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I am driving in California while enjoying my espresso, made by an espresso machine built into my car’s dashboard next to my iCar-screen, which is playing an old classic movie called Terminator-2. It is a wonderful day, the skies are clear and the sun is shining bright. The solar powered batteries show a range of 1000 miles and I feel great. We are on our way to one of the fastest growing companies in the world, located in Mountain View. I am going there to copy my consciousness and brain functions to a computer, making “me” immortal in a way. Don’t ask me why, but this is becoming a real rage and I am part of the early heard willing to pay $999 for my upload. As rages go these days, they go global in a flash. Nine billion minds are the potential market for this company and investors are going crazy over its pending public offering. My iCar-screen flashes and tells me the S&P500 just hit a new high of 35,000. I will live to become 500 and the year is 2050.
You think I am crazy, right? Well think again or rather read more about the seeds of the future being sown today and believe in the potential of our collective minds to leap forward. You probably know of Google Ventures, but you probably don’t know it has $2 billion invested in 280 startups making it one of the biggest Venture Capital companies around. Two of these startups invest in longevity: one through genetic research, trying to find the gene that is responsible for ageing and the other through molecular research, by sending agents into our bodies to battle diseases before they become lethal. Last year, Yale Medical School succeeded to reverse ageing in mice. Who is next in line please?
Really, hear me out. The year 2050 is only 35 years away and if you think this is a long time, I dare you to flip it and reverse it. You will get 1965, a world populated with just 3 billion people with the S&P500 at 665 and a life expectancy of 70. In 1965 there were no personal computers, no mobile phones, no commercial use of solar energy and there was no World Wide Internet. Ancient history, right? Since 1965 our two-legged race has increased with 4 billion souls and in the next 35 years there will be another 2 billion joining. Yes, it is going to get busy.
For long-term investors there is much optimism and opportunity hidden in these numbers. Over the next 35 years, 5 billion people will move up the wealth scale creating the largest consumer group ever to have ever existed. Think about all the things they will want to do and have. In the next 35 years, 2 billion dollars invested in 280 startups by Google will likely create very fast growing companies, suggesting great investment opportunities. Companies like Google’s backed Calico, working to extend life expectations, will make saving for your retirement so 2015 and maybe totally obsolete. Think about all the things you will want to do and have when you live a healthy and able life for 500 plus years. Do you still think the same about your investment horizon…? Hasta la vista baby!