Rich Boomers Pinch Pennies: Product Placement

"Product Placement" is a new weekly feature that uncovers consumer research conducted by companies. Come back every Thursday to see how products are placed in the market.

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- The rich may get richer, but they're getting older and scarcer as well.

According to a report released by Nielsen, aging baby boomers, declining birth rates and the shrinking labor force are going to send the numbers of wealthy Americans into a literal death spiral. The moneyed class fears they will have to work until they die, while the people who market to this generation are at a loss.

"When we presented this at a conference this summer, my presentation began with a virtual glass of scotch just in case the audience needed to fortify themselves beforehand," says Doug Anderson, Nielsen's senior vice president of research and development and the report's author.

From now until 2020, Nielsen projects the number of upper-middle class (with average annual income above $48,500), affluent (above $72,000) and wealthy (above $132,000) households will all decline, with only lower-middle class (above $30,000) and those struggling (above $12,000) gaining ground. By 2050, struggling households will be the only group growing, soaring by 70%.

"We're seeing a lot of households moving out of the upper-middle and affluent ranges, and moving into the bottom," Anderson says. "The numbers of non-Hispanic white households who have children and who fall into the upper affluence ranges are not only growing more slowly but declining."

The rich are taking notice. According to Fidelity Investments' 2009 Millionaire Outlook, 46% of people with $3.5 million in assets and more than $300,000 in household income no longer feel wealthy. Granted, that's because they lost an average of 19% in income and invested assets and 28% on real estate holdings last year. Still, by 2050 many of them will fall into the 40% of struggling households with a breadwinner who's older than 65.