Trends in 2020 and how will they affect you.
How to look at the world around us is not easy and a little be scary. No one can predict the future, but when futurists study trends they can get a pretty good idea of what will happen. Of course, it is easier to predict what may happen next year than it is to write a scenario for 2030.
That is why it is important to check trends at least once a year. You don’t want to be blindsided by something out of the blue. Here are 14 trends you need to follow. Technology evolves quickly, You need to know how to adapt. When you know what to expect you will be able to take advantage of opportunities and avoid trouble.
Enter the Career Strategist
One of my jobs as a career strategist is to look at current trends and suggest how we can deal with them. It is anyone’s guess what the future will look like in 2030. But strong trends are happening now that give us a window into the future.
One thing we can be sure of is the pace of change is accelerating. People tend to be scared, uncertain, and upset by change. We have to learn to accept change and adapt to it.
The Two Cs
The greatest threats we face are the two Cs. Conflict and Climate Change. By 2030 extreme storms will be so common even climate deniers will have to accept the fact that our climate has changed.
Regional Conflicts will increase as desperate people are forced to move to regions of a more moderate climate and away from rising seas. The nations of this world can either accept refugees or they can build walls and watch a few billion people die.
Preparation
We must be as personally and financially resilient as possible. Dealing with a human or natural disaster takes money, so the first step is to make sure you have an adequate passive income based on several income streams. I believe the only practical way for most people to achieve financial resilience is to have a side gig they can scale up quickly when needed.
When your home is destroyed by a hurricane, tornado or earthquake you need the financial resources to either rent another home or camp out on your property until your home can be restored. You will need shelter, food, water, camping equipment, and cash to survive without stores, filling stations, and banks until the power can be restored.
Plan on having to take care of your self without support from anyone for at least 3 days. If you live in a rural area it may take a month or more to restore power. If you live in Hawaii, as I do, you may be on your own for months before power, water and supply chains can be re-established.
Personal and financial resilience is a very personal matter. It requires you to analyze your risk, decide how likely something will happen and then prepare based on your assessment of the risk.
What trends will affect our lives?
Climate Change
Climate change is a huge problem. It will make large areas of the earth uninhabitable. Sea Level Rise will flood coastal cities just as rural residents are forced into cities by crop failure. Heat and drought will make it impossible to grow food. Agriculture for many crops will have to shift to the north.
Automation
Automation will make any repetitive job obsolete. Future jobs will require much high job skills. Entire segments of our current workforce will become obsolete. If you have not established your brand, you will be unemployable. Most people will be freelancing.
Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency will be the great disruptor of our financial system. Bitcoin is here to stay. We will see how its competitors fare. Bitcoin uses a system called blockchain to make transactions animous and virtually unhackable. The value of Bitcoin and other BlockChain based systems are determined by demand.
Some Countries have made cyber currencies illegal. They don’t want 3rd parties competing with their financial systems. Expect to see more nations set up their cryptocurrency systems. Private companies are trying to set up their cryptocurrency systems. Facebook plans such a system and has some well-financed companies supporting their effort.
China has already set up its cryptocurrency system.. The Chinese cyber currency is not based on blockchain. It cannot be traded and is worth whatever the Chinese say it is worth. China’s New Digital Currency Is Called ‘DCEP’ – but What Is It? – Bitsonline
Cyber currency will be much more common and accepted. Be careful when you use cyber currency. It can be very volatile
The end of Career Paths as we have known them.
The workplace has changed. When I was a kid the advice was to get a college education, get a job with Government and spend 40 years working your way up the career ladder.
Now, most college graduates are unable to get a job in their chosen field and many are underemployed. People are hired to complete a project or do a job. When they are no longer needed they are fired.
If you are smart you will find a new opportunity when you are no longer growing in your present job. A college degree is obsolete within 5 years and the only thing that interests an employer is what kind of skills you can bring to their company. Employers want to know what you have accomplished.
On the job training is rare. Providing benefits like retirement and health insurance and maintain your relevant job skills will be your responsibility. You need to make $50/hr to maintain a middle-class lifestyle. To pay for continuing education, retirement, healthcare and send your kids to college you need to make at least $150/hr.
Most people I know are living paycheck to paycheck and have less than $1000 in savings. The only solution I can see for most people is a business of their own. It must be a business that provides passive income so the income doesn’t stop when you can no longer work.
The impact of propaganda and fake news.
This is the era of the big lie. Liars in our society are brazen and unapologetic. They know if they tell you a lie often enough you will start to believe it.
Foreign Governments use propaganda to subvert our way of life and promote authoritarian forms of government. Our politicians lie to discredit, demean and destroy their opposition. They refer to the Deep State as though it was some kind of conspiracy when it is, in
fact, Government Employees doing their best to serve their country.
Check your sources. The first step to fascism is to destroy the credibility of the free press.
