AI Will Make Everyone Retire Early (Or End Humanity): The Great Divide

I had dinner with my kids last week, and we ended up on completely opposite sides of the biggest question facing humanity.

My kids? They're convinced we're all doomed. In their minds, AI is heading straight toward a Matrix-style takeover where robots hunt down humans, enslave us, or simply decide we're obsolete and wipe us out entirely. Game over. No more humans. No more anything.

Me? I'm looking at the same technology and seeing something completely different. I see a world where AI becomes so capable that it handles all the work, governments provide Universal Basic Income to everyone, and humans are finally free from the daily grind of working just to survive.

In other words, while my kids see extinction, I see retirement. For everyone.

The gap between our perspectives couldn't be wider. When my kids talk about AI, they're imagining Terminator scenarios—machines that decide humans are the problem and set out to solve it permanently.

But when I think about AI's trajectory, I see something that looks remarkably like the life I've been planning and saving for my entire career. A world where nobody has to work for money anymore, Universal Basic Income covers everyone's needs, and people have unlimited time to pursue whatever interests them.

Sound familiar? That's basically the retirement dream, except instead of waiting until 65 after decades of saving, it might be handed to an entire generation while they're still young.

Maybe I'm naïve, but I can't help getting excited about this possibility. Some experts think we could see this transformation within ten years. That means people currently in high school and university—like my kids—might never experience what we think of as traditional working life.

They're stressing about career choices and job markets that might not even exist by the time they graduate. Meanwhile, I'm thinking: what if they get to skip the whole "work for 40 years to afford retirement" phase and jump straight to the good part?

The irony isn't lost on me. Here I am, diligently saving for retirement, learning to invest and trade so I can fund my bucket list, while my kids might get their bucket lists handed to them decades before I even reach retirement age.

In my utopia scenario, the government's role becomes crucial—redistributing the wealth that AI generates so everyone benefits, not just the people who own the robots.

Here's what gives me confidence in the utopia scenario: we actually know quite a bit about what happens when people don't have to work for money. Through all the newsletter articles we've explored, we've met retirees who thrived and others who struggled when they stopped working.

Remember Alfred Yu, that 67-year-old who said "retirement doesn't mean resting"? He discovered that freedom without purpose is just expensive boredom. The happiest retirees aren't the ones with the most money—they're the ones who found meaning beyond their paychecks.

These lessons become incredibly relevant if AI creates a world where nobody needs to work for survival. We've seen retirees answer the question "What do I do with my life now that money isn't the driving factor?" successfully. Some become teachers, others pursue creative interests, many find fulfillment in community service.

If the AI utopia arrives, these retirement success stories become the blueprint for how an entire society might function.

But I'm not completely starry-eyed about this. The retirement community has also shown us the potential pitfalls of unlimited free time.

There's the purpose problem. When your identity isn't tied to your job title, who are you? Then there's the social aspect—work gives people community and shared goals. And let's be honest about the simple challenge of filling your days productively. We've all heard stories of people who retired with grand plans but ended up watching TV all day.

The economic questions are massive too. How do you fund UBI for everyone? Will inflation still be a thing? I haven't thought through all these details, and honestly, I don't think anyone has the complete answers yet.

So why do I lean toward the utopia scenario when my kids are convinced we're heading for extinction?

Maybe it's generational. I've lived through some technological revolutions to see that humans are remarkably adaptable. The internet was supposed to destroy privacy and human connection—instead, it created new forms of both.

Or maybe it's because I've spent so much time thinking about retirement that the idea of everyone getting to live like retirees doesn't scare me—it excites me. I've seen what's possible when people are freed from the necessity of earning money just to survive.

My kids, on the other hand, are at the stage where they're supposed to be building careers. The idea that AI might make all of that irrelevant probably feels more threatening than liberating.

If the utopia scenario plays out, it'll be the ultimate test of what humans do when survival isn't driving us forward. Will we become a civilization of artists, philosophers, and community builders? Or will we turn into a society of couch potatoes with no motivation to grow or contribute?

The retirement community offers clues. Some retirees discover passions they never knew they had and become more productive than they ever were in their careers. Others struggle to find motivation without external pressure and deadlines.

Scale that up to an entire society, and you see both the incredible potential and the real risks of an AI-driven utopia.

The truth is, nobody knows which scenario will play out. The AI revolution is happening so fast that we're all just making educated guesses.

But here's what I do know: whether we're heading for utopia or something else entirely, the lessons we've learned about successful retirement are going to be valuable. If AI does create a world where traditional work becomes optional, we'll need every piece of wisdom we've gathered about finding purpose and creating meaning outside of a paycheck.

So for now, I'm sticking with my plan. I'm still saving for retirement, still learning to invest and trade, still building my bucket list fund. Because whether AI creates utopia in ten years or takes fifty years to transform society, financial independence is never a bad thing to have, I think.

Your Turn: So where do you stand in the great AI divide—extinction or early retirement for all?
Are you team extinction with my kids, or team utopia with me, seeing a future where everyone gets to live like retirees?
And if we really are heading toward a world where nobody needs to work for money, what would you do with unlimited free time?
The retirement community has been grappling with these questions for generations. Maybe it's time the rest of the world started paying attention to what we've learned.
Because ready or not, the biggest retirement experiment in human history might be starting sooner than any of us expected.
The L-Plate Retiree community spans generations, and we need all perspectives in this conversation.

How Much Should You Actually Invest? (The Income Allocation Game)

"How much should I invest?" is like asking "How long is a piece of string?"—the answer depends entirely on your specific situation. But unlike string length, there are some helpful guidelines to get you started on the right track.

The classic advice is to save/invest 10-20% of your income, but this varies wildly based on where you live, your age, and your goals. Someone starting their career in their 20s might aim for 15%, while someone playing catch-up in their 40s might need to push toward 25-30%. Cultural factors matter too—some societies emphasize higher savings rates than others.

Start with frameworks like the 50/30/20 rule (50% needs, 30% wants, 20% savings/investments) and adjust based on your reality. The key is starting somewhere, even if it's just 5% of your income. You can always increase it later as your income grows or your expenses decrease.

L-Plate Takeaway: The perfect investment amount is the one you can sustain consistently over time. Better to invest 10% religiously than to invest 25% sporadically and then give up when life gets complicated.