Saving for retirement has been a cornerstone of personal finance for well over a century. It could become pointless soon, Elon Musk says.
“One side recommendation I have is: Don’t worry about squirreling money away for retirement in 10 or 20 years,” the Tesla and SpaceX CEO said during the latest episode of the “Moonshots with Peter Diamandis” podcast. “It won’t matter.”
“If any of the things that we’ve said are true, saving for retirement will be irrelevant,” Musk added.
The world’s richest man, whose net worth exceeds $600 billion, described a future where advances in AI, energy, and robotics supercharge productivity, creating an “abundance” of resources that would allow everyone to be granted a “universal high income.”
The “good future is anyone can have whatever stuff they want,” Musk said. That would mean “better medical care than anyone has today, available for everyone within five years,” he continued. “No scarcity of goods and services. You can learn anything you want about anything for free.”
However, the serial entrepreneur warned of a “bumpy” transition to this utopian world, marked by jarring change and social unrest. He also flagged a potential loss of purpose.
“Now, if you actually get all the stuff you want, is that actually the future you want?” he asked. ‘”Because it means that your job won’t matter.”
Musk is known for transforming the auto sector with Tesla’s electric vehicles, and revolutionizing the aerospace industry with SpaceX’s reusable rockets.
His companies are developing self-driving cars, humanoid robots, brain-computer interfaces, AI assistants, and other innovations as he paves his way to becoming the first trillionaire in history.
Despite his track record, Musk’s latest prediction clashes hard with the reality faced by many Americans. Years of stubborn inflation, elevated interest rates, and anemic wage growth have created an affordability crisis.
Millions of people feel priced out of getting a college degree, accessing quality healthcare, owning a home, or having children. A comfortable retirement also feels out of reach, with surveys showing the majority of Americans aren’t saving nearly enough.
Against that backdrop, Musk’s blue-sky vision of an abundant future may seem like wishful thinking — or even dangerous advice if it leads people to stop saving, but the world doesn’t change as he expects, leaving them short in retirement.