Synthetic intelligence (AI) is inflicting an existential disaster for a lot of staff, myself included. With the rise of AI, I’ve usually discovered myself questioning: what’s the purpose? If AI goes to take over, why hassle making an attempt?
Perhaps you’ve felt the identical manner—frightened about tips on how to safeguard your future from AI. Or maybe you’re a mum or dad questioning if there’ll even be good jobs on your youngsters after spending a fortune on their schooling. In that case, this put up could provide help to and your kids put together for what could possibly be a difficult future.
The Existential Disaster You May Face
An existential disaster is a interval of deep questioning about life’s which means, function, or worth. It usually includes grappling with questions like:
- Why am I right here?
- What’s the function of life?
- Does something I do actually matter?
These crises will be triggered by main life occasions like loss, failure, growing older, technological change, or transitions akin to retirement or a profession change. Whereas they’ll really feel overwhelming—bringing anxiousness, despair, or a way of being misplaced—additionally 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 I don’t need AI to set off an identical disaster for you, making all the things you’ve labored for really feel out of date. That may be a double intestine punch.
The fact is, all good issues ultimately come to an finish. When that second comes, you’ll both panic or adapt and discover methods to thrive. And in the event you’re studying this, I do know you’re the sort 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, in the event you’re seeking to re-enter the workforce, discovering a job will seemingly be a lot more durable. For retirees, you may 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 website 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 high of search outcomes, driving visitors to the positioning is turning 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 inventive endeavor. Nevertheless, the beginning of my daughter in December 2019 and the pandemic gave me a renewed sense of function and extra time to jot down. I had insights to share, worries to course of, and a need to file 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 aim of operating this website. Typically, it’s vital to acknowledge when the top 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 supplied 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 positioning. Dropping that earnings, together with out of the blue having 20 additional hours of free time every week, could be a big adjustment.
Right here’s my existential disaster survival plan for Monetary Samurai—and for my kids, who will seemingly face a fair harder time getting forward in an AI-driven world. This survival information must also provide help to higher put together in case your occupation is susceptible to AI distribution as nicely.
1) Estimate once you’ll lose your job or livelihood resulting from AI
Simply as actuaries calculate life expectancy to design worthwhile insurance coverage, we should always estimate how lengthy our job or enterprise may final earlier than being eradicated by AI. Develop a worst-case, base-case, and best-case situation.
With lifelike timelines for a way a lot incomes potential stays, you possibly can higher put together for the worst-case consequence. The extra time it’s important to 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 might be rendered out of date by December 31, 2027. This timeline provides me sufficient room to organize, although the top might arrive sooner with any of the frequent Google algorithm updates all year long.
Under is one among quite a few examples of particular person, hard-working creators getting punished by Google and AI for no good motive. Her visitors retains taking place after some head-fakes. I anticipate this to occur to me sooner or later out of the blue.
2) Save Aggressively—Past What You Thought Doable
Along with your estimated timeline of demise, it’s essential to push your financial savings price to the best attainable degree. My advice is a minimal of fifty%, and far increased in case your timeline is brief.
If you happen to save and make investments 50% of your after-tax earnings yearly, you successfully purchase your self one 12 months of monetary freedom for yearly you’re employed. But when it can save you 70%, you achieve 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 protecting our present dwelling bills after we purchased a brand new home in 2023.
Embrace my motto: “If the sum of money you are saving every month would not damage, you are not saving sufficient!” It is a matter of monetary survival. Push your self to avoid wasting as a lot as you presumably 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 constructive returns. Given the existential disaster going through you and your job, it’s finest to deal with three core funding lessons: shares, bonds, and actual property.
Incomes an affordable return, say 4%–8%, in your investments will additional speed up your monetary freedom. This is a web price asset allocation framework to contemplate in the event you’re searching for a logical solution to make investments.
Your final aim ought to be to generate sufficient passive funding earnings to cowl 100% of your required dwelling bills. If reaching that milestone feels too formidable, purpose for a minimum of the Minimal Funding Quantity that makes work optionally available. Alternatively, goal a web price (excluding your major residence) of 25X–50X your annual bills.
By December 31, 2027, I hope to realize full protection of our dwelling bills by means of passive funding earnings. If I can hit that focus on, I’ll be financially unbiased sufficient that the impression of AI on my lively earnings will not matter.
4) Diversify Your Energetic Earnings Streams
As you construct your financial savings and diversify your passive earnings, it’s equally vital to diversify your lively earnings streams. Ideally, you’ll wish to deal with abilities or merchandise which might be more durable for AI to duplicate. In different phrases, take into consideration jobs that require in-person interplay and hands-on work.
