I'm reading Dambisa Moyo's "How The West Was Lost" and came across a section on the changing demographic landscape in the developed world. One of the studies she mentioned is that half of the babies born these days in the wealthy nations will make it to 100. Life expectancy continues to increase linearly with no signs of slowing down.

People that are over 100 years old are the fastest grown segment of the American population. In 1940 there were less than 4K of them and today there are over 100,000.

Aside from the fact that the U.S. government with it's current spending (43% of our budget is spent on Medicare, Medicaid & SS) will implode in the upcoming future, what are some ways to position oneself today to prepare for this future? As in ... what are some industries (and companies) that primarily focus on the senior citizens that might be worth investing in either directly (as in ... developing and running a retirement community) or by purchasing stocks?

social services are not the budget problem, it is defense.

<----- politics that way

I've thought about this as well,,be curious what ppl come up with beyond retirement homes/at-home care/etc....

The SS, Medicare, funding comes from payroll and medicare taxes. The federal government has never paid a dime. In fact they raid it by keeping a massive surplus of the fund, then accumulating debt faster than the interest rate. The interest paid does not keep up with the inflation rate.

Wait a second:

Department of Heath and Human $940
Social Security Admin $882

Payroll tax $959.

buying anything now based on babies today becoming seniors is a waste of time. discount anything 65 years and it will have almost no value. if you want to invest for the baby boomers moving into their golden years that makes more sense. We own the largest drug chain in canada to benefit from the increasing amount of prescriptions

Property?

In city property in better older-friendly neighboods etc is no longer becoming available at the rates they were due to death and incapacity. The rate of death and incapacity of residents will continue to decline while the rates of those trying to move in from bigger lesold-friendly houses will increase.

There are REITS that buy and operate old people homes.

One I've invested in is HCN. As a note, I sold mine shares recently as its run up quite a bit and I think it's a bit overvalued. Long term it could still be a decent play as the demand for retirement homes keeps increasing (although there is the risk that government reimbursement for these homes decreases) plus it has a decent dividend. I might get back in if it drops back to around 55.

The old person care home my grandpa lived in for his last few cost 5k a month.