'Universal High Income': Why Elon Musk Believes Saving For Retirement Will Be Irrelevant

Billionaire Elon Musk believes that saving for retirement will be irrelevant in the future to come, as a "high universal income" would ensure abundant availability of resources for all classes of the population.

The Tesla and SpaceX owner's remarks came during the 'Moonshots with Peter Diamandis' podcast, where he claimed that people should not worry about saving their wealth for a retirement that may be 10 to 20 years from now.

"Don't worry about squirreling money away for retirement in 10 or 20 years... If any of the things that we've said are true, saving for retirement will be irrelevant," Musk said.

Musk, currently the world's richest man, believes that the advances in artificial intelligence, robotics and energy would super-charge productivity, resulting in "abundance" of resources. There will be "universal high income" granted to all, he predicted.

Anyone will be free to have "whatever stuff they want", ranging from "better medical care" to learning anything "for free".

The path to this future, however, would be "bumpy", marked by social unrest, Musk warned. He also flagged concern over the potential loss of purpose in the future. "If you actually get all the stuff you want, is that actually the future you want?" he asked, adding, "Because it means that your job won't matter."

The remarks come about a month after Musk, during a podcast with Indian entrepreneur Nithin Kamath, said human work would become optional in the next 10 to 20 years due to the advancements in AI and robotics.

Even as the serial entrepreneur projects a utopian future, millions among the world's working class continue to struggle with inflation, lack of public medical infrastructure, housing crisis, and lack of affordable education.