Healthy Living & Wellness
By Vigilant Wealth Management on March 18, 2025
In the second installment of our bi-monthly posts on our Secular Investment Themes (SITs), we are highlighting Healthy Living and Wellness. We are witnessing a profound transformation in how health and wellness are perceived and prioritized by individuals and society. The growing emphasis on preventative care is encouraging proactive steps towards maintaining and improving personal health. Access to mental health support is increasingly recognized as crucial to overall well-being, and the widespread adoption of mobile technology is making it easier for individuals to track and monitor their health and safety. The global pandemic accelerated these trends, highlighting the importance of healthy living and wellness, and increasing access by normalizing virtual doctors’ appointments. We believe companies that deliver innovations and experiences supporting healthy living and wellness will attract investment capital and may offer the opportunity to generate improved risk-adjusted returns.
Demographic Shifts and Healthcare Demands
In developed markets, aging populations are placing tremendous pressure on healthcare systems to deliver therapeutic solutions for a wide range of diseases. This stress often impacts family structures, particularly caregivers.
- According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Americans ages 65 and older is projected to increase from 58 million in 2022 to 82 million by 2050 (a 47% increase), and the 65-and-older age group’s share of the total population is projected to rise from 17% to 23%. The graph below from the Statista shows the percentage of the U.S. population over the age of 65 from 1950 projected through 2050.
Meanwhile, developing nations with younger populations and expanding middle classes are seeking greater access to healthcare as part of a higher standard of living.
- According to the International Trade Administration, in India, the world’s most populated nation, spending on healthcare is expected to increase to 2.5% of GDP in 2025, more than double the 1.2% of GDP in 20202.
Countries are under pressure to respond to rising healthcare demands and address the connectivity, security, and access priorities of society. Innovations in medical science are improving outcomes and addressing cost curves, while technology solutions are increasing access and creating new forms of healthcare delivery and connectivity.
Awareness and Proactive Health Choices
Society is becoming more aware of the current and future health impacts of personal decisions and behavior patterns related to diet, exercise, work, entertainment, social activities, and personal safety. Greater educational awareness of healthy living will profoundly impact consumer choices and interactions with the healthcare system, technology, science, work-life balance, social engagement, and the natural world. Companies are investing in innovations that support proactive consumer behavior. Advancements in science, equipment, testing, and therapy are enhancing knowledge and outcomes for those engaging with the healthcare ecosystem before problems emerge. Some examples include:
- Wearable Devices: Fitness Trackers and Smartwatches: track physical activity, heart rate, sleep patterns, ECG, blood oxygen levels, and more. They provide insights into daily habits and encourage healthier choices.
- Smart Health Monitors: Smart Scales and Blood Pressure Monitors: measure weight, body fat percentage, muscle mass, and can track their blood pressure over time, helping users monitor their overall health and share data with healthcare providers.
- Mobile Apps: Nutrition Apps help users track their food intake, monitor calories, and manage their diet. Mental Health Apps provide guided meditation and mindfulness exercises to support mental well-being.
- Continuous Glucose Monitors: CGMs help individuals with diabetes monitor their glucose levels in real-time, enabling better management of their condition. Increasingly, CGMs are being used by non-diabetics to identify health patterns and guide lifestyle changes.
Personalized Care and Treatments
Advances in technology have dramatically expanded our knowledge of the human body and the unique characteristics that differentiate us. This has led to breakthroughs in how diseases are diagnosed and treated, creating pathways toward customized treatments that account for the nuanced differences in patients’ genetic makeup, helping drive better outcomes and unlocking new treatment paradigms. For example:
- Immunotherapies: A type of cancer treatment that uses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer. It works by stimulating or enhancing the immune system’s ability to recognize and attack cancer cells
- Targeted Therapies: Medicines that attack specific parts of cancer cells. They can slow cancer growth, stop it from spreading, or destroy cancer cells.
- Robotic Surgery: Advancements in robotics have allowed surgeons to improve outcomes by reducing surgery time, decreasing soft tissue damage, enabling faster discharge, and providing fewer readmissions compared to open surgery
Conclusion
Demographic trends and society’s increased focus on health and wellness, supported by technological advancements, have created a solid foundation for sustained growth for companies participating in the Healthy Living and Wellness theme. In our opinion, companies that innovate in this space are well-positioned to attract investment and potentially offer improved risk-adjusted returns.
1 https://www.statista.com/statistics/457822/share-of-old-age-population-in-the-total-us-population/
