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February 26, 2019 at 01:00 PM
Ric Edelman is on a mission to warn financial advisors that the world they live and operate in is poised to change dramatically and exponentially within the next 20 years, if not sooner. Many of their clients will live beyond 100 years old due to advances in medicine and genomics, retirement will become obsolete and close to half the jobs that exist currently will disappear.
“Ask your client if their job is safe … if their employer is safe. … We have to start retraining ourselves to be vital for our clients,” Edelman told the crowd at the Inside ETFs conference in mid-February.
It’s a warning that Edelman, founder of Edelman Financial Services, which merged with Financial Engines last year, has made times before. This time he also listed the industries that will be at risk, which could impact the stocks in which advisors invest clients’ funds.
“By 2025, 40% of Fortune 500 companies won’t exist,” said Edelman, referring to a study by the Olin Graduate School of Business, which he also cites in his book “The Truth About Your Future: The Money Guide You Need Now, Later and Much Later.”
“By 2035 47% of current jobs won’t exist,” due to robots, AI and blockchain, according to Edelman. “Technology will wipe out a vast array of jobs.”
Then he listed those industries that are at-risk: life insurers, annuity marketers, disability insurers, long-term care insurers, and nursing homes because people will be living much longer and healthier lives; auto insurers and automakers because there will be self-driving cars that will service individuals who will no longer need to own a vehicle — “they’ll take the one that comes next” — and chiropractors because there be less accidents and less whiplash from self-driving vehicles; the energy sector because of widespread use of solar; and banks and brokerages because of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, which will wipe out the middleman.
