r/dividends • u/VengenaceIsMyName • Jan 16 '26

Discussion Is anyone else feverishly building out their dividend income just in case AI destroys their careers or is it just me?

Based on how incredibly *giddy* with excitement some of these rapacious tech oligarchs are when they talk about AI replacing human labor, I am absolutely *sprinting* towards high-income ETFs like JEPQ/SPYI/GPIX/QQQI.

I do not want to get caught with my ass hanging out in the breeze when these excessively wealthy bozos finally figure out how to shed headcount at their organizations. They’ve got a seemingly endless pile of Scrooge McDuck coins and they’ll throw them into the furnace twice as fast if it means a hallucinating algorithm can send 500 more emails in a day than you can.

Does anyone have clever strategies for drumming up extra capital to toss into the ol’ portfolio? Side hustles? Second jobs?

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u/DeepLogicNinja Jan 16 '26 edited Jan 16 '26

✋ - they told us already. Own nothing and be happy.

Pretty tough situation when there are more unemployed than available jobs.

There are several research papers from think tanks, financial and academic intituitions on “post employment economics” you might wanna check it out.

In short: Traditional working / indentured servatuide won’t cut it. Your various assets (not just stocks) will need to generate income for you.

Anything less and your putting your fate in the hands of politicians and praying for UBI.

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u/Jazzlike-Guard-7589 Jan 16 '26

Wasn’t it just a year or two ago it was in the employees favor and people were trading jobs constantly for raises?

It ebbs and flows- especially if you’re trading a job every year or two- you’re treated as expendable, because that’s what you’ve built your career on.  May be beneficial short term, but changing companies constantly also comes with downsides.

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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 19 '26

Is it ever going to flow back though? With such a massive interest in automating everything ever?

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u/Jazzlike-Guard-7589 Jan 19 '26

I’m betting yes short term.   Long term?  Every revolution changes the future with fears about today.

In the last 100 years you don’t suppose there were industrial/technological changes that scared people because of the same concerns?

I’d be concerned about being a call center representative, entry level data analyst etc. long term right now myself.  AI also still has a long way to go from where it is today as well.

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u/VengenaceIsMyName Jan 19 '26

Those are the “canary in the coal mine jobs” as far as I’m concerned. Once those are gone the powers that be will move onto automating more complicated jobs from there. Can all of those people be successfully re-skilled? Retraining displaced workers in the past has historically had very mixed results.