Synthetic intelligence (AI) is inflicting an existential disaster for a lot of employees, myself included. With the rise of AI, I’ve typically discovered myself questioning: what’s the purpose? If AI goes to take over, why hassle attempting?
Possibly you’ve felt the identical means—nervous about how you can safeguard your future from AI. Or maybe you’re a father or mother questioning if there’ll even be good jobs in your youngsters after spending a fortune on their training. In that case, this put up could enable you and your youngsters put together for what might be a difficult future.
The Existential Disaster You May Face
An existential disaster is a interval of deep questioning about life’s that means, objective, or worth. It typically includes grappling with questions like:
- Why am I right here?
- What’s the objective of life?
- Does something I do actually matter?
These crises might be triggered by main life occasions like loss, failure, getting old, technological change, or transitions comparable to retirement or a profession change. Whereas they will really feel overwhelming—bringing anxiousness, despair, or a way of being misplaced—in addition they current alternatives for private development and a renewed focus in your priorities.
Once I first retired in 2012, I confronted my very own existential disaster. It took me years to regulate and discover peace in my new position. I don’t need AI to set off an analogous disaster for you, making every part you’ve labored for really feel out of date. That will be a double intestine punch.
The truth is, all good issues finally come to an finish. When that second comes, you’ll both panic or adapt and discover methods to thrive. And for those who’re studying this, I do know you’re the kind to plan forward and rise to the problem.
The Good Factor About Being Unemployed Or Retired
The silver lining of being unemployed or retired is that there’s no job for synthetic intelligence to take from you. Nevertheless, for those who’re seeking to re-enter the workforce, discovering a job will seemingly be a lot tougher. For retirees, you would possibly merely end up as an bystander, observing AI’s disruption of the labor market from the sidelines.
As a semi-retiree operating Monetary Samurai, even this web site is going through an existential disaster of its personal. With AI firms like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity copying my work with out attribution, and Google prioritizing AI-generated content material taken from writers on the prime of search outcomes, driving site visitors to the location is changing into more and more difficult.
Initially, my plan was to function Monetary Samurai for 10 years—from July 2009 to July 2019—after which step away from the artistic endeavor. Nevertheless, the start of my daughter in December 2019 and the pandemic gave me a renewed sense of objective and extra time to jot down. I had insights to share, worries to course of, and a need to document this distinctive time in our lives.
Now that the pandemic is behind us and AI has arrived in full power, my need to pivot and do one thing new has grown once more. I’m now greater than 5 years previous my authentic objective of operating this web site. Typically, it’s essential to acknowledge when the tip of a chapter is close to and embrace the chance to maneuver ahead.
Existential Disaster Survival Plan Due To Synthetic Intelligence
Though I don’t depend on Monetary Samurai for survival, it has offered supplemental retirement earnings that I’ve grown accustomed to incomes for over a decade. Since 2009, I’ve additionally devoted roughly 20 hours every week to sustaining the location. Shedding that earnings, together with abruptly having 20 further hours of free time every week, can be a major adjustment.
Right here’s my existential disaster survival plan for Monetary Samurai—and for my youngsters, who will seemingly face a fair more durable time getting forward in an AI-driven world. This survival information also needs to enable you higher put together in case your occupation is susceptible to AI distribution as properly.
1) Estimate once you’ll lose your job or livelihood on account of AI
Simply as actuaries calculate life expectancy to design worthwhile insurance policy, we should always estimate how lengthy our job or enterprise would possibly final earlier than being eradicated by AI. Develop a worst-case, base-case, and best-case situation.
With real looking timelines for the way a lot incomes potential stays, you’ll be able to higher put together for the worst-case final result. The extra time you must plan, the higher geared up you’ll be. Don’t be complacent—many individuals stay unaware of the speedy developments in AI and the businesses driving them, leaving them unprepared for what’s coming.
Personally, I’ve set a base-case situation that Monetary Samurai shall be rendered out of date by December 31, 2027. This timeline provides me sufficient room to organize, although the tip might arrive sooner with any of the frequent Google algorithm updates all year long.
Under is one in all quite a few examples of particular person, hard-working creators getting punished by Google and AI for no good cause. Her site visitors retains happening after some head-fakes. I anticipate this to occur to me someday out of the blue.
2) Save Aggressively—Past What You Thought Doable
Together with your estimated timeline of demise, it’s essential to push your financial savings price to the very best doable degree. My advice is a minimal of fifty%, and far increased in case your timeline is brief.
When you save and make investments 50% of your after-tax earnings yearly, you successfully purchase your self one 12 months of economic freedom for yearly you’re employed. But when it can save you 70%, you acquire 2.33 years of freedom for yearly you save.
