Want to Know How to Invest for the Next Twenty Years?

Increasing life expectancy means our investment timelines are increasing. At age 50 we have, on average, 31 years to go for males, 34 more years for females.

Here are some other figures, some surprising:

Age 55 – Still 31 years
Age 60 – 26 years
Age 65 – 21 years

And we can count on medical improvements that will make life healthier for us during the next 20 years as well as helping us to live even longer.

So where to invest? This article is not an exercise in mathematical analysis of individual stocks, but just something to get us thinking about how and where to invest in the future.

What is one of the mega trends for the next 20 years? – Cities!

It is estimated that up to 70% of the World’s population will be living in cities by 2050 and that some cities, such as Mumbai, will have populations approaching 50 MILLION people. Indeed, there could be a number of cities in the world that exceed 50 million in population.

What will this mean? Well, cities will consume 80% of the World’s resources; and they will also cause 75% of the pollution, if nothing is done to change the way we live. So knowing this, we should look for the companies providing solutions to these two problems. Solar power (with appropriate battery systems) deals with both these two big issues of resources and pollution. Electric and then driverless vehicles is another solution. I mean, can you imagine the chaos of 50 Million people in Mumbai driving or perhaps in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo), which is also forecast to be around 35 million? Nope, it will be driverless cars with 90% less accidents than driven cars.

So, these types of technologies will facilitate the growth of big cities and indeed, cities will rely upon the technologies.

Now, I am not the only person who has spotted this big trend. There are fund managers and ETFs (exchange traded funds) that are looking to benefit from these trends. Bearing in mind the complexity of some of the technologies and the need to have a local knowledge of how they are being used (e.g. solar power in Mumbai will be different than solar power in London) it may be best to use their expertise.

PS. Barcelona is predicted to be a 5.6 million person city in 2050, and Madrid 6.5 million!

For more information and to discuss how this trend can be included in your portfolio, contact Barry Davys at barry.davys@spectrum-ifa.com or call to book a meeting on +34 645 257 525.