Are You Future-Proof? (Day 290)

by Calvin Pak

How was your 2020?

Overall, 2020 is a catalyst to change. Here are some of the changes I see happening in the United States:

Remote work is likely to become permanent at least for the tech companies, and it may lead to many inevitables:

It marks the death of the large scale coworking spaces (i.e. WeWork)
Commercial real estate and downtown parking lot would be greatly diminished, if not dead
Cities with high living costs will see residents migrating away, local government tax income will be greatly reduced
Migrants to a less expensive market may be willing to pay a premium to purchase a property in their destinations
Happier pets, and more stressed out parents
Less traffic jams (hopefully) and commute time won't really increase workplace productivity, but extra time saved would most likely spent on streaming services or playing games

Restaurants need to reinvent their businesses
Service workers need to reinvent themselves
Finally, US starts to use QR Code for restaurant menus, and it will lead to QR Code for payments eventually
Public transit gets less crowded but more people are buying cars to go around
Dating becomes harder
More innovative health and home gym equipments with lower costs on hardware but requires pay services for content

More Americans will start saving more
The near zero interest rate would drive more people to invest in riskier higher yield products, such as stock markets, real estates, and even cryptocurrencies