The 100-Year Life

The 100-Year Life teaches you how to be resourceful and prepare ahead of time for a world in which people not only live longer but reach an age in the triple-digits, and talks about what you should be doing right now to ensure you have enough money for retirement.

If you take a look back in history, the world was much different than we know it today. Without accounting for worse economic conditions or wars, medicine and technological advancements were nowhere near the standards we know today.

On top of that, people had poorer perceptions regarding nutrition, medical conditions, old age, and other similar aspects of life. Smoking was a social norm, sugar was on every table, and nutrition was about losing weight.

Essentially, nothing was as we know it today, and that is reflected in the average lifespan. Nowadays, every decade brings breakthrough discoveries in all industries, and with them, added years to our lives.

Infants are no longer dying. Diseases like cancer, Alzheimers, smallpox or any other illness are no longer killing as many people as they used to. And people are overall more health-conscious. Great news, right?

Well, yes and no. As we advance in these fields and medicine breaks through new layers of knowledge, our life span increases substantially.

This fact poses a new issue for humans: what are we going to do once we’re approaching the triple-digit age? Will our resources suffice? How will our social lives look? Or tour professional careers – will they still come to an end as we’re moving past the age of 60? Guess we’ll live and see!

We’ve all seen at least one futuristic, sci-fi movie where the characters end up in a future ruled by AI-driven robots, flying cars, machine humans, and dynamic buildings. While we can’t promise the flying cars part, we surely do notice the increasingly growing role AI plays in our everyday lives already. AI-driven machines are taking over automatized intellectual and physical processes while delivering error-free results. Soon, most probably in our lifetime, people will have to adapt to these changes and learn skills that are in demand, which implies working alongside robots. Creative work and jobs that probably haven’t even been discovered yet will take over the current professional environments. Therefore, in order to secure an income, we’ll have to switch the focus to computer skills, innovative and lateral thinking, social skills, and other similar fields. Other areas of improvement that will prove worthwhile in our life include self-awareness and health. Focusing on nutrition and fitness will be invaluable in the long run. Focusing on mental health and the ability to learn fast helps too. While right now it may not seem like…