This is why Elon Musk thinks you shouldn’t save for retirement

Americans go to great lengths to ensure they are financially set for their later years. But if you’re asking Elon Musk, you really needn’t bother. According to the world’s richest man, whose net worth is estimated at well over $700 billion, saving for retirement will soon be obsolete.

Musk aired this view on a recent episode of the Moonshots With Peter Diamandis podcast. Musk let listeners in on his vision of our financial future, a world where technology, specifically artificial intelligence, creates such an abundance of resources that anyone can buy anything they want. 

The entrepreneur said that within just a few years, we will live in a world marked by a great surplus, where “better medical care than anyone has today” will be “available for everyone within five years.” He also said that there will be “no scarcity of goods and services” and you’ll be able to learn anything you want. 

Musk continued, explaining that there will be such a surplus that life will no longer require people to save in order to ensure they are taken care of later on. “One side recommendation I have is: Don’t worry about squirreling money away for retirement in 10 or 20 years. It won’t matter,” he said, adding that he believes “saving for retirement will be irrelevant” and that the future will bring abundance.”

Overall, Musk’s view of the future seems decidedly optimistic about AI. He talked about the power of AI to break barriers and using it to harness the sun’s energy. And he said he believes the “future of currency” will be measured not in money, but in “wattage.” But he also acknowledged that during what are bound to be years full of change, the road to the future he envisions will be “bumpy” and filled with obstacles. 

Musk said he doesn’t just foresee “universal high income,” but also major “social unrest” as the result of so much change in a short period of time. 

The prediction seems eerily similar to one made by John Maynard Keynes, known as the founder of modern macroeconomics, in 1930. In his essay, “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren,” the economist wrote that by 2030, technology would enable workers to adopt a 15-hour workweek. 

At the time, the workweek was estimated to be about 50 hours. In one sense, Keynes was correct: The average number of hours fell in the years following the prediction, as the 40-hour workweek was established soon after. However, today full-time work hours hover at about 8.4 hours a day or 42.5 hours a week, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

While many of Keynes’s predictions about technology proved to be correct, such as how vastly technology has reshaped certain industries, working hours have yet to fall as drastically as he predicted. 

At the moment, Musk’s comments are hard to swallow, given that many Americans struggle with basic expenses like childcare, let alone saving for retirement. According to a 2025 report from the National Council on Aging, most older adults don’t have enough money to financially survive “a financial shock” triggered by a death, the need for long-term care, or illness. “Eighty percent of those 60 and older have little to no assets and would not be able to weather a financial shock without falling into poverty,” the report said. 

Researchers added: “The future of aging in America will likely be defined by an ever-widening inequality in both financial status and mortality, deepening the divide between the majority of older Americans (the 80%) and the top 20%.” 

Musk did say there would be bumps along the road to utopia.

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