Iran's Surge in Cosmetic Surgery and 3D-printed Communities: The Expanding Impact of Exponential Technologies
Plus, why the great wealth transfer won't save most retirees
Ric Edelman: It's Thursday, August 22nd. And I want to give you some updates in the field of exponential technologies. I've been talking about this with you for, oh my goodness, I don't know how long. I published my book, The Truth About Your Future back in 2017. This podcast is named for it. The Truth About Your Future, because the future is all that really matters. And quite frankly, it's all about exponential technologies.
There are two topics here I want to share with you, just to illustrate for you how we've been making continued improvements, growth enhancements, and more and more adoption of these technological innovations. You could say, I guess, that these two topics I'm going to share with you both fall in the category of design.
The first is your face. Hundreds of thousands of people every year are having cosmetic surgery in Iran. The chair of the Iranian Society of Plastic and Anesthetic Surgeons is now sounding an alarm about this. He was recently quoted in the Financial Times as saying, quote, “The authentic Iranian face is being distorted through invasive procedures. Incongruous Western beauty standards are forced upon Iranians.” Yeesh. Iran now ranks 12th in terms of the number of cosmetic surgeries that are occurring every year. It ranked 18th a decade ago. The most popular procedure in Iran? Rhinoplasty, a nose job... also liposuction, eyelid surgery, abdominoplasty and breast augmentation, they're very popular too.
The fascinating thing is that the medical industry doesn't have the same reporting requirements in Iran that it does in the United States. So Iran doesn't have a lot of reliable data. Some people think that Iran is not ranked 12th in the world in the number of surgeries, but actually in the top five, which would be rather astonishing considering its population isn't as big as other countries. Not a surprise to know that women are getting 80% of these surgeries. In Iran, rhinoplasty, a nose job, costs as little as $800. In the US, it's $6,000. It's so cheap to get a nose job in Iran, that Iran has now become a hotspot for medical tourism. People from not just the Middle East, but also Europe and even the US are all flocking to Iran to get cheap body upgrades. About 10% of all the surgeries there are for people who live in other countries.
And as I said back in 2017 in The Truth About Your Future, New York Times bestseller by the way, the biggest boom in medicine is cosmetic enhancement. Iran might be number five in the world with half a million procedures every year, but here in the US, we do more than 10 million annually. And it's not just vanity. A lot of studies show that self-esteem rises when you get physical improvements to your face and body, and not only does your self-esteem rise, so does your income. One study found that good looking people earn a quarter of a million dollars more over their careers than people with below average looks.
And here's the other update I wanted to share with you. 3D printing. I wrote about it in The Truth About Your Future back in 2017, that 3D printers can create physical objects from any digital model. And products can be made from thousands of materials. Metal, plastic, wax, rubber, composites, nylon, concrete, even food.
Eight years ago, when I wrote the book, we were already using 3D printers to make electronic circuits, drugs, artificial body parts like windpipes, ears, vertebrae, ribs, and prosthetics, cameras small enough to fit inside a syringe, and all sorts of products like running shoes. You fast forward to today, 3D printing, and here's the update has just been used to make the world's largest printed building. It's in Germany, was printed in about a week. It's 6,600 square feet. The design is more intricate than you can make any other way, and it's more environmentally friendly and lower in cost. We already have entire housing communities here in the United States where the homes are 3D printed. More are coming.
All of this is demonstrating the increased growth and commonality of exponential technologies. Not just cosmetic surgery and 3D printing, but AI, robotics, big data, nanotech, biotech, bioinformatics, FinTech, EdTech, AgTech, and of course, blockchain and digital assets. You need to recognize if you haven't by now, that all of this is the future. And so, the question is, how much of this is reflected in your portfolio? Stay tuned coming up next here on the podcast, one of the questions that I got from a listener here to the podcast.
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Ric Edelman: Welcome back. The Truth About Your Future continues. Got a question from Mike in Illinois. Here's what he wrote to me:
“I agree with you that Baby Boomers have not saved enough money to retire comfortably. Won't the great wealth transfer over the next 30 years help save some of them from financial ruin?”
Yeah, there is going to be a great wealth transfer. They're projecting as much as $30 trillion are going to transfer from the greatest generation and the Baby Boomer generation to the Millennials, Gen Xers and Gen Zs and so on over the next 30 years. Mike's question is coming from, as I talked about on a recent podcast, that the younger generations are not saving enough money, have not saved enough money, and they're facing financial destitution and retirement.
So Mike saying, look, with this great wealth transfer over the next several decades, isn't that going to solve the problem for some of these folks? Well, yeah, it'll solve the problem for some of these folks, but a very few of them. In other words, if you have a rich uncle, congratulations, you may get a big inheritance that solves your need to save, but most Americans don't have rich parents or grandparents.
In fact, it's just the opposite. Many people are discovering that their parents and grandparents haven't saved. Not only are you having to spend money on yourself and your children, you're sending money to your parents and grandparents to support them because they didn't do a good job, and they're unable to support themselves.
So I don't think this is really going to help an awful lot. Even when there are inheritances, there's going to be a big challenge for two reasons. Number one, most of the money that is held by most of the wealth is in retirement accounts. It's in 401k plans and in a thrift savings account for government workers and 403b's for nonprofit workers and, in IRA accounts. The result of all of that? When that money gets distributed, you're going to lose 40% of it to taxes. So take all of that wealth and pretty much cut it in half because of state and federal income tax. What's left is going to go to you as an heir. Sure. But it's also going to go to your brothers and sisters.
So think about this. Mom and dad have a million dollars. They die. They leave the money to you and your two brothers and sisters. That money is mostly in retirement accounts. That million dollars is now $600 grand net of taxes, and it's going to distribute it to the three of you. You're each getting $200,000.
Do you think the $200 grand is going to solve your retirement security problem? No, it'll help. Of course it can't hurt, but is it really going to solve the financial ruin that you'd otherwise be facing? It might delay it for a little while, but it isn't going to get you out of the hot water you're in. So, Mike, good idea about the wealth transfer that's coming, is it going to solve the nation's lack of retirement readiness? I wish it would, but it won't.
You can send me your question as well, just send it to AskRic@TheTruthAYF.com. The link is in the show notes.
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Ric Edelman: I’m glad you’re with me here on The Truth About Your Future. If you like what you're hearing, be sure to follow and subscribe to the show, wherever you get your podcasts, Apple, Spotify, YouTube – and remember leave a review on Apple podcasts. I read them all! Never miss an episode of The Truth About Your Future. Follow and subscribe on your favorite podcast app. I'll see you tomorrow.
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