There is plenty of information available about how to future-proof your home so that it is ready for all the technological advances that will and may come along in the next few years.
But when you are looking for the best places to move to, how do you future-proof that decision?
I am not talking about where the best schools are, or where the highest paying jobs currently are, but how you choose an area to live in that will give you the best opportunities in a future that may be very different from the way you may perceive it to be now.
For example, if you work in a call center right now there may be little point in moving to an area with a high number of call centres. Why? Artificial Intelligence may all but eradicate that type of job in the not too distant future.
Over 1.3 million people in the UK work in call centres according to www.theguardian.com
But is that just scaremongering from people scared of change, or people genuinely afraid about how AI or robotics will change our lives, not in the way-off distant future, but in the next few short years?
Consider this. Due to climate change, governments will be under increasing pressure to switch all car owners over to electric vehicles, and they will have tight time scales to do so.
So in 2018, you moved to Swindon, for example, to work in the car manufacturing industry. But those factories will be closing as petrol-driven cars are banned. It will likely be too expensive for the manufacturers to refurbish the factories to produce new electric cars.
The associated car parts suppliers will close. Petrol stations will close. Car repair garages will close.
www.smmt.co.uk reports that over 1.3 million are employed in the automotive industry in the UK.
Then what happens to all those people who previously had a wage every month, who paid taxes, who contributed to the local economy by shopping every week.
What was once a high employment area with a booming local economy will soon become an area of high unemployment, high local debt, and shops closing by the dozen because they cannot survive.
Those that used to commute to work will be stuck out in the sticks with no way to get to any of the few stores that remain open and being faced with a totally unrealistic commute to whatever employment they can find in the next city or county.
Housing prices fall because of the lack of local investment and high unemployment.
Now consider that food imports from Europe will cost far more because of Brexit. So you have no wages coming in and prices in the shops are soaring. But the governments cannot increase unemployment payments because income from taxes has plummeted. And in all likelihood, there will be a worldwide collapse of most economies.
So just in our two examples, there could be a massive impact on the local economy if even 50% of those people were to become unemployed. Then multiply that 50% across dozens of other industries, and that is before a global economic downturn is taken into consideration.
Now just take a few moments to consider the huge debts that most western European countries are in, with some on the brink of bankruptcy already. They will all face the same problems as technology replaces workers and the demise of fossil fuel-powered cars forces hundreds of thousands into unemployment.
Whilst wars continue to rage, the flow of people fleeing to safety will only increase, all looking for work, somewhere to live, and putting more pressure on health services and costing each government even more money.
So what can you realistically do to future-proof your next home move?
You may also like to read:
- How to Decide Where to Live Next
- How to Decide Where to Relocate To For a Job
- What Type of Property is Right for me: House, Bungalow or Flat?
- How to Move Out of London
- Where to Exit Before Brexit: Move Before It Is Too Late
Future-Proof Locations: How to Choose an Area to Live In
Why do we choose to live in certain areas?
One of the biggest factors in deciding where to live is the availability of work or to be nearer family. Choosing the location of your new future-proof home is going to more critical than ever in the coming years.
If we currently choose to move home to be nearer family, will that change in the future? Will communication such as holographic video calls fill the need to be near family, or is it a physical need?
It is likely that technology will only increase life expectancy but that may also increase the need for a family to be closer together to provide old-age care and support.
So, the option to extend a property or be near towns where there are likely to more care homes, healthcare and medical facilities will be important.
Will a lack of funds or fewer people living in rural areas mean that public transport will only be available in more populated areas?
If we choose to live in certain areas because of the availability of work, how do you choose an area that will be future-proof?
Moving to a rural community? Will more and more rural communities become abandoned or will they thrive?
Will more and more people turn to vegetarianism as the price of meat soars and the carbon emissions of cattle become more of a climate change issue. If that is the case then arable farming communities will thrive, as will local processing plants. Conversely many aspects of the farming community may be devastated by climate control legislation or change of mass eating habits.
Will the cessation of EU farm subsidies mean the end of farming in the UK? Or will new markets emerge for our products as more trade deals are made worldwide?
Moving to a city? How will AI and robotics change retail, banking, public service, or the manufacturing and distribution industries in the future? Automated warehouse picking, driverless trucks, trains, taxis and buses, automated bank tellers, self-service supermarkets, these are just a few examples of jobs that robots could, and are, doing right now.
But there is plenty of work that robotics and AI are just not able to do yet. And if you looking for a forever home then you will want to consider how you will support yourself or your family in the future.
The next section of this guide will help you to research places and careers that may just be future-proof.
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