Future Wealth!

By | August 1, 2006
3 Comments

While we’re reminiscing, one of my favorite entries over the past few years had to do with the relationship between life extension and wealth accumulation, to wit:

So let’s put $600 a year into our account (that’s a measly $50 a month) for twenty years and then revisit it after a total of 150 years has elapsed. After all, 150 years is just a drop in the bucket to someone with an indefinite lifespan.

By then, our initial disciplined investment will have grown to more than $160 million. After doing the inflation buzzkill adjustment, we see that in the year 2155, $160 million will get you right around what $3 million will today. That’s not bad. Plus, if you can hang in there for another 50 years — take a part-time job, write a book, I’m sure you can think of something to kill the time — you will have a little more than $28 billion (yep, billion with a B) which will buy you approximately what $21 million (with an M) will today.

An interesting discussion ensued about life in a world where posicles cost five grand. Earlier this year, we spotted a news story about a forward-thinking guy who was planning to put the future wealth principle to work.

This idea has legs. We’re going to have to spend some more time on it in the years to come.

  • doctorpat

    Unfortunately, the returns available to capital have been falling since capital was invented (50% pa in ancient Summeria).

    Widespread eternal youth would only accelerate this effect. If everyone was going to live for centuries, then everyone will invest a lot of money and so the returns will fall to zero.

  • http://www.larpradio.blogspot.com James Bortmas

    Assuming an “Old Man’s War” or “Legacy of the Aldenata” scenario dose not occur making the aged eligible for the draft. The education benefit of better employment and thus better pay will allow continued addition to the principle. Just letting the money ride will not cut it. The true benefit is the time to find or train for a job you love to do or can do for a very long time.

  • Karl Hallowell

    I don’t quite agree with doctorpat. After all, how do we determine return on investment (ROI) in ancient Sumeria especially since we have no way (as far as I know) to evaluate risk or inflation in those times? But I too agree that the long term risk-free, inflation-adjust ROI (on material investments) will go to zero. Geometric expansion can’t continue in the face of finite resources.

    The big unknown as far as I can see is the intangible things. You literally can create worlds with new markets. If at some point, someone creates intangible economic actors (eg, AI or uploaded humans). Then we have some wild stuff going on with the possibility for sustained exponential growth over a period of time.