1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,720 Elon Musk recently suggested that in 10 to 20 years, saving 2 00:00:03,720 --> 00:00:08,440 for retirement will not matter, arguing that advantages in AI, 3 00:00:08,440 --> 00:00:11,680 energy and robotics could usher in an era of abundance that 4 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:14,360 renders traditional nest eggs obsolete. 5 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:19,120 Comments prompted swift pushback from retirement scholars and 6 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:22,360 wealth managers who said the vision overlooks stubborn real 7 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:24,360 world constraints and household risks. 8 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:28,200 Now Musk's case rests on a sweeping productivity boom, 9 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:32,640 smarter software, cheaper power and ambitious automation, 10 00:00:32,759 --> 00:00:36,200 driving down the cost of goods and services from healthcare to 11 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:40,560 education, until scarcity fades. Even if parts of that prospect 12 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:44,800 materialize, it does not follow that workers can safely stop 13 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:46,520 building financial reserves today. 14 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:50,240 Now, researchers at leading retirement centers note that 15 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:54,680 near term risks remain unavoidable market volatility, 16 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:59,240 job loss, illness and potential changes to public benefits. 17 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:02,240 Several emphasized that Social Security faces funding 18 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:05,319 challenges that, absent legislative fixes, could 19 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:08,160 increase the burden on personal savings rather than eliminate 20 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:10,800 it. Advisors also stressed a basic 21 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:13,760 point. Future abundance is just an 22 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:16,240 idea. Rent, groceries and medical 23 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:18,920 bills are always going to be there. 24 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:20,840 Now. Some critics focused on 25 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:22,720 distribution rather than technology. 26 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:26,240 They argue that whether abundance translates into broad 27 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:29,160 financial security depends on political choices, taxation 28 00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:32,960 transfers and the design of social insurance, which rarely 29 00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:35,520 move in lockstep with engineering breakthroughs. 30 00:01:35,960 --> 00:01:40,440 Innovation can arrive quickly. Equitable systems to share its 31 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:44,040 gains typically take decades now. 32 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:48,000 Others pointed to history. Past technology waves lifted 33 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,080 productivity without reliably shortening work weeks or even 34 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:54,360 distributing wealth. One researcher recalled that in 35 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:58,520 the 1950s, some employees at a defense think tank skipped 36 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:02,360 pension contributions because nuclear war felt inevitable. 37 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:06,280 That never came. The retirement shortfalls 38 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:10,639 definitely did, though. Now, for households deciding 39 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:14,080 what to do now, the guidance from academics and practitioners 40 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:18,840 is consistent. Keep continuing to do what 41 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:21,120 you're doing. Contribute to workplace plans, 42 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:23,440 at least enough to capture an employer match. 43 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:26,960 Maintain an emergency fund so short term shocks don't force 44 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:29,480 withdrawals. Revisit portfolio risk. 45 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:32,520 As retirement approaches and assumes Social Security will 46 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:36,320 remain an important but incomplete pillar of support, it 47 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:39,080 might go away. And if a world of abundance 48 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,680 arrives on an aggressive timetable, accumulated savings 49 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:47,080 will become an extra margin of freedom in a cheaper economy, an 50 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:52,040 outcome few would regret. The broader debate remains 51 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:55,120 unresolved. Though technological optimism 52 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:59,560 imagines a future or scarcity receipts, the personal finance 53 00:02:59,880 --> 00:03:03,280 discipline recognizes the bills come due on schedule. 54 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:08,000 Until policy catches up with the promise of abundance, most 55 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:10,080 households are just better off to save. 56 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:15,600 And you treat abundance as a potential upside just in case. 57 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:19,680 So you'll have this nest egg. Let's say you save up to 58 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:23,080 $100,000. And the abundance does come. 59 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:25,840 You know, we've been promised abundance in the past. 60 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:28,600 Henry Ford for one. Let's just talk about that. 61 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:32,520 Henry Ford talked about how everybody would be able to 62 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:36,400 afford pretty much everything because cars would make it 63 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:39,400 cheaper to transport goods, which it did. 64 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:43,440 Of course, that's much easier than a train or a plane. 65 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:49,280 But the vehicles transporting, they needed drivers. 66 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:53,480 Those drivers needed jobs, so those drivers got paid. 67 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:58,680 The abundance never came though. We still work long hours. 68 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:00,920 Some of us don't make enough money to survive. 69 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:04,640 The abundance never came. It's tried to happen a bunch of 70 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:07,600 times. Basically, it's rich people 71 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:11,080 saying that abundance is coming because of what rich people do. 72 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:14,480 They already have abundance, they already have everything 73 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:18,040 they'll ever need. And for us, we have to fall back 74 00:04:18,079 --> 00:04:21,360 on the same old ideas. We never know what's going to 75 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:24,680 happen after the next paycheck. Your employer could fire you. 76 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:29,240 No matter how secure you think you are, your employer could 77 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:31,280 just pull the plug on you. They might give you a little bit 78 00:04:31,280 --> 00:04:34,280 of notice, but also you don't know how the financials are 79 00:04:34,280 --> 00:04:36,720 doing at your company unless you're in that department. 80 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:42,720 Case in point, recently I was hired on as a contract worker. 81 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:47,320 I had a three month contract with the company. 82 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:53,160 After 2 1/2 months, the company said hey, we ran out of money. 