She was young - until she wasn't

Growing up, I had always thought my parents were going to stay perpetually youthful and invincible. Silly notion, I know. I remember asking my mom how old she was; to which she replied: 37. Somehow that just stuck with me. For the longest time, I always thought she was 37 and not a year older. Until I realized she wasn’t.

Despite medical advances, we can’t cheat aging. As a colleague of mine once told me, you start aging the minute you were born. And if you look around us, our society is aging as well. In the next two days, 20,000 people will turn 65 in the U.S. As reported by the U.S. Census Bureau, by 2020, the number of people aged 65 years and older will outnumber children younger than 5 years. By 2040, adults aged 65 and older will account for more than 1 in 5 Americans, up from 15 percent in 2015.

These statistics are staggering on multiple levels. As we work longer and retire later, we will have people from different generations working alongside each other. On a positive side, these additional years provide people with the chance to pursue new career passion, and a valuable opportunity for corporations to integrate wealth of experience with fresh ideas – propelling us to become more innovative. Multi-generational families will also become more common. According to AARP, 70 percent of an 8-year old today is projected to have living great-grandparent by 2030. More children will have a chance to learn from not only their parents and grandparents, but also their great grandparents. These relationship not only help to preserve traditions and cultures, they provide opportunities for both the children and older adults to learn new skills and gain a sense of purpose and belonging.

Realities of aging

At some point in our lives, we will all be confronted with the realities of aging. We have been getting ready for this all along – or have we? Unlike expecting the birth of a child, where it’s typically planned, and you have a team of doctors to consult with and stacks of books to read up on, such as, “What to expect when you are expecting” – you don’t really have a timeline for aging. It sneaks up on you when you least expect it.

With rising healthcare costs and a general lack of retirement savings, how well prepared are we to support an aging population? According to a recent report by Northwestern Mutual, seven in ten caregivers provide financial support as part of care. However, almost half of future caregivers have not planned for the financial implications at all. Meanwhile, majority (73 percent) of Americans have not planned for their own long term care and half of near-retirees have less than $50,000 in their retirement accounts.

As we get older, our financial needs will become more complex. Are we, as individuals, prepared for the extra years of living? And how do financial institutions tackle the challenge and respond to the opportunity in return? Do we have the tools and resources available to help us make good financial decisions that will support our extra years of living and financial caregiving?

An equitable future for all

While aging is inevitable, how we age is not. As a society, we must be thoughtful in balancing the needs of the young versus the old. Smart cities and communities need to be created with the mobility needs of the aging population in mind. Healthcare infrastructure and financial systems must be organized and designed to support the needs of the aged and their circles of care. Some of these ideas are highlighted in a recent article by Penny Crosman from American Banker. And as an industry, we must remove our biases and encourage innovation to change how we experience aging. We need to become more inclusive in our innovation economy, in order to leverage experience from all walks of life, and develop solutions that solve the needs for a wider demographics instead of the few. Voice technology is a prime example. While smart speakers are still relatively new to consumers, they have such tremendous potential in helping older adults live independently and avoid social isolation. It will be interesting to see what the startup community and companies such as Amazon can bring to the marketplace – beyond playing music and checking account balance.

Obviously, none of these are easy puzzles to be solved. Creative thinking and collaboration between public and private sectors will be required to ensure we are ready to address the new normal, and to create an equitable future for all.

The key question is, do we have the foresight to plan ahead, and the will and the heart to do the right thing?

To recall Jeff Bezos’ favorite quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson:” To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

Dare to dream.