Imagine walking into a lab in your 50s, rolling up your sleeve for a routine blood test—and walking out with a glimpse into your retirement future. Not from your retirement plan, but your retirement prognosis.
The future of retirement planning may not begin with a portfolio or an investment strategy—but with a protein ratio.
It may sound like science fiction, but technology is rapidly evolving to reveal our possible futures. The FDA has approved the first blood test to aid in diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease. The Lumipulse G pTau217/β-Amyloid 1-42 Plasma Ratio measures proteins in the blood associated with amyloid plaque buildup in the brain—a hallmark of Alzheimer’s. While interpretation still requires a clinician, the test offers a far less invasive and more accessible alternative to PET scans and spinal taps.
More importantly, it signals a shift: from reactive to predictive diagnostics, and from treating disease to anticipating how long—and how well—we might live. These tools are already beginning to reshape how we think about aging, caregiving, and yes—even when and how we retire.
Longevity Diagnostics And Planning Life Tomorrow
A growing number of blood tests, genetic screens, and full-body scans promise early detection of chronic or fatal conditions well before symptoms appear. Although still expensive and not without scientific or social controversy, these tools are becoming increasingly available to the public. Some can be ordered without any physician involvement.
The highly affluent—always the early adopters of longevity medicine and tech—are boosting an entire industry of longevity centers that promise proactive interventions to what may impact future health. Many of their patients are already using these centers and diagnostics to plan not just their diets and workout routines but also their lives and how well they might live them.
Which raises a provocative question: Could what might be described as longevity diagnostics one day inform when we retire and how we prepare for life in older age?
Health And Wealth Planning Converge
Financial planning has focused on assumptions regarding how long we might live and what it might cost. Health has been viewed primarily as a function of hypothetical future costs in wealth planning. But, life expectancy and possible health cost estimates are blunt instruments at best, based on national averages and actuarial tables. They don’t account for the nuances of individual biology, lifestyle, or environmental risks.
But that may be changing.
Longevity diagnostics now offers hyper-personalized insights into our likely healthspan—the length of time we can expect to live in good health. From full-body scans offered by firms such as Prenuvo to blood tests such as Galleri that scan for biomarkers of cancers and other diseases, these diagnostic services and other entrants are now joined by AI-enhanced platforms that aim to turn biological data into predictive insights.
Today, these tools are primarily used to make better lifestyle decisions: change your diet, exercise more, and consider preventive care. However, they could one day serve as the foundation for transforming retirement and financial planning into longevity planning by triggering and shaping larger conversations: When do I stop working? Should I move closer to family now, not later? Should I start planning for caregiving support even if I feel fine?
Your Possible Future(s) In A Vial?
The FDA’s approval of the Lumipulse test includes measuring two proteins in the blood and using their ratio to predict the presence of amyloid plaques, often years before the clinical symptoms of Alzheimer’s appear.
This could be a game changer. Until now, confirming Alzheimer’s required either a costly scan or a far more invasive test. The new Lumipulse blood test is described as cheaper, faster, and easier to access. For now, it is intended for use in specialized clinical settings, not as a general screening tool.
Still, the direction of this and other technologies is clear: a future in which a simple blood draw may reveal a glimpse of a possible future. These diagnostic tools are not just a product of science; they are also a social signal in the longevity economy, introducing a wide range of new needs and considerations.
For instance, knowledge brings both personal and societal challenges.
The FDA was quick to caution that the Lumipluse test may produce false positives and negatives—each carrying its own risks. A false positive could lead to misdiagnosis, unnecessary treatment, and psychological distress, while a false negative could delay urgently needed care.
These tests not only provide data but also raise significant concerns regarding privacy and potential discrimination in employment, insurance underwriting, and other areas.
And then there is the emotional cost of simply knowing. What do you do if your test results indicate an elevated risk of a condition for which there is no cure or only limited treatments? What plans can you make?
The Promise And Peril Of Predictive Knowing
Health data can empower, but it can also overwhelm. A positive result for a future condition doesn’t come with a roadmap. It comes with uncertainty.
This is where retirement and financial planning practices need to evolve to focus more on longevity planning. It is no longer simply about projecting returns or budgeting withdrawals. Instead, it revolves around preparing for scenarios we never thought we’d face in our 50s, 60s, 70s, and beyond: What if I know I may face cognitive decline? What if I have time to prepare, but lack clarity about exactly when or how fast? Consider how employees with access to insights about their possible futures might change their preferences for employer-provided benefits.
The integration of health diagnostics and financial planning might trigger earlier and informed discussions and decisions around fundamental longevity preparedness issues in older age, such as:
- Making work optional sooner, or even later
- Downsizing or modifying the home
- Moving closer to children or care communities
- Creating a living trust or power of attorney before decline
A New Longevity Literacy
The future of retirement planning is already being rewritten to address longevity, not just finances. Longevity planning encompasses a more holistic discussion about how to live in older age, rather than merely how to pay for it. Science is now presenting the possibility that planning for later life will also be informed by biological insights, emotional resilience, and a new understanding of what it means to know. This will demand a new and expanded longevity literacy for individuals, families, and financial services.
We will need tools to help individuals and families interpret these results, not just clinically but also practically. Additionally, we will require new ethical frameworks for when, how, and to whom to disclose this information, personalized planning processes and product innovation, as well as new social norms for planning with more, albeit imperfect, knowledge.
Above all, we need to resist viewing all test results as destiny, particularly genetic testing. How well we chose our parents certainly increases both good and poor health probabilities. However, at least for now, results may be best seen as a prompt—to plan differently, to act sooner, and to have critical conversations.
Longevity Preparedness Tomorrow
While longevity medicine and science are rapidly advancing, a parallel effort must be made to develop the soft side of responding to the hard questions these technologies may bring to individuals, families, and society. Here are three questions to begin a larger discussion in the new age of longevity planning.
- If a blood test indicates early signs of Alzheimer’s or other existential conditions where treatment is unavailable or uncertain, would you want to be informed?
- Would it change when or how you plan to retire?
- How might it shape the planning conversations you have with your family, your employer, or your financial advisor?
The financial services industry has worked for decades to make retirement more predictable with financial calculators, models, and simulations. However, the next generation of planning tools may not originate from Wall Street or fintech wizards. Instead, they may emerge from a lab.