Finances and Life Cycles

The paper presents how landslide changes taking place in the 20th century have created a pressure towards lifelong financial planning. Technological advances resulting in high productivity; the polarisation of income and wealth; the changing economic and political role of the state; the proliferation of birth control; and the huge ecological footprint all call for the conscious financial planning of individual careers to ensure sustainability and thus enable us to satisfy the financing needs of social segments in various life situations and of different ages. The task presents itself at the individual and household level as well as at the macro-economic level. Growing individual consciousness is manifested in savings started relatively early and in investment in children, and becomes relevant at the macro-level when examining the anticipated level of social protection.