Personally, I plan to extend my financial savings price from on-line earnings to 90% (up from an 80% common) till December 31, 2027. It’s not 100% as a result of my passive funding earnings falls in need of absolutely masking our present dwelling bills after we purchased a brand new home in 2023.
Embrace my motto: “If the amount of cash you are saving every month does not harm, you are not saving sufficient!” This can be a matter of economic survival. Push your self to avoid wasting as a lot as you probably can, beginning now.
3) Diversify Your Investments to Increase Passive Earnings
Boosting your financial savings price is simply a part of the equation. To safe your monetary future, you additionally want to speculate these financial savings in property with the potential for optimistic returns. Given the existential disaster going through you and your job, it’s greatest to give attention to three core funding lessons: shares, bonds, and actual property.
Incomes an inexpensive return, say 4%–8%, in your investments will additional speed up your monetary freedom. Here is a web price asset allocation framework to think about for those who’re in search of a logical strategy to make investments.
Your final objective needs to be to generate sufficient passive funding earnings to cowl 100% of your required dwelling bills. If reaching that milestone feels too bold, purpose for at the least the Minimal Funding Quantity that makes work non-compulsory. Alternatively, goal a web price (excluding your main residence) of 25X–50X your annual bills.
By December 31, 2027, I hope to attain full protection of our dwelling bills by passive funding earnings. If I can hit that focus on, I’ll be financially unbiased sufficient that the affect of AI on my energetic earnings will now not matter.
4) Diversify Your Lively Earnings Streams
As you construct your financial savings and diversify your passive earnings, it’s equally essential to diversify your energetic earnings streams. Ideally, you’ll wish to give attention to abilities or merchandise which are tougher for AI to duplicate. In different phrases, take into consideration jobs that require in-person interplay and hands-on work.
For instance, you possibly can construct a clientele instructing a musical instrument, teaching a sport, or providing private providers like tutoring. Alternatively, you possibly can leverage your skilled experience to seek the advice of one-on-one with shoppers who want your steering. The much less dependent your work is on AI, the higher.
Personally, I’m contemplating constructing a clientele for pickleball and tennis classes. Each time I go to my native public park on a weekday, I see tennis coaches charging $120–$140 per hour. It’s a good way to fulfill individuals, get pleasure from some sunshine and train, and receives a commission. Going from writing 20 hours every week to teaching for 20 hours every week might generate at the least $2,400 every week. That is nice supplemental retirement earnings!
I might additionally improve my private finance consulting efforts, one thing I do not actively promote on Monetary Samurai on account of overwhelming demand. Many individuals must seek for my web page to search out these providers, however it’s one other avenue to pursue by December 31, 2027.
Diversifying your energetic earnings streams is solely good monetary planning. Take a look at how creators on TikTok are branching out to Instagram and YouTube, simply in case TikTok will get banned.
5) Develop Your Private Model
All people has a private model, whether or not they realize it or not. The one strategy to thrive in a world the place every part is changing into commoditized is to face out. To attain this, constructing a private model that folks acknowledge and belief is important.
A robust private model ought to embody these key qualities:
- Reliability
- Likability
- Dependability
- Creativity
When you might be each reliable and likable, you’re greater than midway there. Folks naturally promote and rent these they establish with. When you don’t belong to the bulk, it’s much more essential to develop a private model that units you aside.
To amplify your private model—or just make it discoverable—you need to have your individual web site. Consider it as a dynamic resume the place you showcase who you might be and what you’re as much as. Employers and buyers recognize the chance to find out about you earlier than committing to a partnership.
6) Make investments Aggressively in Synthetic Intelligence Firms
When you can’t beat AI firms by way of their affect in your profession, you would possibly as properly be a part of them. By investing in AI firms, you’ll be able to hedge in opposition to a troublesome future for your self and your youngsters. It’s clear to me that many roles are susceptible to being eradicated by AI. Even bodily jobs like driving for Uber or delivering groceries are threatened by autonomous automobiles and robots.
Ever since AI turned a game-changer in 2022, I’ve ramped up my investments in each private and non-private AI firms. As a result of I strongly consider within the AI pattern, I am much less involved with valuations extra centered on its long-term affect on the labor market.
I personal shares in public firms like Google, Microsoft, Apple, NVIDIA, Tesla, and Meta. As well as, I’ve been dollar-cost averaging into Fundrise’s Enterprise product, which invests in prime personal AI firms and different personal development firms.
