I recently attended a presentation by Steve Worley of TexasLife, who told us beginning this year, there will be more than10,000 baby boomers reaching age 65 every day until the year 2030.As one of the eldest members of this group, reaching that milestonethis month, I started to imagine what the world of benefits will belike in 35 years, in 2046, when some of us begin hitting 100. Our30-year-old children will then, in fact, be reaching 65. Of coursethese are all my own guesses, but there is one certainty: The realfuture will be much stranger, and a lot more complicated.

So what will life be like in2046? 

For one, many more people will work and live in the samebuilding. Employers are already shedding bricks and mortar and by2046 most information-based workers will work flexible hours, inthe location of their choosing. Employers will have measures ofproductivity that will allow management to evaluate workers.Managers and their team will hold video meetings on a regularbasis, employee meetings in person will be rare and will be mostlysocial events. Production and warehousing workers will live incommunities centered near their work location, permitting efficientcommuting.

Computers will not only be wireless, they will be part of us,reading our thoughts as we think them. They will tell us whensomeone wants to talk with us in person (as opposed to simplysending us a message we can handle at leisure). They will alert uswhen we need to work, or to be somewhere in person rather than viaavatar. We will “attend” seminars and webinars via avatars,holographic representations similar to the projection of PrincessLeia in the first Star Wars movie (aka Episode 4, A New Hope).Business travel will be much rarer than it is today, both forexpense control and risk control due to a combination of terroristactivity and government regulation.

Whenever we feel the urge to shop we will probably purchasewhatever we need—food, clothing and retail goods of any kind fromAmerica's largest corporation, WALZON-X, the result of a merger ofWal-Mart, Amazon and Fed-Ex about ten years from now. “Whatever we want, wherever we want it, tomorrow morning” is theirmotto. Everything will be paid for out of an account blending someaspects of today's checking accounts and credit cards. Our onboardcomputers will keep track of our finances and will manage ourpayments to all vendors.

We will be both healthier and older as a society than we aretoday. The trend toward living healthier lifestyles plus medicalbreakthroughs involving gene-based therapies and breakthroughs innanotechnology have rendered most cancer and heart problemsobsolete, and life expectancy well past the century mark has becomecommon. This will have an effect on career planning, as most peoplewill plan to have at least two very different careers as their goodhealth leads them to expect to work for 60 to 70 years beforeretiring.

As for benefits, the trend toward personalization of benefitprograms will continue, with employers seeing themselves asconduits for benefits that satisfy diverse groups of employees.Disability benefits will be available through age 85. Lifeinsurance will be less expensive than today, as will criticalillness coverage. Retirement planning will be more focused on notoutliving assets, and as noted above most workers will delayretirement into their 80s. Medical benefits will continue to be abig item, with employers sponsoring genetic analysis and pro-activetherapy for virtually all workers.  Participation in mostbenefits will be voluntary, with payments automatically arrangedthrough our personal accounts.

What will our role be? It seems likely employers will continueto seek the advice of specialists in benefit plan design,communications and management. As much as we can expect changes inthe workplace environment, the fundamental value of benefits as adifferentiating item for employers will continue to be a vitalfactor in their planning. So we'll need to be around for at leastanother 35 years.