Test 2

The seniors sweepstakes kicks into high gear this weekend as the first baby boomers turn 60 and states, cities and small towns mount ad campaigns to attract up-and-coming retirees.
States and towns across the nation are stepping up recruiting efforts to persuade boomers to move there and boost local economies with their spending power.
Local officials are placing ads, attending retiree conferences and touting their communities on websites to entice boomers to spend their golden years with them.
"It's the new economic development," says Dan Owens, a Charlotte consultant who works with cities to recruit boomers and other retirees. "This freight train is just a few steps from our doorstep now. The oldest boomers (next week) will be turning 60. That's the tip of the iceberg. As more and more boomers get into their 60s, the market will just be exploding."
Up to 20% of the 79 million baby boomers, the generation of post-World War II Americans born from 1946 through 1964, are expected to move to a new state once they quit working, double previous levels, says Gene Warren, president of a Phoenix economic consulting firm that helps communities attract retirees.
Among those laying out the welcome mat:
• Mississippi focuses on attracting boomers and others to 21 cities certified by the state as desirable communities for retirees. In May, the Texas Legislature approved a similar campaign.
• Morganton, N.C., has bought advertisements in magazines aimed at retirees and touts what it has to offer boomers at conventions of AARP, a lobbying group for people 50 and above.
• The Chamber of Commerce in Thomasville, Ga., will have a staff member working exclusively with retirees and a "Silver Stars" program in which older residents recruit others to come live there.
• Tyler, Texas, lists "10 Reasons to Retire in Tyler" on its website. It also sends representatives to other parts of Texas to encourage winter visitors to "take a stop and see Tyler" on their way home, says Tom Mullins, president of the town's Chamber of Commerce.
Many boomers, armed with 401K funds, inheritances and home equity swollen by healthy gains in property values, will have sizable disposable incomes.
Millions of retirees will have "huge discretionary incomes," Warren says. "All the Medicare benefits is money coming into the community from the outside. So is
Social Security' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> Social Security. So are all the pension plans. It's like manna from heaven."