For a good many generations now, putting aside as much money as you can for your retirement has been treated as basic – but rather necessary – adult admin. According to Elon Musk, however, that assumption may be nearing its sell-by date. Speaking recently, the billionaire suggested that the entire concept of saving cash for later life by way of pensions could soon be entirely obsolete. Not reformed. Not tweaked. Simply unnecessary. It’s a striking claim from the world’s richest man, especially at a moment when many people feel further than ever from the idea of enjoying a comfortable future. Musk’s argument hinges on a somewhat radical belief that technology is about to redraw the global economic map almost entirely. (Picture: Getty Images)
The comments came during an appearance on the popular Moonshots with Peter Diamandis podcast, where Musk delivered his advice with a large dollop of his characteristic confidence. ‘One side recommendation I have is: Don’t worry about squirreling money away for retirement in 10 or 20 years,’ he said. ‘It won’t matter.’ He doubled down moments later, adding: ‘If any of the things that we’ve said are true, saving for retirement will be irrelevant.’ It wasn’t framed as a thought experiment or a vague hope, either. Musk was presenting it as a logical conclusion. And seems to fully believe it… (Picture: Getty Images)
At the heart of his thinking is a future powered by artificial intelligence, cheap energy and advanced robotics. Musk believes these forces will combine to push productivity to levels that smash today’s economic models. In that world, scarcity fades and wealth becomes widely shared. He imagines a system where people receive what he calls a ‘universal high income’, rather than relying on things such as wages or pensions. The goal, he says, is abundance. Not just enough to get by, but enough for everyone to live well without any level of financial anxiety whatsoever. (Picture: Getty Images)
Musk painted an almost sci-fi-like picture of what that abundance might look like. ‘The good future is anyone can have whatever stuff they want,’ he said. That includes ‘better medical care than anyone has today, available for everyone within five years’. He also predicted ‘no scarcity of goods and services’ and claimed people would be able to ‘learn anything you want about anything for free’. In this scenario, money loses its power because access becomes universal. Retirement savings, he theorises, stop making sense when basic needs cost almost nothing. (Picture: Getty Images)
There is a catch here though. And Musk acknowledged it himself. He warned that the path to this high-tech utopia would be pretty ‘bumpy’, with a fair amount of disruption baked in. More unsettling was his concern about meaning. ‘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.’ Work has long shaped our identity and routine. Removing its necessity could very well free people up to make better use of their time. Or, alternatively, it could leave them completely untethered. Musk offered no easy answer to that potential dilemma. (Picture: Getty Images)
The prediction fits in rather neatly with Musk’s track record as a builder of future-facing companies. Through Tesla, he’s helped drag electric cars into the mainstream. At SpaceX, reusable rockets reshaped space travel. His businesses are also heavily into self-driving cars, humanoid robots, brain-computer interfaces and AI assistants. To Musk, these kinds of projects are not separate things. They’re pieces of a single puzzle that’s aimed at automating a lot of human labour. (Picture: Getty Images)
The problem with envisioning this potential new world is that today’s reality looks nothing like that promise at all. Many people are struggling with high prices, rising borrowing costs and wages that haven’t kept pace. For millions, higher education feels unaffordable. Decent healthcare isn’t guaranteed. Home ownership keeps drifting further out of reach. Starting a family can look financially reckless. Against that backdrop, the idea that retirement saving is optional sounds detached at best. Surveys already show that huge numbers of people are nowhere near prepared for later life. (Picture: Getty Images)
That’s why Musk’s comments have landed with a mix of fascination and unease. His vision depends on AI becoming so powerful that work becomes optional and income is effectively guaranteed. If that happens, pensions lose their purpose because survival no longer depends on earnings across a lifetime. If what Musk predicts doesn’t come to pass, however, telling people to stop saving could – if heeded – be financially disastrous for many. Musk is betting that artificial intelligence will create so much shared wealth that planning for old age becomes redundant. The world’s richest man may well be able to forget about his pension no matter what. But can the rest of us afford to…? (Picture: Getty Images)
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