Kathleen Casey-Kirschling is a special person. No, she doesn't qualify for a Special Person's card from TCD so that she doesn't have to pay to ride our pink and blue buses.

No, she's not a national hero. But she is special. Kathleen's claim to fame is that, as America's first Baby Boomer, she has just registered with Social Security for early retirement benefits when she turns sixty-two on January 1, 2008.

And her story brings out two sides of the ageing population debate: is the glass half empty, or is the glass half full?

On a personal level, for many people the thought of retiring at sixty-two is idyllic. For Kathleen, the glass is definitely half full. But for others the thought of not having enough income to fund a long retirement makes that same glass half empty.

And in the bigger picture, the thought of free-spending retirees supporting the economy is offset by concerns regarding the sustainability of health care and social security systems.

Kathleen was born at 12.01 am on January 1, 1946, the first of approximately 78 million babies born in the USA between 1946 and 1964. She forms part of a population bulge that exists in Australia, Japan, Europe, Canada, and elsewhere.

And Kathleen's retirement will echo millions of times over in the next two decades, with profound implications for families, societies, workplaces, and governments around the world, including Bermuda.

A recent article about Kathleen by Richard Wolf of USA Today helps bring the ageing debate into clearer focus. On the one hand, he focuses on the impact of retiring Baby Boomers on Medicare and Social Security in the USA.

In fact, most of his article is occupied with dire predictions of massive demands on Medicare colliding with the draining of Social Security funds. On the other hand, Wolf briefly covers the fact that Kathleen and her husband, also 62, are clearly middle class.

Kathleen worked as a seventh-grade teacher and then became a nutritionist, while her husband is a university professor. They have carefully planned their early exit from the workforce, factoring the lower payout from Social Security at age 62 against the benefits of enjoying their assets while they are still young and healthy enough to do so.

Kathleen and her husband have also clearly benefited from the peace and prosperity of the post Second World War period that produced the best educated, healthiest, and wealthiest generation in human history.

The Kirschlings have a second, vacation home in Maryland. They also have a 42-foot trawler named First Boomer based at their third, vacation home in Florida. But only time will tell if the Kirschlings have adequately prepared for a retirement that may last 25-30 years.

In addition to funding a long retirement, Baby Boomers have to wait longer for any anticipated inheritance. Their parents are living into their 90s and beyond while spending their own savings on health care and long-term care, in addition to depleting the savings of Baby Boomer children who take on the role of caregiver.

Unfortunately, far too many Baby Boomers are depending solely on Social Security, or Social Insurance as it is called in Bermuda, to fund their retirement. For this group, retirement will most likely have to be postponed, or cut very short, as the need to work grows more pressing.

We have many Bermudians who have benefited from an economy that has boomed since 1946. We also have many Bermudians who have been left behind.

Our health-care system is groaning under the weight of more citizens needing long-term care, both at home and in institutional settings. And as more retirees claim their benefits, we need workers to pay into the system but, given Bermuda's limited land mass and highly concentrated international business, the implications for immigration, housing, education and transportation are significant.

Kathleen is beginning a retirement wave of monumental proportions and impact, and the debate is complex.

As Wolf says, Kathleen's early retirement represents "one small step for her, one giant leap for her Baby Boom generation."

Marian Sherratt is Executive Director, Bermuda Council on Ageing. She writes on issues concerning ageing each month in The Royal Gazette. Send email responses to info[AT]bdaca.org.