It’s been several months since we returned from Hawaii, and surprisingly, my FOMO about the AI tech boom has faded. Sure, I still don’t have a job paying me gobs of money as AI CapEx surges higher, but that’s OK. Instead, I’ve allocated enough money to AI investments to where I no longer feel the need to chase the industry from the inside.

You see, my real fear isn’t missing out on another AI unicorn. It’s raising kids in a crueler and harsher world—one where, partly because of their identities, they get rejected from every top-50 university they apply to. Then, by the time they graduate from a so-so university, entry-level jobs have largely been automated away by AI.

This is not some far-off dystopia. CEOs of every major company are openly exploring or adopting AI. They’re implementing hiring freezes, slashing jobs, and reducing headcount by the thousands. Accenture cutting 11,000 jobs and Lufthansa cutting 4,000 jobs due to AI aren’t outliers, they’re harbingers. Anyone paying attention can extrapolate how dire things could be 15–18 years from now, when my children are entering the workforce.

As an investor, it’s key to forecast the future. As a parent, it’s key to forecast potential misery for your children. In both cases, if you forecast even halfway properly, you’ll likely end up wealthier, calmer, and better prepared.

Jobs Are Vanishing Due To AI

Take a look at the S&P 500’s recent performance in red compared to Total Job Openings in white. Notice the inflection point: investor optimism as AI promises profitability due to increased productivity, while job openings continue to crater.

As an investor, my hope is the S&P 500 keeps climbing—history suggests it will over the long run. As a parent, my fear is that Total Job Openings will continue to collapse to 2009 levels or worse. I clearly remember the 2008-2009 Global Financial Crisis—that’s when I launched Financial Samurai after the seventh round of layoffs at Credit Suisse. Fear was my motivator then too.

At the pace we’re going, by 2032 we could easily see a scenario where the S&P 500 is at a record high, but job openings match the lows of the last crisis.

And yet, after privately consulting with dozens of readers this year, I don’t think most Americans realize what’s coming. Sure, I may sound fatalistic, but a large part of my wealth has come from recognizing and investing in long-term trends. And the AI bulldozer is real.

Find Your Minimum AI Investment Comfort Point

Just as there’s a “Minimum Investment Threshold” where work becomes optional and you can stop stressing about office politics, there’s also a “Minimum AI Investment Threshold” where you can stop worrying quite so much about AI wrecking your career or your children’s livelihoods.

This Minimum AI Investment Threshold is conceptually similar to your Coast FIRE number. But unlike Coast FIRE, which is too dangerous for most people to rely on, the Minimum AI Investment Threshold is an active hedge, not a passive hope.

Here’s how to calculate yours:

Plug into an AI tool. Use a compound interest calculator or your favorite AI LLM to crunch the numbers for you.

Forecast the timeline. Estimate when your job will be eliminated due to AI, or when your children will graduate high school or college and enter the job market.

Estimate future living expenses. Take today’s basic living expenses and project them forward using a reasonable inflation rate (2%–4%).

Choose your cushion. Decide how many years of basic living expenses you’ll want saved in AI investments—pick anywhere from 1 to 10 years.

Discount to today’s dollars. Use a discount rate of 2%–8% (lower if conservative) to calculate how much you’d need to invest now.

Example Using Our 8-Year-old Son

Let’s take my 8-year-old son. In the year 2040, 15 years from now, he’ll be 23 and a new college graduate from a regular university.

An income that could cover his basic needs is $40,000 a year in today’s dollars—equivalent to $62,319 at a 3% annual inflation rate in 2040.

I estimate it may take him 2–4 years of job searching to realize that his dreams of clicking buttons to optimize ads for big tech companies are out of reach. At that point, he’ll probably have to take a trades job to make ends meet. (Electricians, plumbers, and general contractors should be in huge demand given all the datacenters being built.)

So, I need to have about $125,000–$250,000 ($62,319 X 2 – 4 years) set aside for him by the year 2040 to give him that cushion.

