Blog
Scroll Down

Trend 6: Nicer, Smarter, Healthier

Investment Outlook 2016 – Trend 6 , Published Oct 3, 2016

This blog is part of Sanctum Wealth Management’s Mid-year Investment Outlook 2016. The Outlook gives us an opportunity to step back and look at the big picture to identify trends that have the potential to affect investment portfolios, both domestically and globally. We’re focused on six key trends and this week’s blog calls attention to how the realms of necessary care will broaden and people from all walks of life will seek medical treatments for healthy living, spurring innovation.

Innovation and breakthroughs are coming in the form of new and novel technologies, like the iPad, Twitter or FitBit.

People of all walks of life are seeking medical treatments for a better quality of life, spurring innovation.

Innovations that transform our habits and are customisable to suit our needs, from drinking a coffee to buying clothes, are thriving. Innovators recognize a basic tenet, that the needs of the consumer in Brazil and South Africa aren’t very different from the needs of the consumer in Japan. Bain & Co. mentioned five potential platform technologies in a recent report; nanotechnology, genomics, artificial intelligence, robotics and ubiquitous connectivity, as having immense promise over the coming decade.

Developments across technologies will be mutually reinforcing. According to Bain’s research, advances in nanotechnology will enable the enhanced computational power necessary for breakthroughs in artificial intelligence. Nanotechnology will spawn new technologies for manipulating DNA, which will accelerate advancements in genomics. More than ever, technology and lifestyle will move hand in hand.

In advanced markets, aging populations and increasing rates of chronic conditions such as obesity and diabetes will continue to inflate healthcare costs. Healthcare will expand into new products and service guises to become more interactive. The scope of what constitutes necessary care will broaden and consumers will spend more than ever on personal wellness. The rich and middle class will increase spending on critical and vanity health care.

Developed countries will be focused on managing the diseases of affluence: obesity, diabetes and chronic health issues besides age related illnesses. Cancer and heart disease will garner increasing amounts of R&D spend. Healthy living and healthy products will move from discretionary to necessary spending while customer attention to spas, vitamins and wellness will also go up. Spending on medical treatment will shoot up.

Per capital levels of healthcare spending in advanced economies will remain much higher due to the higher cost of healthcare products and services in these economies. Certain treatments such as therapeutic massages, Lasik, in-vitro fertilization, cosmetic surgery and vitamins/nutraceuticals will become mainstream.

“People of all walks of life are seeking medical treatments for a better quality of life, spurring innovation.”

Also read about:

Mid-Year Investment Outlook 2016

Top