7 things boomers got right — even if no one gives them credit for it

Building a better life doesn’t always require the next big hack or shiny new app.

Sometimes the smartest play is to rewind—borrowing habits from people who already solved versions of the problems we’re still wrestling with.

Sure, boomers get plenty of jokes online. But beneath the stereotypes, they modeled practices that were practical, durable, and surprisingly relevant right now.

Habits that cut through noise, steady the mind, and keep momentum moving forward.

Here are seven I keep coming back to.

1. Saving first

Quick question: do you pay future-you first?

A lot of boomers did. Before the espresso machine, before the new phone, they skimmed a slice off the top and moved it to savings or retirement.

That simple delay—choosing later over now—still compounds into real options: the freedom to say no, the cushion to leave a bad job, the runway to try something creative.

It’s unglamorous—and deeply psychological. Saving first rewires your identity from “consumer” to “owner.” You shift from reacting to shaping. And once that self-story changes, budgeting stops feeling like punishment and starts feeling like strategy.

If you’re just starting, automate a small percentage and pretend it never existed. Raise it each quarter like a game. Worried about the market? Prediction is a noisy game; contribution is a quiet one.

Keep adding, keep fees low, and let time do the heavy lifting.

2. Repair and maintenance

I grew up in a house where you learned to fix the wobble before you bought a new chair.

There’s a quiet dignity in maintenance—sharpening a knife, resoling shoes, cleaning the bike chain. It costs less, sure, but it’s also a mindset: respect what you already have, extend its life, understand how it works.

In a world that tells us everything is obsolete by Tuesday, repair feels like a small rebellion and a mindfulness practice. You don’t need to become a full-time tinkerer.

Learn two or three baselines that fit your life: sew a button, patch a wall, replace a phone battery, descale the espresso machine, change a bike tube. That competence spills over. When the sink leaks, you’re not helpless; you’re curious.

For me, a Saturday morning with a small toolkit can be more satisfying than any two-day shipping confirmation.

3. In-person presence

“Face-to-face conversation is the most human — and humanizing — thing we do.” MIT professor Sherry Turkle nails it.

Boomers built entire communities on potlucks, union halls, and neighborhood associations. They didn’t outsource connection to a feed; they went to the meeting. They knocked on the door. They looked the cashier in the eye.

I’m young-ish, I grew up with tech, and I love what it makes possible.

But when I audit my week, the moments that change me are painfully analog: a long walk with a friend, volunteering for two hours, a book club where we actually talk about the book.

In-person time forces presence. No tabs to switch to. No notifications to hide behind.

Try this for a month: one standing in-person ritual per week. A farmer’s market run, a community garden shift, a local meetup. Your attention—and your empathy—will get stronger.

4. Home cooking

I went plant-based years ago, and the thing that made it stick wasn’t fancy restaurants. It was a beat-up skillet and a short rotation of simple meals I could cook half-asleep.

Boomers cooked. Not always gourmet, not always pretty, but consistent.

Home cooking saves money, gives you control over ingredients, and—if you care about health, ethics, or the planet—lets you align dinner with your values without turning it into a debate.

If your default is delivery, start small. One night a week, cook at home. Batch a pot of beans. Roast a tray of vegetables. Make a huge salad with a go-to dressing.

Build a “capsule pantry” the way you build a capsule wardrobe: a few staples that mix and match.

The goal here is simple: make eating well the easy choice, not a nightly decision spiral. And bonus, cooking is active rest. Your hands move, your brain idles, and somehow the day’s static burns off.

5. Long-term investing

Jack Bogle, Vanguard’s founder, had a line I love: “Rather than searching for the needle in the haystack, buy the whole haystack.”

Plenty of boomers rode this boring, beautiful idea to financial peace: buy broad, low-cost index funds, contribute on a schedule, hold through storms. Excitement isn’t the point; outcomes are.

Think philosophy, not stock picking. Long-term beats clever. Process beats prediction. Systems beat moods. When you tether your plan to rules you can actually keep, you stop trying to outsmart the world and start compounding.

If you’re new to it, read a single short investing primer, pick a set-it-and-forget-it option that matches your risk tolerance, and put your attention back on your craft, your relationships, and your health.

6. Work boundaries

I’ve mentioned this before but the ability to fully clock out is a superpower.

Before smartphones, many workers had natural edges on their day. When you left the office, work stayed in the office.

That boundary protected recovery, relationships, and hobbies—not luxuries, but fuel for tomorrow’s clarity and grit.

Today, the office lives in our pocket. If we don’t create lines, we don’t have lines. Boomers remind me that rest counts as real work. Creativity and decisiveness grow in the gaps.

Practical moves:

– Pick an end time and defend it three days a week.
– Turn off push email on your phone. Check on purpose, at set times.
– Have a closing ritual. Write tomorrow’s top three tasks. Tidy your desk. Close the laptop and physically leave the room.

You’ll notice something strange: when you stop letting work ooze everywhere, the hours you do work get sharper. Constraints are clarifying.

7. Apprenticeship mentoring

When I was getting serious about photography, I asked a local pro if I could carry bags, hold reflectors, and keep out of the way. That shadowing taught me more in six afternoons than weeks of YouTube ever did.

Boomers grew up with apprenticeship baked into life. You learned trades from someone’s hands, not just from PDFs. You watched how they talked to clients, how they handled mistakes, how they paced a job. Feedback was immediate and embodied.

We can revive that. Whatever you care about—coding, cooking, carpentry, community organizing—find the person doing it two levels up and offer something useful. Show up early. Stay late. Do the unsexy tasks well.

Ask one good question per session. If you can’t get access in person, join a small cohort course or a volunteer team where practice is public and feedback is frequent.

Then flip it. Mentor someone a bit behind you. Teaching locks in your own learning, and it keeps that boomer-to-you pipeline flowing forward.

No nostalgia for a spotless past here—I’m just pulling forward the parts that still work and porting them into our lives now.

Simple, durable, repeatable.

A few closing nudges

– Pick the one habit you felt most resistance to while reading. That’s your start.
– Put it on your calendar like an appointment with someone you respect.
– Commit to four weeks. Not forever—just long enough to feel the difference.

Boomers didn’t need credit to keep doing what worked.

We don’t need permission to start.