ADVISOR | March 2026
In Italy, life expectancy has reached record levels, exceeding 84 years, placing the country among the world’s top longevity leaders. The issue of longevity has become a focal point for the country and at the center of banks’ strategies. However, while it’s a joy to live longer, the real challenge is to live longer and better.
Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. It’s increasingly common for people to outlive their savings, and, unable to rely on a collapsing public healthcare and welfare system with even bleaker future prospects, they experience a sharp decline in their quality of life at moments of greatest fragility.
Lawyer Gianni Agnelli once said, “I’d like to live as long as possible and die as quickly as possible.” Obviously, the lawyer didn’t have financial problems, but that’s not the case for most Italians.
In fact, 55% of Italians’ wealth is held in real estate, with only 15% held in managed savings. In this context, the opportunity for banks, financial advisor networks, insurance companies, and brokers is unique and should focus on four objectives.
The first objective is to transform Italians’ assets into income. In the case of real estate, for example, there is ample scope for providing support in generating income, divestment, implementation, or redevelopment.
Offering services for real estate assets would give banks the opportunity to manage liquidity in the event of a total or partial sale (bare ownership) or to extend credit, financing projects in the event of implementation or redevelopment.
The second objective is to convert liquidity into managed savings, preventing capital erosion from inflation and thus ensuring additional income. It is important to plan investments with a medium-long time horizon (5-10 years), which, with the lengthening average lifespan, can be considered feasible even for someone over sixty or seventy.
The third objective is to promote access to supplemental pension plans, which are increasingly necessary given the collapse of the state pension system, especially since the primary goals for Italians upon reaching old age are maintaining their standard of living (88%) and access to the best medical care (70%).
The fourth objective is to support the intergenerational transfer of wealth, for example by explaining that transferring an illiquid asset (such as a property or a company) is much more complex and costly—especially with multiple heirs—than a fund share, stocks/bonds, or a policy with a tax benefit (exemption from inheritance tax).
Therefore, longer life expectancy is not only—in itself—a positive development to be celebrated, but for the financial advisory world, it also represents an opportunity not to be missed.
Nicola Ronchetti