Live longer, plan better: How longevity is transforming financial decisions.

July 2026 by Jorge Silveira Botelho.

Longevity is the great new challenge facing humanity, because, taken to its extreme, it touches on the principle of eternal life, raising ethical, social, economic and, not least, financial issues. Currently, science has given us empirical knowledge that good nutrition, physical exercise, early diagnosis, and stimulation of cognitive activity are factors that increase life expectancy and delay aging.

We are now also faced with the impact that new technologies are having on the rapid creation and administration of new drugs, where Artificial Intelligence allows us to skip steps in the scientific process and develop more effective discretionary solutions for the treatment and prevention of diseases, such as the numerous advances in drugs for the treatment of cancer or diseases related to dementia.

But a new paradigm is emerging faster than many imagine, reviving a new quest for the Holy Grail. Genetic manipulation in humans is now a reality, with the first clinical trials for the treatment of glaucoma through cellular rejuvenation having begun earlier this year in the US, generating huge expectations following the great success these experiments have had in animals. There are therefore plenty of reasons to suspect that the process of longevity is being underestimated, because, ultimately, it may even turn out to be exponential, insofar as it directly interferes with the basic instinct of the human condition: our survival instinct.

In this regard, it is necessary to begin reflecting on and considering the implications that greater longevity may have for society as a whole, particularly in the labor market, in healthcare systems, in the timing of consumption, in inflationary trends and in the very model of economic financing.

The first thing we need to understand is that the demographic predictions we are familiar with do not account for the enormous scientific advances that are on the horizon.

According to the UN, by 2100 approximately 30% of the world's population will be sixty years old or older. However, given the speed of human knowledge advancement and considering that we are only in 2026, these estimates most likely underestimate scientific progress. That is why it is important to start thinking seriously about the implications of people living longer while maintaining their cognitive and physical abilities.

This topic leads us to a second reflection on how we structure our life plan; that is, whether our new assumptions need to take into account the fact that we will live longer than we initially expected.

The aging population and the later transmission of inheritance are also issues to consider. To give you an idea, in the U.S. in the early 20th century, the estimated age at which people received an inheritance was around 30; today, the age at which people receive an inheritance from their parents is closer to 60 (source: FED and ONS).

In this context, it is important to understand that the role played by receiving an inheritance has also changed. At the beginning of the 20th century, when inheritance was granted at age 30, it was seen as a means of survival and a starting point for life; in the mid-eighties, at ages between 40 and 50, inheritance was a form of family consolidation capital (paying off debts and children's education); currently at 60 years old, the inheritance is above all a reserve fund for retirement and healthcare.

Another issue that emerges indirectly from the previous one is how older adults are playing an increasingly significant role in private consumption and how the temporal pattern of consumption may change as a result.

While, on the one hand, greater longevity means that I have to start saving earlier and for a longer period of time, on the other hand, this translates, in practice, into a significant shift in the timing of consumption, whereby young people will have to forgo greater consumption in the present in order to be able to ensure future consumption. This inevitability gains even more weight when greater longevity can delay or even eliminate the implicit support of their parents.

By following, to some extent, this pattern implicit in the temporal nature of consumption—that is, young people tend to forgo more present consumption in favor of future consumption—the issue of inflation takes on particular relevance, because longevity brings with it a profound shift in preferences and habits of consumption, with distinct impacts on the demand for goods and services and on the resulting price formation.

Taking the Portuguese case as an example, inflation over the last 20 years has hovered around 2% annually, which, in cumulative terms, has caused an erosion of purchasing power of approximately 43%.

What can be inferred from recent years is that inflation behavior is quite distinct across different sub-items. 
Housing, as a real asset, saw the greatest increase in value, but this item is relevant across all generations, whether through acquisition or rental income. What's important to highlight is that regardless of whether an average annual inflation rate of 2% is maintained, it will be different for young people and the elderly.

For example, much of discretionary spending—which is linked to the consumption of textiles, household appliances, automobiles, and communications—will tend to have a more disinflationary effect, given that young people will have a smaller portion of their income available to spend on these items due to the new implications of savings and investment choices aimed at supporting longevity. In turn, older people have most of these needs, partially or completely, satisfied.

Conversely, consumption related to higher quality nutrition and better healthcare will increasingly weigh on the spending of older people, who seek to delay aging while ensuring a higher quality of life throughout their lives. The sheer number of tests, analyses, and surgeries, as well as their frequency in this new longevity paradigm, will put significant pressure on both public and private healthcare models, leading to a consistent rise in health insurance premiums.

In this context, pressure on healthcare costs may mean that older people will actually have to deal with higher inflation rates than younger people.

Finally, one last reflection on the ultimate impact of this longevity paradigm, which will translate into a consistent demand for real assets, in a world where inflation is no longer linear and the time horizon is expanding.

Longer life expectancy in adulthood will force citizens to redefine their investment timeframes, under the unequivocal goal of beating inflation, that is, guaranteeing their own purchasing power in the future.

On the other hand, we are in an era where public spending will increase due to the need for greater regional autonomy, where public and private financing needs will be demanding. This, along with increased longevity, undoubtedly reinforces the argument about the significant future weaknesses of social security systems.

In this world where we move at a dizzying speed, the excess of savings indexed to non-real instruments, such as bank deposits, will inevitably be transformed by various generations, at the risk of not having the resources to benefit from increased longevity. In truth, this awareness of saving through real assets is, today, the new imperative for survival for both new and old generations.