The baby-boom generation has hit a significant financial milestone—one that should help line their pockets with disposable income and heighten opportunity for jewelers Some old friends are back at the jewelry counter. And they’re flush with disposable income. Thanks to a core component of retirement savings regulations, baby boomers—the generation that played a key role in the growth of many of today’s jewelry stores—are once again presenting a ripe target for high-ticket sales across a broad range of jewelry categories. In the latter half of 2016, boomers, defined as Americans born from 1946 through 1964, began turning 70½—the age at which federal tax law mandates that owners of 401(k) plans, traditional individual retirement accounts (IRAs), savings incentive match plan for employees (or SIMPLE) IRAs, and simplified ­employee pensions (SEPs) must take required mini