Forecasting both likely and worst-case scenarios is a routine part of a prudent financial planning process.

 

When you apply the same process to the workforce, you can see that many job vocations that employ thousands today are at risk of disappearing completely, either due to changes in the economy or enabled by existing and future technological innovations.

 

Not only are these group of workers at risk of losing their livelihoods, they then have to upskill or reskill themselves to find other jobs within or outside of their industries at a stressful period in their lives. This will take both time and money, a luxury they may not have without a job.

 

Rather than wait until it's too late, you should continuously upgrade your skills and ensure you remain relevant in your industry. This will also provide an early warning if your job is at risk of being replaced by technology, made redundant or outsourced to cheaper locations.

 

Here are five potential jobs that may not be in around in the next decade.

Singapore has an extensive and well-managed public transportation network that the government actively promotes over driving. This may gradually diminish the demand for private-hire car operators, taxi drivers and delivery drivers.

 

What may completely eradicate this career is driverless car technology. Overseas, this technology is being tested in real-world conditions, while in Singapore, automated buses have already begun to serve students in Nanyang Technological University.

 

Elon Musk has announced Tesla's roadmap for producing driverless trucks, capable of safely delivering goods over hundreds of kilometres.

 

Driverless cars do not need to be paid a salary, nor do they need to rest, and they also free up an additional passenger seat in the front of cars. Human drivers can hardly compete.

Accountants serve an important role in ensuring companies' books are balanced, and financial statements are in order. But the systematic and routine nature of their job makes it perfect for computers and algorithms to take over.

 

Online accounting software are immensely popular among small-medium enterprises that do not have the need nor resources to hire a dedicated in-house accountant. With services being increasingly integrated with one another, it is not hard to imagine the day that the books are balanced automatically, with each dollar being accounted for and filed in the appropriate column.

 

Auditing, the process of checking and vouching that the books are done up properly, could also be another casualty of automation, since accounting will be done on standard software.

Bank tellers have co-existed alongside Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) for a long time. With ATMs handling increasingly sophisticated and diverse range of services, bank tellers might be redundant in future.

 

Already, most banking services can be done via ibanking and mobile apps, 24/7, adding convenience to customers while reducing manpower cost for the banks.

 

The same goes for customer service employees at supermarkets and food and beverage outlets. Household names like NTUC, McDonalds, and Koi already have automated machines to take orders, freeing up precious manpower to be more productive on other tasks.

Long gone are the days that stock brokers receive orders from clients over the phone and execute trades on the trading floor, using complicated hand signs to communicate.

 

Everything can now be done digitally, with stock brokerage platforms allowing you to buy or sell investments without ever speaking to a trading representative.

 

Most of the people who still use brokers these days are the older folks who are comfortable with speaking to a someone who can give them stock "tips" and investment ideas. But as this generation of investors retire from active stock investment, so might the brokers who have served them faithfully over the years.

Paralegals have traditionally played an important role in helping lawyers do time-consuming but necessary work, such as examining evidence, finding legal precedents to strengthen arguments and drafting motions.

 

With digitalisation and optical character recognition of documents and court archives, what used to be hours of tedious manual work may be done in several seconds.

 

Artificial intelligence systems are already in use for writing reports, articles and other formulaic content based on data, and it does not take much of a stretch to see these being applied in the legal world.

As certain jobs are disappearing, new ones higher up the value chain or in an entirely new industry are created.

 

This is why you should actively seek to add new skills and relevant experiences to your resume, especially if you're in a profession that may be at risk of being made obsolete.

 

This will prepare you to move into another area of the industry or even to an entirely different vocation, enabling you to future-proof yourself as a happy and productive member of the workforce for years to come.

 

Doing so takes foresight and discipline, since it is easy for you to procrastinate making such efforts until you are forced to. Asking yourself #WhatsYourWhy when it comes to working and leading a productive life can be a powerful motivating force.

Another alternative is to consider a future-proof career switch to an industry that requires a human touch, even if it is increasingly supplemented by advancing technology.

 

One such career to consider is working with AIA as a financial consultant.