Longevity is increasing, and though it may seem odd to think about that right now, the pandemic will not send this trend into reverse.

If anything, Covid-19 has reinforced trends that were already occurring. Age, as Andrew Scott and his co-author Linda Gratton discussed in their 2016 bestseller The 100 Year Life, is malleable. What we do affects how we age. We are now all too familiar with the phrase ‘underlying health conditions’ but there is, Scott argues, much that can be done, by individuals and governments, to help us age healthily.

And that goes for our financial health as well. Our longer lives will encompass dramatic technological advancements, and we will need to re-skill. We will also need to recharge mentally, avoid boredom and create options for ourselves. And this will all need to be funded somehow.

There is much planning that needs to be done.

In this video, part of Citywire’s Beyond The Pandemic series of virtual events, New Model Adviser® editor Will Robins sits down with Scott in a one-to-one conversation to discuss all these points and more.

SKIPPING AHEAD? FIND YOUR TOPIC’S TIME CODE:

02:09 Introducing The 100 Year Life and the New Long Life

04:19 The impact of Covid-19 and longevity insurance

10:28 Job disruption and winning the tech vs education race

16.17 Reskilling and up-skilling, fighting joblessness and boredom

20:00 How to decide when to re-skill. Non-financial assets

22:35 Travel, experiences and the value of options

26:45 Longevity inequality and investing in health

29:36 Thanatological age: how many birthdays have I got left?

32:10 The financials: How do we fund longevity, skills, options?

34:35 The behaviour of longevity

36:36 Question Time! Plugging the skills gap and creating new jobs

39:10 Is pension tax relief still fit for purpose? + State pensions

42:34 Re-framing the politics of ageing

45:51 An unemployment crisis for the over 50s

50:39 Changing our approach to investment risk and insurance

54:13 Why people care about 100 year lives

57:06 Don’t ignore annuities

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