.” IE