Never mind the bollocks! (Growing old disgracefully)

The idea of leaving the family home for some low-grade retirement living unit that once happily housed prior generations of retirees just won't appeal. Their demands and standards will be completely different.

To attract this market, switched-on retirement living developers are creating product which is more closely aligned to the tropical resorts our generation of punks have probably been frequenting in recent years.

They may have been singing 'no future' in their youth but it turns out most had a pretty good future, and accumulated housing assets and opportunities for travel as they went. Unlike today's 'generation rent' who may retire still with large mortgages and low savings, our punk generation are more likely to own high quality homes outright, matched with healthy savings balances.

Just because they're getting old, they're not going to tolerate being treated as if they're somehow deficient. They have enjoyed high standards of living and they aren't about to compromise. Indeed, I'm told that one of the biggest hurdles faced by today's retirement living providers, even when the quality of product is better than a Balinese resort – is the stigma associated with the term 'retirement living.' Maybe 'rock n roll living' might have more success?

A similar revolution in product is happening at the aged care end. Pokey rooms, dim corridors, grey vinyl flooring and the depressing smell of hospital antiseptic will have the older punks doing 180's in their wheel chairs and disappearing. Oldies in need of higher levels of care will still want that delivered in a higher standard environment than previous generations, or no deal. More natural light, better quality facilities, personal services and overall amenity will be in demand and those with the means will be prepared to pay for it.

And if our geriatric punks are suffering from dementia or other forms of debilitation, it will be their families who insist on higher standards on their behalf.

There will be plenty who don't have the means to pay of course, and this is where government will inevitably find itself forking out truckloads of taxpayer cash in the future. What if even the people without the means and without the savings have higher expectations in the future? No wonder Joe Hockey's worried.

At the root of this change is a massive change of attitude. Previous generations of elderly went through life with little in the way of assets and just 'made do.' They endured parsimony (even self-imposed) and were grateful for the basics. First the baby boomers, then the punk generation, enjoyed much higher standards of living and personal wealth. Not only that, their cultural experience was one which challenged social norms. Prior generations were more respectful, more compliant, and less demanding. Boomers and punks are more demanding, expect and want more, are less tolerant of conforming to social norms and more likely to demand personalised approaches to care rather than institutional ones.

We may all be getting older at a faster rate, but we're also going to be handful once we do. Myself included.

God save the Queen.