For instance, you might construct a clientele instructing a musical instrument, teaching a sport, or providing private companies like tutoring. Alternatively, you might leverage your skilled experience to seek the advice of one-on-one with shoppers who want your steerage. The much less dependent your work is on AI, the higher.
Be taught To Use Your Fingers
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 an effective way to satisfy individuals, take pleasure in some sunshine and train, and receives a commission. Going from writing 20 hours every week to teaching for 20 hours every week might generate a minimum of $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 resulting from overwhelming demand. Many individuals should seek for my web page to seek out these companies, nevertheless it’s one other avenue to pursue by means of December 31, 2027.
Diversifying your lively earnings streams is solely sensible monetary planning. Have 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
Everyone has a private model, whether or not they comprehend it or not. The one solution to thrive in a world the place all the things is turning into commoditized is to face out. To attain this, constructing a private model that individuals acknowledge and belief is crucial.
A robust private model ought to embody these key qualities:
- Reliability
- Likability
- Dependability
- Creativity
If you happen to will be each reliable and likable, you’re greater than midway there. Folks naturally promote and rent these they establish with. If you happen to 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—it’s best 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 admire the chance to find out about you earlier than committing to a partnership.
6) Make investments Aggressively in Synthetic Intelligence Corporations
If you happen to can’t beat AI firms when it comes to their impression in your profession, you may as nicely be part of them. By investing in AI firms, you possibly can hedge in opposition to a tough future for your self and your kids. 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 vehicles and robots.
Ever since AI grew to become 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 development, I am much less involved with valuations extra centered on its long-term impression 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 high personal AI firms and different personal development firms.
My aim 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 would develop to $6.4 – $32.7 million. With this sum of money, my then grownup kids ought to have the ability to stay on a minimal wage job or no job for some time.
7) Make investments For Your Youngsters Right now
I’ve lived in San Francisco since 2001 and have moved by means of 5 totally different neighborhoods throughout that point. In every of those neighborhoods, a minimum of one among my neighbors has been an grownup man who nonetheless lives at dwelling along with his dad and mom or resides alone in his dad and mom’ properties. The rationale? None of them could make sufficient cash to stay comfortably on their very own.
In 10–20 years, synthetic intelligence will make it even more durable for younger individuals to seek 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 as we speak.
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 train our kids sensible abilities to allow them to use their fingers to earn.
Image a world the place, after spending 17–21 years at school, and presumably accumulating important faculty debt, your youngsters are instructed they’ll’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 dwelling eight years after faculty, unable to make use of his $1 million pc science diploma as a result of his abilities are not in demand.
Even as we speak, the median earnings for Ivy League graduates is simply about $91,000. That’s not notably excessive for people who ranked within the high 1% of their highschool class and should have paid a premium for his or her schooling.
8) Be taught How To Use Extra AI Apps To Enhance Your Productiveness
You don’t should be nice at math anymore—simply know tips on how to use a calculator. To guard your self from AI disrupting your life, it’s essential to grasp as many AI apps as attainable. Whereas most individuals keep on with ChatGPT and Anthropic, there’s a whole ecosystem of AI instruments designed that can assist you excel at your job. Right here’s a listing of a few of them:
I’ll use AI for higher voice dictation so I can write my posts whereas within the scorching tub. I’m additionally exploring AI apps that may file 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 because of AI, robust relationships might be important for survival. The wealthiest and strongest people are more likely to turn out to be much more dominant. That’s why it’s essential to start out constructing connections with them as we speak, ideally earlier than they’re enormous successes.
When alternatives are scarce, individuals naturally prioritize their very own circles, and people with wealth and energy are not any exception. If you happen to don’t resemble or share widespread floor with them, deal with being useful. The extra you possibly can 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 ultimately remove your job and put you out to pasture. Extra importantly, perceive that each one the hassle and cash you are spending elevating your kids to achieve success, unbiased adults could in the end be for nothing.
I have not been this assured a few long-term funding development 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 nicely, particularly after the pandemic accelerated working from dwelling.
Sure, possibly I’m overly influenced by dwelling in San Francisco, the place the highest AI firms have been based or have workplaces. However I converse to workers at these companies and enterprise capitalists repeatedly, 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 take advantage of the time we have now left with the roles we maintain and the businesses we run. Ultimately, they could be gone, however by then, we’ll hopefully have constructed sufficient monetary power to be simply fantastic.
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 kids from a future the place your companies could not be wanted? Do you assume you’ll have the ability to get wealthy sufficient to not care in regards to the destruction AI will convey?
To expedite your journey to monetary freedom, be part of over 60,000 others and subscribe to the free Monetary Samurai publication 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. Every little thing is written primarily based on firsthand expertise.