Here’s how much I’d need to invest today to reach $125,000–$250,000 in 15 years, depending on the discount rate:

Discount Rate	Needed for $125,000	Needed for $250,000
2%	$92,877	$185,754
3%	$80,233	$160,465
4%	$69,408	$138,816
5%	$60,127	$120,254
6%	$52,158	$104,316
7%	$45,306	$90,612
8%	$39,405	$78,810

Based on a realistic worst-case scenario—him taking 4 years to realize his hopes and dreams won’t materialize—at a 2% discount rate I’d need about $185,754 invested today. That way, by the time he’s 23, I’ll have secretly set aside $250,000 in AI investments alone to help him survive.

It is vital all parents NOT tell their children exactly how much they are saving and investing for them. You don’t want them to become soft and develop an entitlement mentality.

AI Investing as a Psychological Hedge

Some of you may be scratching your heads: why invest in AI at all if I’m only assuming 2%–8% annual returns? With such modest expectations, I could just invest mostly in Treasury bonds yielding 4%–5% sprinkled with some stocks.

I hear you. But the point isn’t just the math. It’s the psychology.

Will you diligently invest for your or your children’s future specifically to hedge against AI? Maybe, maybe not. Further, I’m trying to be conservative in my assumptions.

By specifically investing in the very companies that may make your life and your children’s lives harder, it becomes easier to actually save and invest for the future. You now have a clear why behind your delayed gratification. And when you have a why, almost anything is possible.

When you start viewing AI as an unstoppable beast that could run you and your children over, you get more motivated to invest in AI companies.

Fear and Responsibility Drive Me to Invest

In 2025, driven by fear of a dire future and a strong sense of responsibility to protect my kids, I embarked on a new quest. I decided to invest the Minimum AI Investment Threshold so I could reduce my worry and even start rooting for the very technology that could harm my children.

The first step was opening a new Fundrise Venture account earmarked for my children with $26,000 in early August. (There was, and still is, a promotion where if you invested over $25,000, you got $500 for free invested in their Flagship real estate fund.)

Then, as my Treasury bills matured, I kept funneling between $15,500–$50,000 at a time into Fundrise Venture to hit my Minimum Investment Threshold. Every transfer I made into my account made me feel better.

Hedged Against Whatever Happens

Only time will tell whether investing $190,000 in 2025 in names like OpenAI, Anthropic, Databricks, Anduril, Canva, Ramp, and dbt Labs will pan out. If they do, I’ll be thrilled. The $190,000 could grow to anywhere from $256,000 to $2.87 million, based on a 2%–20% annual return.

That means one child will either have all his or her expenses covered for four years of job-hunting or perhaps be set for life. They can pursue careers they want rather than careers they need.

Alternatively, I could potentially lose 80% of my money and end up with just $38,000 after 15 years because AI turned out to be an overhyped dud. Maybe CapEx spend is too high for the profits. Maybe the world realizes human oversight is more essential than ever—Jevons’ Paradox at work.

In that scenario, I’d be even more thrilled if both my children found livable-wage jobs they enjoyed. Because as parents, it is our responsibility to raise children to be self-sufficient adults. Needing to still depend on your parents after age 25 slowly chips away at your sense of worth.

Without the mission of protecting my kids from AI, there’s no way I would have invested $190,000 in risk assets like the S&P 500 in just two months. Most of the money came from risk-free Treasury bonds after I sold my old house earlier in 2025. In the past, I’ve dollar-cost averaged more slowly, or invested in structured notes with downside protection when valuations are high.

But once I reallocated the money from me to my children, I extended the investment time frame from “right now” to 15 years in the future. And when you have such a long runway to invest, it becomes easier to stomach risk assets.

Asset Allocation Matters Too

Finally, when deciding your Minimum AI Investment Threshold, compare that target number to your overall asset allocation. The comparison can be to your total investable capital or total net worth.

Personally, I have a target of investing up to 20% of my investable assets in alternative investments such as venture capital. Not only am I in an open-ended venture fund that invests in AI, I’m also invested in four other closed-end VC funds, and I’m considering two more that all have AI investments.

