Why the Future isn’t Always What You Expect

You might have a lot to look forward to in the future. Maybe your children will graduate from college, maybe you’ll become a grandparent, and of course, you’ll retire! We’ll also probably see some significant technological advancements and interesting global developments, but no one knows what for sure. Sometimes life throws us a curveball – like the pandemic – and we have the adjust. Other times predictions don’t come true. Ultimately, the future isn’t always what you expect.

Life Expectancy Will Rise Past 100

Although life expectancies have been steadily increasing, they’re not quite at 100. In 2020, the average life expectancy in American was almost 78 years old. Compare this to 1950 when it was 68. Many people live to a much older age. In fact, the number of Americans aged 100 has more than doubled in the last 40 years.[1]

No One Will Use Books Anymore

With the invention of laptops and Kindles, many have predicted that paper books will become obsolete. Futurist Ray Kurzweil predicted that by 2020, paper books and documents would rarely be used, and most would be scanned and available online. And while the second part of this is true, the first isn’t: The U.S. book publishing industry sold 675 million print books in 2018.

Flying Cars

Movies set in the future always seem to have these, but where are they? Self-driving cars are still being tested, and hover cars don’t seem to be anywhere around. However, Porsche and Boeing recently partnered to make a “premium urban air mobility vehicle.” And Uber plans to launch a flying taxi service in 2023. Maybe something like a flying car will be available for life in 2050.

Humans Will Set Foot On Mars

In 1996, the Space Studies Board of the National Research Council predicted that NASA would land humans on Mars by 2018. This hasn’t happened yet, but we have landed eight unmanned spacecraft on Mars. Sending astronauts to Mars someday certainly isn’t out of the question, but there’s a lot of work to be done first.

Whatever the future brings, we’ll be here to help you to and through retirement. So much could change in our world during your retirement, and a solid financial plan can help meet unexpected challenges such as longevity, rising healthcare costs, and long-term care needs. At BML Wealth Management,  we can help you create a retirement plan based on your unique needs that’s designed to expect the unexpected. Click HERE to schedule a no-cost, no-obligation financial review to meet with us in person.