Elon Musk Claims Retirement Savings Worry Is Outdated Amid AI-Driven Prosperity: “It Will Be Irrelevant”

(SeaPRwire) –   According to Elon Musk, putting money aside for retirement is pointless, because the coming “supersonic tsunami” of AI and robotics will create a world completely free of scarcity.

While the CEO of both Tesla and SpaceX admits he is “more optimistic” than most people, he stands by his claim that people should not stress about building a nest egg for the far future, which runs counter to the conventional advice of nearly all financial professionals.

“Don’t worry about stashing money away for retirement 10 or 20 years from now,” the world’s wealthiest person said on the Moonshots with Peter Diamandis podcast in January. “It won’t matter.”

Musk’s controversial perspective is rooted in his vision of a world reshaped by fast-advancing AI, robotics, and energy technology.

Musk’s Unconventional Take

Musk predicts that by 2030, AI will outpace “the combined intelligence of all humans on Earth.” He also claims that eventually, there will be more humanoid robots than humans living on Earth. Traditional jobs will gradually be replaced, with white-collar positions being the first to go.

“Right now, AI can already handle roughly half or more of all jobs that don’t involve shaping atoms directly,” he said.

He says these technological advances will drive such huge productivity gains that the result will be a level of abundance that “surpasses anything people can currently imagine.”

Instead of a standard universal basic income, Musk claims everyone in the future will get access to a “universal ‘you can have whatever you want’ income.” In the future Musk foresees, the connection between individual wages, personal savings, and living standards will no longer make any sense.

Even without any savings, AI will help people access better medical care than what is available today within five years, he says. It will also eliminate all limits on access to goods, services, and educational opportunities.

​Musk’s recent comments expand on his earlier claims that AI and humanoid robots will make work “optional” within 10 to 20 years, and render money itself unnecessary. Musk has previously compared future work to leisure activities like playing sports or video games, rather than a requirement for survival.

“If you want to work, it’s just like how you can go to the store to buy vegetables, or you can grow vegetables in your backyard. Growing vegetables at home is much harder, but some people still do it because they enjoy growing vegetables,” Musk said during the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum in November.

Downsides of a Post-Work Society

​Certainly, Musk’s predictions about the future come at a time when many Americans are already struggling to save. According to a Federal Reserve survey, persistent inflation and sluggish wage growth have left just 55% of American adults with a “rainy day” emergency fund equal to three months of living expenses, down from a peak of 59% in 2021. Fewer than half of survey respondents said their savings could cover an unexpected expense of $2,000 or more.

​Surveys also consistently show that a large share of Americans are behind on retirement savings, or have little to no money set aside for their life after work.

Musk is also not unaware of the potential downsides of a society where people do not need to earn a living. He warned that widespread universal access to resources could come hand-in-hand with social unrest, as many people may face a deeper crisis of meaning.

“If you actually get everything you want, is that really the future you want? Because it means your job will no longer matter,” Musk said.

An earlier version of this story was published on .com on January 12, 2026.

More Tech News:

• Anthropic says engineering mistakes were the cause of Claude Code’s month-long drop in performance, which came after weeks of backlash from users
• DeepSeek has launched its newest AI model at rock-bottom prices, with ‘full support’ from Huawei chips
• Amazon CEO Andy Jassy started a weekly chicken wing eating club when he first moved to Seattle to build his professional network — he once ate 57 wings in a single sitting