Luxury Wellness, How The 1% Invests In Their Health
In today’s tech climate, more and more wealth is exponentially building quicker than ever. The Big Five ( Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Google and Facebook) are currently valued at $9.3 Trillion, which is more than the next 27 most valuable US companies combined. And with their rise, more tech millionaires and billionaires are investing in their health more than ever. As history tells us, these trends will one day be every common man-and-woman’s practice. So here are a few ways the ultra-rich are investing in their own health.
(https://www.newsweek.com/jeff-bezos-bill-gates-mark-zuckerberg-billionaires-815675)
"How to stop aging" is a two-fold question. The first, how do we live longer? The second, how do we keep-up our aptitude with age? Both questions are understandably being researched extensively by the super rich. After all, you can't buy time. As the investment publication Family Capital once wrote. “If you’re very rich, apart from staying fit and eating a healthy diet, a way of trying to prolong one’s age is to invest in new medications that might just increase one’s life—and also make a lot of money in the process.” Though billionaires investing in longevity is not a new activity, today it seems everyone with tech company behind them is investing in anti-aging. As recent as earlier this month, Jeff Bezos recently invested in the anti-aging Biotech startup, Altos Labs. The goal? To reprogram human cells into a stemcell “growth” state. But this isn’t the first, and far-from the only super rich investor into slowing the aging process. After all, longevity is one challenge, but having a high standard of life well into your 90s, 100s, or beyond, is another. This second challenge will take the culmination of many many solutions. It will mean curing cancers, neurological and immune system disorders. It will mean investing in biochemical research, sleep apps. for your phone, and everything in between. Michael Bloomberg, Bill Gates, Tim Disney (yes, that Disney), Mark Zuckerberg with Priscilla Chan and Richard Branson are a few of the many ultra-wealthy actively investing in solving or optimizing longevity.
(~https://sharpbrains.com/blog/2019/07/09/limitless-evidenceless-trend-the-growth-of-nootropic-supplements/)
So luxury wellness starts with investing in pro-longing your own lifespan with a high-standard of living. But what about today? If you can afford luxury healthcare, how do you optimize your health today? Years ago I heard of how young silicon valley-aires were taking special vitamins that optimized their brains. Similar to Bradley Cooper’s 2011 film Limitless, these nootropics helped them focus, improve cognitive function, and memory. So they can function at their top capacity today. What’s interesting is versions of these smart-drugs vitamins are on the over-the-counter market today. Medical News Today notes that the prescription forms of these drugs, or cognitive enhancers ADHA, narcolepsy, and Alzheimer's. Some of the over-the-counter substances have simple dexterities - they might include a natural caffeine without coffee’s jittery side-effects. Or they take substances that have been proven to help those with severe illnesses (say parkinsons) and advertise them as helping healthy adults’ brains. Still, the nootropics market is worth billions of dollars. The ultra-wealthy know that time, focus, memory, and cognitive function got them to where they are today, financially and understandably, they don’t want those same brain aptitudes to go away. In fact, increasing these abilities, specifically for your own brain chemistry, is not only #healthgoals, it’s a prescriptive luxury for their every-day.
(~https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limitless_(film))
Which brings us to another investment the super rich are doing today - concierge medical practices. The New York Times reports that “these boutique practices charge as much as $80,000 per family per year. Those fees provide personal care of a physician, who is willing to make house calls or meet clients at work or an airport.” Yep. While a swelling portion of the U.S. 99% struggles to pay for basic healthcare, the ultra-wealthy have custom healthcare come to them. It’s family-based healthcare access 24/7, in the privacy of your home, with a physician that knows your personal history intimately. I can’t help but think how similar this is to doctors on the American frontier - they often took care of their own close community, and came directly to your bedside. Now that practice is a luxury! The past few decades concierge care has existed, a few versions have developed. Whether that’s true all-in access for a full-time doctor. Or an added fee to your healthcare plan to simply skip-the-lines, it’s luxury healthcare today, and every man/woman’s practice tomorrow.
(~https://lanserhof.com/en/)
Last, but not least, the ultra-rich get away. That may mean a 10-day meditation repeat to clear the mind, or a stay the Austrian Alps. The Lanserhof Health Center treats a range of ailments - from optimizing physical wellness, sleep, detoxing, emotional health, tai chi, and even executive life coaching. The assumption being; if a boutique concierge care doesn’t do the trick, perhaps a vacation will. Top tier restaurants, spas, and breathtaking views included. But ya’know what? I think this will become more and more the norm. A generation ago if someone “went away” for health, it was concerning. Today, if a friend or family member travels to a health center in Costa Rica or outside Santa Fe, I’m curious to learn what health aptitude they were enhancing - was it yoga, fasting, or physical therapy?
(~ https://www.galeriemagazine.com/10-of-the-most-luxurious-wellness-resorts-around-the-world/)
Luxury wellness is ever-upgrading. Whether that means investing in anti-aging tech, brain-boosting vitamins, custom boutique care, or health-vacations, these methods may seem like a fantasy reach for many today, but are doubtlessly basic wellness practices of tomorrow.