• IDENTITY THEFT IS GROWING MASSIVELY by “hackers and cyber-thieves who are hell-bent on penetrating and staling your financial or personal records in an effort to profit from that data… and the truth is that it’s highly unlikely that anyone, whether business or person, can thwart such attacks – which are designed & tested to poke & prod the most vulnerable aspects of technology and human interaction.” But here are a few tips from the experts: (1) Always avoiding free public WIFI Hotspots where hackers thrive by remotely grabbing your web-surfing data; (2) Changing passwords often and varying with letters, casing, numbers & special characters; (3) Carefully checking URLs for minor & sneaky variations; (4) ‘Freezing’ your credit report so that no changes can occur without a ‘specific unique code’; (5) Checking your social media privacy settings which can give hackers loads of data through profiles. [FORBES – May 5, 17]
  • ADDITIONAL PROTECTION is especially important for Seniors with Retirement savings who are “particularly lucrative targets for fraud or exploitation… often solicited by crooks posing as financial advisors who aren’t even fraudsters or breaking the law, but pitch investments that aren’t appropriate for retirees.” The Stanford Center on Longevity suggests security features available for financial accounts including election to receive fraud alerts, two-step authentication to access accounts online, voice authentication & other biometric features, text notifications for withdrawals exceeding a preset amount, avoiding receipt of paper statements which can be intercepted, and particularly “reducing asset liquidity & automating the payout process which protects against financial exploiters – including greedy friends, family members and hired caregivers who look for opportunities to take money from vulnerable elders.” DCG can assist strategy planning in this important area. [CBS MONEYWATCH – May 9, 17]
  • ‘SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY’ IS THE “REALM OF CREATING LIFE FROM SCRATCH… by applying principles of engineering to design, reimagine & fabricate entirely new biological systems & components that do not exist in nature. The field combines genomics and the chemical synthesis of DNA, allowing researchers to manufacture various DNA sequences quickly and assemble them in all new ways, creating unique genomes.” Roughly $1.2 billion was invested in this sector last year by some 400 companies worldwide, offering a spectrum from DNA synthesis & software to industrial chemicals which have “disrupted industrial-scale value propositions that define any technology business: effectiveness, lower cost, and repeatable precision… As with any new technology – especially one that touches healthcare, food and the environment – this industry has its critics… the crux of argument being: we shouldn’t play God; if we do, there may be unpredictable, Frankenstein-esque consequences that we can’t control,” but synthetic biology is well past the point of no return. [FUTURISM.COM – May 11, 17]
  • CONSENSUS IS SOLID THAT EXPANDING EMPLOYMENT CATEGORIES OVER THE NEXT 8 YEARS, based on statistical growth forecasts from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, will be mostly in providing medical care to seniors (occupational & physical therapy, nursing, audiology, optometry, genetic counselling, even ambulance drivers), wind turbine technicians, personal financial advisors (notwithstanding the pending surge to ‘roboadvisors’) and for some reason commercial divers. Next in line are the new fields created by technology: ‘BOT’ designers, programmers, scriptwriters & handlers; support staff & technicians to service drones, hydroponic & aeroponic food production, 3D printing (particularly in synthetic-tissue engineering related to replacement of human organs); and virtual-fashion design for digital jewelry, clothing & accessories.  [THE ECONOMIST –WORLD IN 2017]
  • FAKE OR NOT, “PAYING EXCESSIVE ATTENTION TO FINANCIAL NEWS IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR WEALTH… 90% of Warren Buffett’s success can be explained by three factors: Patience, Compound interest, and Time… There is virtually no correlation between what the economy is doing and stock market returns… and imposing a Calendar Year onto long term trending sine waves is not an appropriate measure of portfolio performance… The intrinsic value of the stock market as a whole increases by about 1% every six weeks. Everything else is noise… People talk about market averages, but historically markets rarely trade anywhere close to averages… If you were laid flat with your head in a freezer and your feet in a furnace, on average you’d be feeling comfortable.” [RVW INVESTING GEMS]

       Experts including Stephan Hawking predict that if we don’t ‘colonize’ other planets within the next century, the human species is in danger of literal extinction. Blade Runner: 2049 will be released next fall, presenting Ridley Scott’s film vision of the world just a few decades away. For a sneak preview:  https://futurism.com/new-blade-runner-2049-trailer-gives-you-a-glimpse-of-a-potential-dystopian-future/