83 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:58,080 We did 2 giant acquisitions. Everybody that's a contractor is 84 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:01,040 not a contractor anymore. So I didn't have that extra half 85 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:04,760 a month to work. And after that it was a 86 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:07,960 contractor to hire position. So now they're not going to hire 87 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:11,240 me full time because of that. You never know what's going to 88 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:15,680 happen and because of things like that, I need your support. 89 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:20,000 I've been doing this show for six or seven years straight and 90 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:22,240 I will continue doing this for the next 10 years. 91 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:25,480 And all I need is one minute of your time, one second, actually 92 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:27,120 hit the subscribe or follow button. 93 00:05:27,280 --> 00:05:30,480 You don't even know how much that means to the show, how much 94 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:32,880 that means to me personally. And if you have been listening 95 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:34,960 to the show for a while, I get it. 96 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:37,240 Sometimes you forget to hit the subscribe or follow button. 97 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:40,080 I do it all the time on YouTube. I do it all the time on podcasts 98 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:43,040 and I every once in a while I'm like, Oh yeah, this show is 99 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:45,080 great. I don't know why I have not 100 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:47,480 followed it. It's in my recommendations, 101 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:49,760 sure. But on podcasting it's very 102 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:54,440 important to follow or subscribe to a show because that's how we 103 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:57,360 get our audience. And if we have a bigger 104 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:00,920 audience, it means I can continue doing this and making 105 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:04,000 this podcast better. Also, let me know in the 106 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:06,160 comments if you have comments on your podcast player. 107 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:09,400 What do you think of this? Do you think there's going to be 108 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:15,160 over abundance with robo taxis? You're still going to need money 109 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:17,160 to do all the things that you need to do. 110 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:20,120 You're still going to need to eat food. 111 00:06:20,280 --> 00:06:24,600 You'll be able to, of course. You'll still be able to own a 112 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:26,560 car, you'll be able to own a home. 113 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:31,120 But if the price is so expensive for you where you live, there 114 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:37,160 might be time to think about living someplace else, someplace 115 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:40,320 with a lower threshold to buy a home. 116 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:43,520 There are plenty of places outside of the United States 117 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:47,240 that are much cheaper than the United States. 118 00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:50,520 I mean, if you go to the grocery store and you have one bag of 119 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:54,960 groceries and it cost $200, that's a problem. 120 00:06:56,000 --> 00:07:00,880 And if this abundance is a promise that Elon Musk and the 121 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:05,560 ultra mega wealthy can predict and they can actually make this 122 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:08,240 promise come true, that's great. It's never happened in the past 123 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:10,760 and it will never happen. How many thousands of years have 124 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:14,520 humans been humans? The rich people get richer and 125 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:18,040 the poor people stay poor. Sometimes there's a nice middle 126 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:21,640 class some places all over the world, there is a nice middle 127 00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:25,520 class in the United States right now, there's not really a middle 128 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:28,800 class anymore. You can't have a regular nine to 129 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:33,680 five job and feed a family of four. 130 00:07:33,880 --> 00:07:38,480 So if you have two kids, two parents and you may have a dog, 131 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:42,040 might have a cat, white pick a fence, the American dream, you 132 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:43,080 know, you can have that big house. 133 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:47,040 You could buy a house with that wage and also buy a car and also 134 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:48,600 go on vacation and have some time off. 135 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:52,240 That doesn't exist anymore. You have to have a side hustle 136 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:54,880 and your side hustles have to have side hustles just to get 137 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:57,680 by. You can't just have one person 138 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:00,520 making the money anymore. You have to have two people in 139 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:04,920 the household making money, and that's just the normal life of a 140 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:07,160 normal person. I'm not saying some people are 141 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:09,320 outside of that, because of course there are. 142 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:11,440 There's some people that make a bunch of money and live in a 143 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:13,480 place where it doesn't cost as much. 144 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:19,400 But for the most of us, most people here, the abundance, 145 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:22,360 according to these experts, is not going to come. 146 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:25,800 But if it does, that's great. That's great. 147 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:27,720 Maybe it's another bubble. Maybe people are going to start 148 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:31,960 making a bunch of money. But also remember that Elon Musk 149 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:35,400 says a lot of things. And I'm here as the podcaster, 150 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:41,880 as the podcast about Elon Musk, the original Elon Musk podcast. 151 00:08:42,159 --> 00:08:44,560 Take everything he says with a grain of salt because I know 152 00:08:44,560 --> 00:08:47,120 I've been covering him for almost 10 years now. 153 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:49,680 FSD, Remember when that was going to happen? 154 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:53,720 Almost a decade ago and it still hasn't happened. 155 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:58,320 And not actual FSD. It's a still driver assist. 156 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:03,120 So remember, when he says something, don't take it to 157 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:05,680 heart, just remember it's a great idea. 158 00:09:05,680 --> 00:09:07,880 He has some great ideas, and eventually maybe it might 159 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:12,160 happen, but the overabundance of power, overabundance of food, 160 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:16,280 overabundance of wealth, take it all with a grain of salt. 161 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:19,840 So that's it for today. Everybody take care of 162 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:22,280 yourselves and each other, and I'll see you in the next one.