How the AI Revolution Will Change Your Retirement Plans
Bullion.Directory precious metals analysis 20 December, 2023
By Peter Reagan
Financial Market Strategist at Birch Gold Group
And there’s no sign of it slowing down.
The AI revolution only needed six years to start causing serious economic disruption. It’s already starting to replace jobs fairly quickly:
According to a recent report of 750 business leaders using AI from ResumeBuilder, 37% say the technology replaced workers in 2023. Meanwhile, 44% report that there will be layoffs in 2024 resulting from AI efficiency.
Julia Toothacre, career strategist at ResumeBuilder, tried to put a little bit of sugar on this bitter pill: “There are still so many traditional organizations and small businesses that do not embrace technology the way that some of the larger companies do.”
This trend has not penetrated the entire business community, yet. But even so, the trend has gotten off to a good start, and will likely deepen quickly over the coming decade.
Recent reports state that some 80% of professional workers fear AI will make their job redundant. There’s good reason for this concern – because AI can do many things faster and better than humans. There’s a major push in the corporate world for the expedient adoption of AI:
The clock is ticking. The future is here, and the time to embrace AI is now. AI is being implemented across companies, already demonstrating tangible benefits in decision-making, data analysis, and efficiency.
Here’s the reality: Businesses that do adopt efficient, cost-saving technologies will thrive in the years ahead. Those that don’t will struggle, and may fail.
That means working professionals (including yours truly!) who don’t embrace AI and use it to become more productive and efficient – well, we’ll probably be replaced, too.
AI will eat millions of jobs here in the U.S. AI will continue to disrupt the economy in ways we can’t imagine.
We can say this with confidence because this isn’t the first time technological innovations have turned the economy upside down…
History is full of unsettling innovations
Over the last 125 years alone, dozens of innovations have destroyed jobs and created new ones, upended entire economic sectors and reshaped society.
A common example is how Henry Ford started to mass-produce the automobile, which disrupted a number of industries (while completely destroying others):
imagine a transportation conference in 1908, attended by hundreds of companies in the wagon and carriage industry. The Ford Motor Company unveils its Model-T at the event. The legacy wagon, buggy whip and roller bearing companies must have been worried about their survival and how much time they had left. The smart ones would have proactively embraced Ford’s awesome disruptive innovation, and figured out how to pivot their business models to participate in a new world.
Another example happened more recently (pre-2010), when mobile phone technology eliminated the long distance telephone call. Remember MCI?
According to the Federal Communications Commission, the long-distance business reached its peak in 2000, when it raked in over $109 billion. By 2007, revenues were down to $58 billion.
Now the long-distance sales pitches are gone. In their place is lots of talk about bundling various products — TV, Internet, phone and cellular service — into one package. Long distance almost seems an afterthought, according to Jim Speta, telecom law professor at Northwestern University.
Ask anyone under 30 if they’ve ever heard of a long-distance phone call and they’ll give you a blank stare.
Finally, how often have you heard the phrase You’ve got mail! while booting up a computer to go online with a dial-up connection?
When the World Wide Web exploded in popularity during the 1990s, dial-up was the most common type of internet service available, but much faster broadband internet services soon replaced it.
There are many more examples of industry-shattering innovations. All of them changed the job landscape, and displaced millions of workers.
Artificial intelligence has the potential to replace (rather than just displace) jobs that Americans count on. Just like every robot added to factory assembly lines replaced 3.3 workers over the last few decades. Or new cotton spinning technologies replaced tens of thousands of English laborers in the 1700s.
The bottom line is, technology changes the world. The AI revolution is no longer in the future – it’s happening right now. It’s becoming very real, very fast.
That means all of us, whether working professionals or retirees, who don’t take it into account are at risk. Let’s not get caught on the wrong side of the AI revolution…
Building innovation-resistant wealth
It only took six years to ramp up AI-technologies to the point where they threaten the livelihoods of everyday Americans.
If you’re working, it’s time for you to consider what you’ll do if it comes for your job. If you’re retired, consider how your savings would fare in a world turned upside-down…
Sometimes, the best defense against the new-and-improved is the tried-and-true. For about 5,000 years, physical gold and silver have been safe-haven stores of wealth in times of war and peace, good times and bad. If you want a form of wealth that AI can’t replace, or even improve upon, gold and silver might be right for you.
Gold and silver have also been historically proven to help preserve purchasing power (value), and as an added bonus, are also considered inflation-resistant investments. They can help keep your savings from becoming obsolete.
But don’t wait. Technology is moving fast, and there’s no way to know what industry will be disrupted next. Diversify your savings sooner rather than later. Learn more about the benefits of physical precious metals in our free kit.
Peter Reagan
Peter Reagan is a financial market strategist at Birch Gold Group, one of America’s leading precious metals dealers, specializing in providing gold IRAs and retirement-focused precious metals portfolios.
Peter’s in-depth analysis and commentary is published across major investment portals, news channels, popular US conservative websites and most frequently on Birch Gold Group’s own website.
This article was originally published here
Honestly, it’s pretty worrying. All this talk about AI and automation makes me wonder what’s left for us. Sure, AI might make some things easier or more efficient, but what about the human touch? And what about our jobs?