BIO

Cliff Mason is the author of Millennial Money. He is the Senior Writer of CNBC's Mad Money with Jim Cramer, and has been that program's primary writer, in cooperation with and under the supervision of Jim Cramer, since he began at CNBC as an intern during the summer of 2005. Mason was the author of a column at TheStreet.com during 2007, which he describes as "hilarious, if short-lived." He graduated from Harvard College in 2007. It was at Harvard that Mason learned to multi-task, mastering the art of seeming to pay attention to professors while writing scripts for Mad Money. Mason has co-written two books with Jim Cramer: Jim Cramer's Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich and Stay Mad For Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer). He is 100% responsible for any parts of either book that you did not like. Mason has also had a fruitful relationship with Jim Cramer as his nephew for the last 23 years and will hopefully continue to hold that position for many more as long as he doesn't do anything to get himself kicked out of the family.

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Jan.13

5:44 PM ET

Tuesday, 13 Jan 2009

Boomers, Gen-Y, Gen-Xers and Now, Cuspers

Posted By:Cliff Mason

Topics:Stock Market

I've always wondered about the genesis of popular but relatively meaningless demographic terms.

When did I go from being a member of Generation Y to being a "millennial?" Who turned my mother into a "soccer mom?"

Now I know who's to blame for all this foolishness: Marian Salzman.

In a piece on CNN.com today, Salzman, who "has been credited with popularizing the term "metrosexuality," invents a new sub-generation: "Cuspers" — basically people too young to be baby-boomers, and too old to be gen-Xers. The article, titled "Baby boomers out, 'cuspers' in" claims that the authority and credibility of the baby boom generation has been ripped to shreds, and these so-called 'cuspers' are now in charge.

Salzman says that baby boomers are being blamed for the current financial crisis:

"After strutting and tub-thumping and preening their way across the high ground of politics, media, culture and finance for 30 years, baby boomers have gone from top dogs to scapegoats in barely a year. As baby boomers lose their authority and appeal, generational power is shifting one notch down: to cuspers (born roughly 1954-1965), who arrived in style in 2008 with their first truly major figure, Barack Obama (born 1961)."

It's funny, I haven't heard anybody blame the greed of the baby boom generation for the mess we're in.

The idea that boomers have now been supplanted by... younger boomers because Obama won the election doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Would the baby boomers have stopped being the "top dogs" and ceded that position back to their parents if John McCain had won the election?

I'd never heard the term 'cusper' before reading this article. I think it's relatively inane. But, in our desire to categorize and capture the zeitgeist of the current era, I bet the term will be in widespread use within the next six-months. Not because it means anything, but because we're desperate to discover new trends, whether they happen to be real or imaginary.

Being a baby boomer hasn't been in style for decades. My generation grabbed the mantle of coolness years ago, and we took it from generation X. That doesn't mean the 78 million boomers are ready to roll over and admit their time has come and gone.

Here's to the 'cuspers' then, let's just hope that term is as short- lived as 'metrosexual.'