Elon Musk believes saving money for retirement is pointless because of what he calls a coming “supersonic tsunami” of artificial intelligence and robotics. According to the billionaire, these technologies will create a world where there’s no shortage of anything.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO admitted he’s “more optimistic” than most people. Still, he firmly believes people shouldn’t worry about saving money for their future. This goes against the advice that nearly all financial experts give.
“Don’t worry about squirreling money away for retirement in 10 or 20 years,” said Elon Musk on the Moonshots with Peter Diamandis podcast last week. “It won’t matter.”
Musk opinion is based on his vision of how AI, robotics, and energy technology will completely change the world in the near future.
By 2030, Musk predicts that AI will become smarter than “the intelligence of all humans combined.” He also believes that eventually there will be more humanoid robots on Earth than actual people. Traditional jobs will slowly disappear, with white-collar office jobs being replaced first.
“Anything short of shaping atoms, AI can do probably half or more of those jobs right now,” he said.
According to Musk, these technological advances will create such huge improvements in productivity that they will go beyond “what people possibly could think of as abundance.” This means there will be so much of everything that scarcity won’t exist anymore.
Instead of a universal basic income where everyone gets a set amount of money, Musk claims everyone will have a “universal ‘you can have whatever you want’ income” in the future. In this new world, the normal connection between how much you earn, how much you save, and your quality of life won’t matter anymore.
Musk believes that even without savings, AI will help people get better medical care than what’s currently available within just five years. He also thinks there will be unlimited access to goods, services, and education.
These comments expand on what Musk has said before about AI and humanoid robots making work “optional” within 10 to 20 years and making money itself meaningless. Musk has previously compared future work to hobbies and leisure activities like playing sports or video games, rather than something people need to do to survive.
“If you want to work, [it’s] the same way you can go to the store and just buy some vegetables, or you can grow vegetables in your backyard. It’s much harder to grow vegetables in your backyard, and some people still do it because they like growing vegetables,” Musk said during the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum in November.
It’s worth noting that most financial advisors and economists strongly disagree with Musk’s view. They continue to recommend that people save for retirement and plan their financial futures carefully, as the timeline and reality of such dramatic technological changes remain uncertain.
