"Freight train coming
Coming 'round the bend
I'm your worst fear
I'm your best friend..."
For almost all of human history, the Earth’s population has skewed younger. On July 11, 2019, World Population Day, an annual event established by the United Nations to bring attention to global population matters, a major demographic shift was confirmed: there are now more people aged 65 and older than there are under the age five. The United Nations projects that by 2100, one in four people will be 65 years old or older, while one in 20 will be younger than five.
Massive industries are already coalescing around human longevity, the extension of lifespan accompanied by reduction and elimination of the most malignant diseases of aging. MIT Technology Review’s autumn 2019 issue is entitled: “Old Age is Over”. The longevity industry is predicted to be the biggest and most complex in human history.
We are tantalized by elegant science of longevity medicine, with basic research suggesting miracles of rejuvenation and aging reversal in mice may one day translate to humans. Although we do well to remember that fountains of youth have been promised from time immemorial, accelerating stunning advances in genomics, coupled with big data analyses and AI, render today’s science compelling and imminently actionable.
Today’s basic medical research and discovery now focuses on new pharma, gene therapies, regeneration, personalized diagnostics and preventative interventions. But as our global population trends to longer healthier lives, challenges extend beyond development of science.
The impact on all sectors of society will be profound. In addition to transformations in goods and services, labor and financial markets, human implications are stunning.
While these challenges are immense for us all, there are specific challenges unique to families of wealth.
Advisors in family offices responsible for the well-being of their charges must prepare to sensitively and compassionately address new tensions in intergenerational and interpersonal dynamics. Massive social change presents complex unprecedented moving targets.
The meaning of next-gen will be laden with fault lines as expectations of health and lifespan are upended. Succession planning will be radicalized as senior family members are no longer limited by arbitrary numbers on calendars to lead families and businesses with vigor and experience. How are decisions about transitions to be made?
Issues of equity and social justice are paramount. How can benefits of longevity science be distributed fairly? To what extent will the wealthy dominate as both programmers and recipients of these technologies? Such global challenges will also exist on a micro level. Even in the context of the greatest family wealth, financial resources are finite. How will younger family members contend with disproportionate allocation of funds to oldest generations who live longer and longer? Financial instruments must be newly conceptualized: longevity index funds, derivatives, longevity trusts and hedge funds will be created for this sector. What ethical and legal quandaries will arise? How will families manage such conflict internally? How will a family’s spending more to live longer affect philanthropy and legacy creation?
It is the best of human nature to courageously venture into new worlds. But for every advance, there must be counterbalance to neutralize challenges. The finite resources of our new world of longevity can become infinite if all ages collaborate to grow wisdom, experience and compassion beyond years.