How can we prepare for longer lives in a world where neither healthcare systems nor pension models were built for longevity? Nadine Esposito, founder of Wellthspan Advisory, argues that sustainable aging is not just a personal goal – it’s a societal challenge. In this thought-provoking interview, she explains why financial security is a pillar of health, why we need to rethink retirement, and how shifting from chronological to biological age could transform policy, prevention, and our sense of what aging really means.
How do you define longevity literacy, and why does it matter for the way we age?
„For me, longevity literacy means combining financial and health literacy with the understanding that all advice evolves over time and with the deeper knowledge of what it actually means to age. We focus a lot on why and how we age – but not on what aging truly means.”
For Nadine, aging means learning to cope with inevitable physical, emotional, and social changes – from shifting cognitive capacities to the loss of loved ones. It also means confronting the rising likelihood of chronic illness after fifty and understanding how these realities affect everything from job performance to the ability to retrain or stay employable. That’s why she believes prevention should start as early as possible, and why we need to adjust our habits – including how we eat, move, and manage our finances – to match the stage of life we’re in. In her view, embracing the concept of biological age could help us move beyond outdated assumptions tied to the calendar, and build systems that reflect how we actually age.
But while the idea of biological age opens the door to more accurate and personalised systems, the expert cautions that it also exposes existing inequalities. Medical progress is moving fast – but will likely benefit those with the means to access advanced treatments. For the wider population, biological age could serve as a more realistic measure of health and life stage, yet she acknowledges that building truly age-inclusive policies and healthcare systems remains an illusion for now. Still, she believes that understanding one’s health status is essential for better retirement planning: „The key to any plan is knowing how long you need it to last. Chronological age is becoming a vague predictor – biological age could offer a clearer one.”
In a world obsessed with biohacking and quick fixes, what does sustainable longevity mean to you?
„We should adopt a lifestyle that we can maintain over many years. What’s the point of a rigid protocol or savings plan if you can’t stick to it – or if it leaves you depleted and isolated?”
Rather than chasing extremes, Nadine champions a more grounded path to aging well. She rejects one-size-fits-all protocols and highlights the need for approaches that acknowledge people’s daily pressures, responsibilities, and resources. „Telling someone with shift work or multiple jobs to sleep eight hours or to fast for sixteen hours simply isn’t practical.” Instead, she advocates small, consistent changes with long-term impact: improving sleep, cutting back on ultra-processed foods, moving as much as possible throughout the day, and spending time in nature whenever you can.
The same principle guides her financial thinking. Before jumping into investment strategies, she advises creating a solid safety net: budgeting, saving, and creating buffers for life’s uncertainties. A three-month emergency fund is a good start – more if chronic illness or career shifts are on the horizon. Planning for later-life care is also key: those who prefer home-based support will need more liquid savings than those choosing institutional care.
Nadine Esposito
What inspired you to launch Wellthspan Advisory – and how is it different from other players in the longevity space?
„I want to raise awareness and educate a wider audience on how health and finances are connected. We focus far too much on each industry as a silo – I want to democratise that knowledge.”
This drive to connect wellbeing and financial security is what sets Nadine’s approach apart. While the ultra-wealthy are increasingly targeted by longevity services through private banks, she believes everyone should have access to strategies that support long, healthy lives. „Health is a luxury, and people should treat it that way,” she adds – not as an elite privilege, but as something to prioritise and protect.
Wellthspan’s framework is grounded in five key pillars:
physical, mental, social, and financial health, plus a sense of purpose – all shaped by one inescapable limit: time.
„In the end, it’s a trade-off into which bucket we invest our 24 hours,” she says. Her model recognises that no one can be in two places at once – training while sleeping, working while training – which is exactly why siloed thinking fails.
She also draws attention to the overlooked impact of financial insecurity. Our society often assumes that having a job guarantees financial stability, but this is not always the case – low wages, debt, addiction, or caregiving responsibilities can quickly undermine it. And when money is tight, people start cutting corners: skipping non-covered medical care like dental check-ups, buying cheaper, less nutritious food, or letting go of gym memberships. Over time, these compromises quietly erode health. The emotional toll of being poor is just as damaging: shame, isolation, and the silent stress of trying to keep up, especially in wealthy societies where being poor is even harder. That’s why she points out:
„We should see spending on health not as a cost, but as an investment”.
Overall, longevity isn’t just a medical challenge – it’s a socioeconomic one.
Nadine Esposito
If you could redesign how society prepares for aging, where would you start?
“Educate already children on what it means to age and that preparing starts as early as possible with prevention.” Prevention, she says, should be the cornerstone – in both health and finances. That’s why “financial education as early as possible” is just as vital as teaching healthy habits.
The expert believes we must prepare for a future with more than one career. “The linear progression of our career and salary are outdated,” she notes, adding that Gen X and younger generations face new realities like reskilling, caregiving, and longer working lives. These shifts come with salary gaps and lower pension contributions – making early financial planning essential. “Sound planning needs to start at 30 or 40 and not at 60 shortly before retirement.”
But structural change is just as important. “I believe longevity is not a cross-industry topic but an industry for its own.” She calls for pension reform, clearer regulation of longevity medicine, and proper training for medical professionals. “Preventative care should be covered by basic insurance,” she concludes. Aging well shouldn’t be a luxury – it should be a lifelong, accessible strategy.
For Nadine, her mother’s death from cancer was a turning point: it shifted her focus from work to health and deepened her awareness of what truly matters. She now values simplicity over shortcuts, and presence over perfection:
“See your health as luxury and treat it this way. Optimize your health as you optimize your wealth since they go hand in hand.”
Author: Révész Bogi
(Featured image: Nadine Esposito)