Sure, the Yale and Harvard endowments have ~40% of their assets in private equity or alternatives. But you don’t have the size, influence, or edge of a multi-billion-dollar endowment. For the average DIY investor, allocating up to 20% in alternatives is plenty.

The older (and hopefully wealthier) you get, the more important proper asset allocation becomes to ride out volatility. Review your goals, run new financial projections, and stay disciplined. It’s easy to get caught up in hype, especially in a bull market. But nothing good lasts forever.

No More AI FOMO

I’m no longer bummed I don’t have a job at a hot AI startup growing triple-digits a year. It felt like a waste not grinding it out while living in AI central, San Francisco. I’m also less bummed that AI is stealing my content on Financial Samurai and not providing a proper link back.

But now that I’ve reached the Minimum AI Investment Threshold for both kids, I’m more at peace.

It feels great to invest in hungry founders and employees working 60+ hours a week for fortune and glory, while I play pickleball during the day and write on Financial Samurai. I’m grateful to be investing in AI near the beginning of the revolution. Our young children aren’t as lucky, which is why it’s up to us to invest for them.

So, for all you AI employees out there, keep grinding and enjoy the ride. You could make enormous fortunes over the next ten years, and I’ll be grateful if you do!

Readers, how are hedging against AI destroying the livelihoods of your children? Do you think most people are aware of the risks AI poses for their job security? What are some other things we are doing to help our children thrive in an AI world?

Easy Ways To Invest In AI

If you want exposure to private AI companies, consider Fundrise Venture. The platform owns stakes in names like OpenAI, Anthropic, Anduril, and Databricks. AI is poised to reshape the labor market, eliminate millions of jobs, and dramatically boost productivity. Since private companies are staying private much longer than in the past, it makes sense to allocate some capital to them if you want to capture potential upside before they go public. Fundrise has been a long-time sponsor of Financial Samurai, and I’m personally an investor in their funds.

For public exposure, you can also just buy QQQ or shares of the Magnificent 7—Apple, Microsoft, Google, Nvidia, Meta, Tesla—plus Oracle, which has become a stealth AI play. The beauty of investing is that you don’t need to live in Silicon Valley to participate. From anywhere in the world, you can buy a piece of these companies leading the AI revolution.

That said, don’t forget: there are no guarantees when investing in risk assets. Fast-growing companies can be extremely volatile when downturns hit. For example, Meta lost more than half its value during the 2022 bear market before recovering. Always stay diversified, keep an eye on your asset allocation, and make sure your portfolio matches your risk tolerance.

In today’s rapidly evolving job market, employability skills are key stepping stones to building and sustaining a successful career. They play a critical role in improving your workplace performance, in addition to helping future-proof your career. Often referred to as soft skills, work-readiness skills or enterprise skills, they combine problem-solving, adaptability, interpersonal communication, teamwork and other transferable abilities that can help you thrive in any work environment.

As the global job market undergoes a rapid transformation driven by digital innovation, hybrid or remote work culture and artificial intelligence, employability skills are becoming even more valuable. In the coming years, thriving in your career will also demand portable skills such as digital literacy, remote collaboration, adaptability and AI proficiency. 

The job market and competition are evolving. This post highlights some of the top employability skills job seekers and professionals can develop to stay competitive and future-ready. 

What Are Employability Skills?

Employability skills are core skills most people need to succeed in their career, whether working independently or as part of a team. They include qualities such as effective communication, adaptability, leadership, critical thinking, collaboration, emotional intelligence, and self-motivation. These qualities are a blend of highly desirable and transferable skills that allow individuals to adapt to change and collaborate with others. 

Unlike technical skills, which are specific to a particular task, job role or sector, employability skills are transferable, remaining relevant regardless of the profession or industry. In today’s fast-evolving job market, these skills demonstrate resilience and flexibility. 

Moreover, employability skills are critical in the hiring process. As key differentiators, they can help recruiters shortlist well-rounded candidates who have the potential to become long-term assets to the company. 

When it comes to career advancement, technical skills might help you land your dream job. However, you will also need strong employability skills to thrive and progress in that role. Whether it’s tech, healthcare, education, or any other industry, core skills can help you get ahead. For instance, professionals who can communicate effectively and contribute to a sense of teamwork are more likely to attain leadership roles, promotions, and cross-functional opportunities. 