My objective is to construct a $500,000 place in personal AI-related investments and by December 31, 2027. Coupled with my public AI-related investments, I’ll have over $2 million in publicity.
If the $2 million compounds at 6% – 15% a 12 months for 20 years, it’ll develop to $6.4 – $32.7 million. With this amount of cash, my then grownup youngsters ought to be capable of dwell on a minimal wage job or no job for some time.
7) Make investments For Your Youngsters At the moment
I’ve lived in San Francisco since 2001 and have moved by 5 completely different neighborhoods throughout that point. In every of those neighborhoods, at the least one in all my neighbors has been an grownup man who nonetheless lives at residence along with his dad and mom or resides alone in his dad and mom’ properties. The explanation? None of them could make sufficient cash to dwell comfortably on their very own.
In 10–20 years, synthetic intelligence will make it even tougher for younger individuals to search out well-paying jobs. This actuality means it is as much as dad and mom to avoid wasting and make investments aggressively for our kids’s futures at this time.
This consists of opening custodial funding accounts, contributing to Roth IRAs, saving in 529 plans, and shopping for rental properties for profession insurance coverage. As well as, we should educate our kids sensible abilities to allow them to use their palms to earn.
Image a world the place, after spending 17–21 years in class, and probably accumulating vital school debt, your youngsters are informed they will’t even get a job at McDonald’s as a result of meals prep and cashier duties are automated. Now think about your 30-year-old son, nonetheless dwelling at residence eight years after school, unable to make use of his $1 million pc science diploma as a result of his abilities are now not in demand.
Even at this time, the median earnings for Ivy League graduates is simply about $91,000. That’s not significantly excessive for people who ranked within the prime 1% of their highschool class and will have paid a premium for his or her training.
8) Study How To Use Extra AI Apps To Enhance Your Productiveness
You don’t should be nice at math anymore—simply know how you can use a calculator. To guard your self from AI disrupting your life, it’s essential to grasp as many AI apps as doable. Whereas most individuals persist with ChatGPT and Anthropic, there’s a complete ecosystem of AI instruments designed that will help you excel at your job. Right here’s an inventory of a few of them:
I’ll use AI for higher voice dictation so I can write my posts whereas within the sizzling tub. I’m additionally exploring AI apps that may document podcasts in my voice, create movies, and possibly even draft posts that sound like me—with my edits, in fact. Lastly, I’ll improve my web site’s search field to an AI-powered model that may reply any query primarily based on the content material I’ve written.
9) Develop Good Relationships By Serving to Others
Lastly, if we discover ourselves going through a dire future due to AI, robust relationships shall be important for survival. The wealthiest and strongest people are prone to change into much more dominant. That’s why it’s essential to begin constructing connections with them at this time, ideally earlier than they’re big successes.
When alternatives are scarce, individuals naturally prioritize their very own circles, and people with wealth and energy aren’t any exception. When you don’t resemble or share frequent floor with them, give attention to being beneficial. The extra you’ll be able to contribute and assist others, the extra seemingly they’ll reciprocate once you want it most.
Benefit from the Good Occasions Whereas They Final
Embrace the fact that synthetic intelligence will finally get rid of your job and put you out to pasture. Extra importantly, perceive that each one the hassle and cash you are spending elevating your youngsters to achieve success, unbiased adults could finally be for nothing.
I have not been this assured a few long-term funding pattern since I invested closely in heartland actual property again in 2016 and 2017, believing in a demographic shift to lower-cost areas of the nation. These investments have usually turned out properly, particularly after the pandemic accelerated working from residence.
Sure, possibly I’m overly influenced by dwelling in San Francisco, the place the highest AI firms had been based or have workplaces. However I communicate to staff at these companies and enterprise capitalists often, and there is not any stopping AI from disrupting most of our lives. It’s already disrupted mine, beginning with the elimination of my father’s job as a Monetary Samurai editor.
Let’s benefit from the time now we have left with the roles we maintain and the businesses we run. Finally, they could be gone, however by then, we’ll hopefully have constructed sufficient monetary power to be simply effective.
Reader Questions About The AI Existential Disaster
Readers, how are you getting ready for the existential disaster that AI poses to your job, firm, or product? How are you defending your self and your youngsters from a future the place your providers could now not be wanted? Do you suppose you’ll be capable of get wealthy sufficient to not care concerning the destruction AI will carry?
To expedite your journey to monetary freedom, be a part of over 60,000 others and subscribe to the free Monetary Samurai e-newsletter and to my posts as quickly as they arrive out. Monetary Samurai is among the many largest independently-owned private finance web sites, established in 2009. All the things is written primarily based on firsthand expertise.