The collapse of capitalism into an economy controlled by a few powerful oligarchs.
Capitalism works just fine at the local level of small business. When capitalism is controlled by a few powerful oligarchs it destroys our democratic way of life.
Factoring
We are overdue for the next big crash. People and small businesses are deeply in debt. Factoring is shaping up as a massive debt bubble. When the Fed has to raise interest rates to counter inflation our whole economic system will come crashing down. It will make 2008 look like child’s play.
Get out of debt.
Again, the only way I see from the average person to survive economically is to develop a profitable business that doesn’t depend on risky loans to operate.
Our Democratic Republic is at risk. The road to fascism is 1. Control the media. 2. Create division by denigrating minorities. 3. Suppress the vote amongst minorities. 4. Control the justice system by requiring unquestioning loyalty to your leaders.
Look around you and what do you see?
Famine and the rise of plant and cell-based meat.
Expect high temperatures and drought to cause massive crop failures. A prudent person will have emergency supplies to sustain their family for a year.
Current research will come to market that will allow the meat to be produce from cellular and plant material. It could be the end of our industrial system of meat production. It could mean the destruction of an entire industry and the jobs that go with it.
Wars over water and other critical resources
Local and regional conflicts will become even more common and intense as crops fail and even water becomes a scares recourse.
The population is expected to add 3 billion people to the population of our planet by 2030. If we cannot find a way to feed 9 billion people we can expect the Malthusian Theory to kick in with a vengeance.
In Hawaii, we import 95% of our food across 3000 miles of ocean. Any disruption in our supply chain will cause mass starvation. As crops fail around the world, competition for food will intensify. Food prices will rise and those who have food will try to hoard it. It will become increasingly difficult to find food to import to regions that cannot supply their food.
A changing demographics
By 2050 and probably sooner, Caucasians will be in the minority. Expect a rise in hate crimes as racial groups try to maintain and assert power.
A $12 Trillion debt bubble will burst as soon as the Fed decides to raise interest rates. This crash could plunge us into a depression that will take decades to climb out of.
In 2008 the crash was caused by sub-prime loans which the debtor couldn’t continue to pay once the higher interest rate kicked in. In 2020 the problem will be factoring which most small businesses depend on for working capital.
Factoring contracts have some nasty provisions in their contracts.
The internet is used as a tool to compete economically.
Any business that doesn’t have an internet presence will be out of business. Individuals will have to use the internet to brand themselves. Artificial Intelligence will scan resumes for needed skills and select a subset of potential employers. AI will then scan the internet to learn about potential candidates. If AI doesn’t find the information it is looking for, a human being will never see your resume.
Cyber warfare is everywhere. The United States, Russia, China, North Korea have very sophisticated cyber warfare units. They are engaged in all kinds of mischief
Political turmoil
Expect the political gridlock in Washington to continue and even intensify as immoral politicians learn the power of the lie from Trump. As long as Corporations are defined as people oligarchs will rule.
In states where they rule, Republicans will continue to suppress minority votes by micro-gerrymandering, purging voter lists, and making it harder for people to vote.
The decade of 2020 will be a decade of distrust.
Outright, brazen and shameless lying will be the norm and no one will be able to trust anyone. Conspiracy theories will be rampant. You already have seen how a President who believes in a Russian promoted conspiracy theory that Ukraine was behind medaling in our 2016 election has subverted our foreign policy.
Enough of pessimism
I have to be optimistic. I have to keep working to achieve my goals. All my life one of those goals has been to leave a better world to my children and yours. I haven’t succeeded, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t keep trying.,
I believe there are enough people out there that we can counter these trends by woring2gether for positive solutions. The internet makes it possible for small groups of people from around the world to work together for the common good.
Just as the internet facilitates bad behavior it can also be a tool for good people to come together to solve problems and create a society that uplifts all of humanity. We must keep our lines of communication open and free.
Values I Treasure
I believe individuals have the right to do what they want so long as their actions don’t hurt others.
Loyalty, honor, truthfulness, compassion, empathy, helping others, free speech and respect are values that are important to me. My values are under attack by people who believe the art of the deal is to lie, cheat and to destroy anyone who disagrees with them.
We are at a cross road. 2020 will determine whether we, as people, go the way of freedom and compassion or we go with the persecution of minorities and the establishment of an authoritarian government.
We have a stark choice. Will we love our neighbor or will we hate our neighbor. The trends are clear. The question is, “How will you use that knowledge?”
What dangers do you face? What opportunities can you take advantage of? How can you make things work out in your favor? Know what dangers you face and how you can mitigate them. Watch for opportunities you can take advantage of. Be prepared. Build a side gig you can scale up when your job is no longer providing you the income you need.
Take time to create new relationships and strengthen old ones. Good relationships are the most important things in your life. Know what you want to accomplish in your life and consistently work on your goals a little bit every day.