Related: Remote Leadership Skills Needed to Successfully Manage Distributed Teams

Why Are Employability Skills Important for the Future?

The future of work is being reshaped by rapid technological advancements, AI integration, automation, and the rise of hybrid and remote work culture. As such, employability skills are critical for staying future-ready and achieving long-term career success. 

In this rapidly evolving landscape, companies and hiring managers are shifting to prioritize candidates with strong employability skills over hard skills or technical expertise. Soft skills help individuals communicate effectively, learn new technologies, and thrive in a fast-paced work environment—and these abilities can help ensure long-term success. 

Beyond the hiring process, employability skills keep professionals relevant and prepared for new roles or challenges. They offer the mindset and flexibility to adapt to and succeed in a constantly changing workplace. 

Overall, employability skills are essential not just for gaining a competitive edge in the hiring process but also for adapting to evolving work models and staying relevant in the future workforce.

The Top 10 Skills Employers Will Look For in 2026

The job market changes quickly and demands employable skills that combine human, future-focused and timeless characteristics. Here are 10 must-have skills employers look for in 2026: 

1. Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) enables understanding and managing emotions. Employers value EQ for teamwork, conflict resolution, adaptability, and inclusive leadership.

2. AI Literacy

AI is rapidly reshaping industries. Knowing how to use AI tools or technologies and understanding their limits is a top skill for tech-driven roles or a future shaped by AI. 

3. Data Storytelling

The ability to turn data into captivating storytelling is a highly sought-after quality. Employers look for professionals who can analyze intricate data and effectively communicate their insights. This skill can also lead to improved communication, better decision-making, and increased engagement.

4. Problem-Solving

Creative and efficient problem-solving remains vital across industries, from finance to healthcare. This timeless skill involves analyzing issues, generating solutions, and effectively implementing them.

5. Adaptability

Adaptable workers embrace change and resilience, thriving in dynamic workplaces. Employers reward workers who embrace new technologies and work efficiently in uncertain situations.

6. Effective Communication

Clear communication encourages collaboration and conveys ideas effectively to diverse audiences. All forms, whether written, verbal or visual, are important. Employers look for individuals who can articulate ideas, actively listen and tailor effective messages. This helps to meet the needs of clients or end-users.

7. Digital Collaboration

With the rise of hybrid and remote work models, proficiency with digital tools is also important. Platforms such as  Slack ensure seamless virtual teamwork across different time zones. Employers prefer candidates with strong digital collaboration skills; these traits help promote efficiency and innovation in modern, tech-driven workplaces. 

8. Critical Thinking 

Critical thinkers evaluate information carefully and make sound decisions. Employers value professionals with this timeless skill. It often shows that an individual can address complex situations and contribute to improved organizational efficiency and performance. 

9. Sustainability Mindset

A focus on sustainability aligns with corporate responsibility. Employers may prioritize those who can introduce eco-friendly practices into everyday operations. Ultimately, this can lead to a responsible, sustainable future for the company and the world. 

10. Creativity and Innovation

Creativity sparks innovation, from product design to problem-solving. Employers seek fresh thinkers who can generate new ideas and drive growth. These skills blend human connection, tech fluency and timeless competencies, ensuring success in today’s job market.

Related: How AI in the Metaverse Is Changing the World

How to Build Strong Employability Skills

Employability skills are in high demand among organizations and hiring managers in today’s fast-changing job market. Whether you’re just entering the industry or a professional looking for opportunities to advance in your career, having a set of key employability skills can help you achieve your goals.

While some employability skills come naturally through experience, there are a few you may develop or refine over time with the right strategies. Here are some tips you may follow to build or strengthen your employability skills:

1. Join Online Courses

Regardless of your experience or industry, online courses can be helpful. They offer a flexible way to build and polish high-demand employability skills. Several online platforms, including LinkedIn Learning, Skillshare, and Coursera are available. They can develop essential skills like communication, problem-solving, digital literacy, and leadership. 

