So this post is going to be a little different from the typical planning post here, and is going to be a little out there for the majority of people, but here goes:
As my username indicates, I believe in the technological singularity. If you're not familiar with this, a brief description of it is that at some point, technology is going to advance so quickly that we will eventually develop technologies that allow us to extend our lifespan indefinitely. Most believe it'll come in the form of super human AI that self improves at an exponential rate, and if they become benefactors of humanity, they will assist in our achieving immortality, whether that comes in the form of gene therapy, or uploading our consciousness to artificial bodies.
Now that we've got that out of the way, I want to talk about the financial implications. Most people plan to live to the current average age of 80-mid 90s, and a lot of retirement dates and safe withdrawal rates reflect this. Others believe that we will have longer lifespans bringing a lot of retirees into the 100 - 120 year old range. Still fewer, myself included, believe we will live indefinitely. Thousands or tens of thousands of years. There of course is a lot of debate over first whether this will ever come about, or if it does, whether it is ethical in an ever overpopulated and under resourced world. Those are valid concerns, but putting that aside, lets just assume that it does become possible to never die of natural causes. All diseases cured, eternal youth achieved, the only thing you have to worry about is getting hit by a bus or murdered. What happens to you financially?
I plan under the assumption that I'm going to need to support myself and maybe some family, well, forever. As many of you and those in the other finance subs do, I try to max my tax advantaged retirement accounts as early as possible (I'm currently 27, making around 110k). I focus on my HSA account because I believe a lot of these advancements will be in the medical field, and I don't want to miss out on forever due to not having enough money saved to afford life saving gene therapies. I also plan to work far longer than most would consider necessary, because what is 65-75 years if you have eternity to reap the benefits? What I'm aiming to do is get to a point where I can not only afford the treatments that will allow me to live a happy, healthy life for as long as I want, but also to have an ever increasing amount of money once it hits the point of exponential growth. This will require that I work longer than the average person in my financial position, and my amount of money in retirement will seem excessive for the amount that I typically spend, but I want to spend forever watching history happen, exploring our solar system, and watching humanity flourish.
Hit me with your skepticism and thoughts on financing immortality.
Submitted July 26, 2018 at 03:44PM by MrSingularitarian https://ift.tt/2mKnpHq
