Finnish men hold on average 62 percent more investment wealth than women.
Seems like a massive gap, and it is - but it doesn't really tell the whole story, even though this is what people in Finland will remember. Because while the investment wealth gap is massive, the median wealth gap is at 11%. This is because older me, especially those already retired, have significantly more investments that women of the same age, because they were earning in a different time and benefiting from massive economic growth and high interest rates on their savings and investments.
But it should be remembered.
Those men also had children.
Over the last 70 years, the live births per 100 people has dropped dramatically, going from over 24 to 8.5 as of 2025. Those older men with investments will soon pass away and then pass on that wealth to their spouses (who tend to outlive them) and their two to three or more children. And what is interesting is that because the birth rate is so low, the people who will be getting those inheritances have less children, if any at all. That means that the accumulated investment wealth will be distributed, but will be spread among a smaller pool of people than it would have done had birth rates remained the same.
Essentially, this wealth is going to become far more "disposable" than it would have been if there were more children, which means it is going to be spent on more consumer and lifestyle purchases, since it is likely that the people inheriting will have a job already. Yes, some might pay off their house, but many will travel, buy holiday homes, upgrade cars and push that investment wealth back into the pockets of consumer corporations.
And while in the past that would be great because it would mean more jobs, with automation replacing humans in the workplace, not many more jobs will be created even though a huge amount of wealth will be captured. It is going to be the largest wealth transfer between generations ever, but for the most part, the beneficiaries are going to be the billionaires, and likely a handful of new trillionaires.
Lately I feel like investing isn't going to have great returns for humanity, or even the people investing that many believe it will have. At some point, the market eats itself and there aren't enough consumers to keep a business profitable, no matter how efficiently they create the product. If people can't afford to buy, it doesn't matter what is sold. And then, no matter how much wealth an individual has, it isn't going to e a great life for anyone when the majority are in constant hardship, facing daily violence and it is unsafe to walk the streets anywhere, day or night.
And while the wealthiest will be able to insulate themselves on an island or in a bunker, the reality is that only the top of the 0.1% will have that option. The rest will be doing the best they can where they are, with little chance to truly insulate. It is a bit like average people arguing over which mid-range car is the best because it makes them feel special, when the reality is that mid-range is nothing compared to a private jet.
Those who can insulate are in a different class.
If you are reading this, you are not in that class.
I think that while we are arguing over wealth gaps between men and women, opportunity gaps between generations, and what pronouns someone uses, we are missing the fundamental conversation that we need to have as a society at all levels:
What kind of society do we want?
Because I think that we can all agree based on the current state of the world and the projections for the future, that this is not it. We keep looking for ways we can survive as individuals, keep chasing a fantasy sold as reality, keep pushing for stability, security, and opportunity - that just can't materialise from the environment we have created. It is a blood from a stone scenario, where what we need isn't possible from the way we are doing things.
With the changing technology, I reckon we are facing an existential threat to our species. Not because AI will take over and kill us all, but because the automation will replace everything we do that matters to us. It will be better than us at all we hold dear, and will be more efficient, more accurate, and willing to work non-stop at all the things that we do for an income. If we do not reimagine what it means to live as a society, we are just going to peter out into the ether, in a crush of disillusionment and violence.
Because we are human; we will not lay down, we will fight, even when it is futile, even when it is for the wrong cause.
The answers aren't in more financial mechanisms to generate more imaginary wealth that we for now can trade for something. It is in our actions as a species to build the kind of world where we can live and thrive, create and collaborate, to build the kind of society we want to live in.
One that matters, making us matter.
But we will not focus our attention on improving our actions. Instead, we will keep playing the game that we have been conditioned to play for hundreds of years, despite it leading us to where we are today - close to social collapse.
We all die.
But how did we live?
Taraz
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