These courses can also help you stay updated with emerging workplace or industry trends, enabling you to thrive in every role and sector. You may also explore JimRohn.com for timeless personal development insights and tools for long-term success.

2. Seek Out Mentorship

Seeking mentorship is an effective way for personal and professional growth. A good mentor can help you build confidence, improve communication and enhance interpersonal skills. They can also help you develop strategic thinking by offering regular feedback and encouragement. People often find their mentors in the workplace or within professional networks.

Volunteering is one of the best ways to develop organizational, teamwork and leadership skills. No matter the type or size of event, volunteering offers real-world, hands-on opportunities to learn and enhance your abilities. 

4. Learn from Real-World Experiences

Whether through an internship, a full-time role or freelancing, real-world experience is vital. It can play a key role in refining your employability skills such as communication, collaboration with the team, taking initiative in completing tasks and managing time and responsibilities. Regardless of the work or industry, your hands-on experience teaches you how to implement those skills practically in real-world situations. 

Stay Ahead With Future-Proof Skills

There’s no doubt that employability skills are crucial to standing out, getting hired and staying relevant. They can also help future-proof your career as industries, tools, technologies, marketing trends and job roles continue to evolve. 

Keep developing or polishing key skills such as adaptability, emotional intelligence, problem-solving, AI literacy, and creativity. Continuing to hone your soft skills will allow you to navigate new challenges, explore emerging career paths and move your career or business forward. 

Photo from TippaPatt/Shutterstock.com

A new report from Microsoft researchers studying the occupational implications of generative AI, offers some clarity.

Translators, historians, and writers are among the roles with the highest AI applicability score, meaning the job’s tasks are most closely aligned with AI’s current abilities, according to the report released this month that ranked professions. 

Customer service and sales representatives—which make up about 5 million jobs in the U.S.—are also highly vulnerable to being replaced by AI. 

Overall, the jobs on AI’s chopping block are ones that are ones that involve knowledge work—like people doing computer, math, or administrative work in an office, the researchers wrote. Sales jobs are also on the list, since they often involve sharing and explaining information.

Of course, there are some jobs that are safe from AI’s claw: Dredge operators; bridge and lock tenders; and water treatment plant and system operators are among the jobs with virtually no generative AI exposure, thanks in part to their hands-on equipment requirements.

Still, business leaders like Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang have said that every job will be touched by AI in some way, and so it’s best to embrace it. 

“Every job will be affected, and immediately. It is unquestionable,” Huang said at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference in May. “You’re not going to lose your job to an AI, but you’re going to lose your job to someone who uses AI.”

A degree won’t save you from AI’s jobs revolution

Many of the jobs with high chances of getting upended by AI soon, like political scientists, journalists, and management analysts, are all ones that typically require a four-year degree to land a job. And as the researchers point out, having a degree—which was once considered a surefire path to career advancement—is no longer a safeguard against the changing tides. 

“In terms of education requirements, we find higher AI applicability for occupations requiring a Bachelor’s degree than occupations with lower requirements,” wrote the researchers, who studied 200,000 real-world conversations of Copilot users and cross-compared the AI’s performance with occupational data.

On the flip side, there are some career paths with low AI exposure, that are growing in demand. The healthcare sector, in particular, is an area that is experiencing this heavily. The home health and personal care aid industry is expected to create the greatest number of new jobs over the next decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor.

At the same time, the researchers recognized that even their findings don’t capture the full scope of the AI revolution—and there could be further automation caused by more than just generative technology: “Our measurement is purely about LLMs: other applications of AI could certainly affect occupations involving operating and monitoring machinery, such as truck driving.”

Fortune reached out to Microsoft for comment.

Gen Z’s big bet on education might not be all glam

After seeing the rollercoaster of layoffs across the tech industry over the past few years, many Gen Zers have turned to seemingly steadier fields like education.

The sector was the fastest-growing industry among recent U.K. graduates last year, and it was similarly a top career choice for American graduates. And while the profession can provide further work-life balance and decent benefits, the ability for AI to do the work may cause further headache. The report singles out farm and home management educators—as well as postsecondary economics, business, and library science teachers—as roles with relatively high AI applicability.

