It’s nice to believe that nothing will change from the way it is today, and we can easily plan the rest of our lives without accounting for things like climate change, a shifting economy, natural disasters, and an unstable political landscape.
That’s not reality, of course, so if you’re keen to worry (and maybe plan for) some stark changes in the reality of what some things might cost, here are 15 people’s ideas of what exactly those items might be.
15. We’ll get over streaming?
CDs and DVDs. Vinyl records have come back and so will other physical media. Streaming has a place but so many people have already started experiencing streaming fatigue and not actually owning anything but paying for it all to be in the “cloud”
I think many people will and do choose to buy vinyls or CDs because while it’s convenient to being able to pay for online access for media, having a physical copy of something you like is very satisfying.
14. You hate to hear it.
Chocolate. Cocoa trees need years to grow, 7 years before flourishing and giving first nuts. They need specifical heat and humidity throughout their growth.
Due to global warning and climate changes, current plantations will no longer producer any nuts, and the ideals spots will move to North (in North hemisphere) faster than trees grow.
This will lead to a lack of cocoa production within 50 years. Assuming Asia is still a growing market for chocolate, the supply will reduce while the demand rise hard.
I was interested in investing in cocoa, but I definitely don’t have any funds for this. I’m 100% sure I’ll regret it in my olds days
13. Why would it go up, though?
Helium. The fact i can get balloons for decoration filled with such an essential element is crazy.
It’s filtered out of natural gas and came from the decay of radioactive elements. When it’s gone, it’s gone.
12. We’re going to be a very crabby bunch.
Coffee. Global warming is reducing favorable places for coffee to be grown.
11. You’ll go green whether you like it or not.
Parts for combustion vehicles, as the economy of scale moves in the opposite direction then things like spark plugs and filters will become more expensive.
10. We can’t live without it.
Water.
If the world supply for freshwater became that competitive, there would also be a tech arms race for distilling salt water into a potable source.
Which exists, but is horribly energy-intensive and produces a pretty toxic brine that you need to pump back out to sea somewhere away from your intake.
9. Ever thought of becoming a vegetarian?
Meat, even though it’s already gone up a considerable amount in the past year. Shortages of all types of meat have moved us to move to a much more plant-based diet.
8. Think about it.
YouTube
It’ll cost $0.99 in the future.
They sure are pushing it with those commercials every hot minute. Can’t even watch any long form videos anymore.
7. A brave new world.
Electricity. As electric cars become more common infrastructure needs updating. Even without an electric vehicle everybody will get hit with some sort of rate increase to cover the costs of updating.
And as is typical with governments, they will probably implement a road tax on charging stations and find a way to have an additional tax on any home chargers you use to charge a vehicle.
6. Those are cheap?
Anything related to the Xbox 360, PS3, or Nintendo Switch. Right now they are at their nadir and people will pay you to take them.
Pretty soon they will start getting collectable and prices for games, consoles, and accessories will go up.
5. Andrew Jackson will be thrilled.
physical US Dollars
4. Very specific.
Bungalows in rust belt climate haven cities In 10-20 years gonna be so expensive.
I have one of these. Used to be able to buy one for under $70k 10 years ago. $150k today if it’s nice, $120k if it’s a fixer upper. They’ve gone through the roof. It’s cheaper right now to build than to buy, even with the stupid high construction prices.
3. This will hurt more than you think.
Chinese products. China by the day is becoming a more powerful and rich country. With such a low unemployment rate and their economy growing at unprecedented speeds, wages have started increasing as have quality of life.
Even under a communist government people are slowly getting better jobs and China is now rich enough to start importing foreign goods from much poorer countries instead of having their own people make low quality items.
2. I’ll have to think about this one.
Silver.
Silver is the most undervalued strategic, industrial and monetary metal on the planet.
1. Take this answer and apply it to your grocery budget.
Food is as cheap as it will ever be. Climate change is going to cause those prices to skyrocket.
I’m definitely fascinated by this topic.
Do you think these people are right? Wrong? Tell us why in the comments!