Invest in old age to make your savings last (2024)

If you want your savings to live long and prosper, it could be worthwhile to invest in the ageing population.

Advances in medical science mean life expectancy has been improving — so more of us will spend decades in old age.

There were 901 million people aged over 60 in the world in 2015 — representing 12.3 per cent of the population, according to the Office for National Statistics.

By 2030 this is expected to rise to 1.4billion — 16.4 per cent of the population.And by 2050, 2.1billion of us, or 21.3 per cent of the population, will be 60 or over.

So how can you capitalise on this predicted ageing boom, especially now that more than 90 per cent of over-65s in the UK have been vaccinated against Covid?

Rob Burgeman,investment manager at Brewin Dolphin, says the pharmaceutical industry is an obvious choice, and that Covid vaccine research helped gather more information on treating other geriatric diseases and conditions.

Mr Burgeman suggests investment fund SPDR World Health ETF, which includes healthcare stocks such as pharma giant Pfizer and medical products firm Johnson & Johnson. The fund would have turned £10,000 in to £17,521 over the past five years.

The iShares Ageing Population fund tracksshares linked to the older population and includes stocks such as medical facilities multinational Tenet Healthcare and cancer research firm Novocure. It would have turned a £10,000 investment into £16,380 since it launched in September 2016.

Mr Burgeman says individual stocks worthy of a look include eyecare product firm Alcon, which would have turned £10,000 into £11,254 since shares became available in April 2019; and hearing-aid maker GN Store Nord, which would have turned the £10,000 into £43,772 over five years.

Swiss dental implant firm Straumann AG also would have turned £10,000 into £43,349 over five years. Finally, Mr Burgeman tips Zimmer Biomet— the firm behind the Zimmer Frame.

The American company also makes other medical devices such as artificial hip joints and spinal implants. A £10,000 investment made five years ago would now be worth £92,092.

Tom Selby, senior analyst at investment broker AJ Bell, suggests medical technology firm Smith & Nephew, which would have turned £10,000 into £14,340 over five years. He says: 'Although people are living, and staying healthy, for longer, their bodies still grow old and will need running repairs.'

He also suggests backing holiday provider Saga, cruise operator Carnival and coach holiday company National Express.

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