Now a firm that makes a device to assist the elderly with buttoning their clothes is among a slew of early movers cashing in on this growing market.
Renewe was established three years ago with the aim of helping the growing ranks of the ageing population.
It makes a hand-held device called Button Wearer designed to enable a user to open a button hole easily so a button can be pushed in.
The firm tackles another problem of the elderly - measuring eye drops properly.
Its eye dropper securely holds and dispenses eye drops into the person's eye accurately while he lies on his back.
'We've gone to markets like the US, India, and soon we'll be in Australia,' said Renewe's manager Ngiam Tee Woh.
Then there is John Ackerman, a local distributor of US robotic vacuum cleaners that makes vacuuming floors by hand a thing of the past. An elderly person just needs to press some buttons on the robot, and it will scour the house, sucking up the dirt.
Another big issue for the elderly is managing money.
Eight insurers here such as NTUC Income and Prudential offer CPF-approved annuities. The insurer pays the monthly sum until the annuity holder dies - regardless of how long that is.
OCBC Bank's new 10/10 Singapore dollar time deposit promotion gives customers aged 50 years and above 2.475 per cent a year in interest for this special 10-month-long time deposit, above the usual base promotional interest rate of 2.335 per cent a year.
'As time goes on, this segment of the market is going to increase, so we'll launch more products for them,' said its group wealth management head Nicholas Tan.
Travel agents also say the growing spending power of baby boomers with a lot of free time is a major business opportunity.
ASA Holidays' senior manager for marketing communications Eileen Oh said that it organises gourmet tours, where the elderly travel to Shanghai to try out different cuisines. 'Our itineraries are not too taxing for them. In terms of food, we ask restaurants to not make their dishes spicy, and we make sure they are well-balanced in nutrition,' she said.
GABRIEL CHEN