While it’s unlikely that schools will roll out AI teachers en masse, the report’s findings underscore how quickly the technology could reshape the education profession—and many others.

The top 10 least affected occupations by generative AI:

1. Dredge Operators
2. Bridge and Lock Tenders
3. Water Treatment Plant and System Operators
4. Foundry Mold and Coremakers
5. Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators
6. Pile Driver Operators
7. Floor Sanders and Finishers
8. Orderlies
9. Motorboat Operators
10. Logging Equipment Operators

The top 40 most affected occupations by generative AI:

1. Interpreters and Translators
2. Historians
3. Passenger Attendants
4. Sales Representatives of Services
5. Writers and Authors
6. Customer Service Representatives
7. CNC Tool Programmers
8. Telephone Operators
9. Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks
10. Broadcast Announcers and Radio DJs
11. Brokerage Clerks
12. Farm and Home Management Educators
13. Telemarketers
14. Concierges
15. Political Scientists
16. News Analysts, Reporters, Journalists
17. Mathematicians
18. Technical Writers
19. Proofreaders and Copy Markers
20. Hosts and Hostesses
21. Editors
22. Business Teachers, Postsecondary
23. Public Relations Specialists
24. Demonstrators and Product Promoters
25. Advertising Sales Agents
26. New Accounts Clerks
27. Statistical Assistants
28. Counter and Rental Clerks
29. Data Scientists
30. Personal Financial Advisors
31. Archivists
32. Economics Teachers, Postsecondary
33. Web Developers
34. Management Analysts
35. Geographers
36. Models
37. Market Research Analysts
38. Public Safety Telecommunicators
39. Switchboard Operators
40. Library Science Teachers, Postsecondary

The “Godfather of AI” says that some fields are safer than others when it comes to being replaced by AI.

Geoffrey Hinton, 78, is often referred to as the Godfather of AI due to his pioneering work on neural networks, which began in the late 1970s. He won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on machine learning and is currently a professor emeritus in computer science at the University of Toronto.

In a recent interview on the podcast “Diary of a CEO” that aired on Monday, Hinton said AI has the potential to cause mass joblessness.

“I think for mundane intellectual labor, AI is just going to replace everybody,” Hinton said. “Mundane intellectual labor” refers to white-collar jobs. He specified that the replacement would take the form of “a person and an AI assistant” doing the work that “ten people did previously.”

Related: These 3 Professions Are Most Likely to Vanish in the Next 20 Years Due to AI, According to a New Report

Hinton gave one example, noting that paralegals were at risk of losing their jobs to AI, and said that he would be “terrified” to work in a call center right now, due to the potential for automation. However, he pointed out that blue-collar work would take a longer time to be replaced by AI.

“I’d say it’s going to be a long time before it [AI] is as good at physical manipulation,” Hinton said in the podcast. “So, a good bet would be to be a plumber.”

In the interview, Hinton also challenged the notion that AI would create new jobs, stating that if AI automated intellectual tasks, there would be few jobs left for people to do.

“You’d have to be very skilled to have a job that it [AI] just couldn’t do,” Hinton said.

^{Geoffrey Hinton. Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile for Collision via Getty Images}

AI has the potential to decrease hiring, especially for entry-level jobs. A report released last month from venture capital firm SignalFire found that big tech companies have stopped hiring new graduates for entry-level roles as much as they did in the past, and AI is a significant reason for the decline.

The report found that the percentage of new graduate hires at companies like Meta and Google dropped by 25% from 2023 to 2024, reaching just 7% in 2024.

Related: Investment Firm CEO Tells Thousands in Conference Audience That 60% of Them Will Be ‘Looking for Work’ Next Year

It’s not just the tech industry — Wall Street also shows signs of being impacted by AI. In March, Morgan Stanley announced layoffs of 2,000 employees, intending to replace some with AI. A report released in January from Bloomberg Intelligence showed that AI could cause as many as 200,000 job cuts across 93 major banks, including Citigroup and JPMorgan, within the next five years.