ChatGPT stuns veteran investor when asked what a normal person should do to become rich/ Image: Youtube
When people ask ChatGPT how to get rich, they usually expect something vague or fantastical. What surprised listeners of The Diary of a CEO was not that the question came up, but how closely the AI’s response matched decades of orthodox investing advice.During a recent episode of The Diary of a CEO, host Steven Bartlett, who is also a business owner and avid investor, posed a deliberately simple prompt to ChatGPT, framed around the idea of an “ordinary” income and a long-term goal: financial freedom.Sitting opposite him was JL Collins, author of The Simple Path to Wealth and a leading voice in long-term, low-cost investing. Often called the “Godfather of FI” (Financial Independence), Collins is also known for his blog, jlcollinsnh.com, and his best-selling book, which has guided countless readers toward financial independence.
The question Bartlett put to ChatGPT
Bartlett framed the experiment as a way of testing whether artificial intelligence could distil decades of investing wisdom into something coherent. With Collins sitting beside him, he explained why he wanted to bring AI into the conversation at all.“I thought it would be curious ’cause we now have this new alien amongst us called AI. I thought it would be curious if I went on ChatGPT and I asked ChatGPT the question.” He then read out the exact prompt. “I’m a normal person who earns $50,000 a year. I want to be financially free in the future. Give me a one-sentence answer based on all of the wisdom in the world taken from every expert in investing ever.”Before revealing what the chatbot produced, Bartlett turned the question back on Collins and asked what his answer would be. Collins did not hesitate. “Avoid debt. Live on less than you earn, and invest in surplus,” a mantra that he had previously used to summarise the philosophy laid out in his best-selling book The Simple Path to Wealth.
ChatGPT’s response, and why it raised eyebrows
When Bartlett then read out ChatGPT’s response, the overlap was striking. The AI advised: “Focus on saving and consistently invest in low-cost broad-based index funds like the S&P 500 while living below your means and allowing compounding to work over time.”The resemblance was so close that Collins could only laugh. “I should sue them for mining my book,” he joked, half in disbelief, half in acknowledgement that the advice was, in substance, sound. ChatGPT’s response mirrored almost exactly the core philosophy Collins has promoted for years: minimise costs, avoid debt, invest broadly, and allow time to do the work.Bartlett pushed the exercise further with a second, more open-ended question.“I then asked another question. How do I earn more?”Collins again offered his instinctive response first, saying he would tell anyone in that position to “develop your skills.” Bartlett then read out the AI’s answer, which urged people to “focus on developing high-demand skills”, to seek career advancement, explore side hustles, or invest in assets that generate passive income, such as real estate or dividends.What lingered for Bartlett was not the familiarity of the advice, but the uncertainty beneath it. He said there was something important, and unresolved, in the emphasis on “high-demand skills”. The conversation on wealth then naturally shifted to the future of work and how technological change could affect income and financial freedom.
Skills, AI, and a changing labour market
When asked about what “high-demand skills” might look like in the coming years, JL Collins noted that the landscape is already shifting rapidly. Programming, for instance, used to be one of the most sought-after skills, but in the age of AI, Collins observed, its relative value is changing. He joked that the AI chatbot he had just queried had seemingly “mined his book” for advice, highlighting the growing presence of AI even in personal finance discussions.Collins’ concerns echoed wider anxieties voiced by tech leaders such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who has repeatedly warned about the potential for job displacement as automation accelerates. Altman told The Tucker Carlson Show, “I’m confident that a lot of current customer support that happens over a phone or computer, those people will lose their jobs, and that’ll be better done by an AI.”The fear is not hypothetical. Reports from the BBC indicate that several companies have already attributed recent layoffs to the “new realities” of AI. Forbes projects that by 2026, more human roles may be replaced to cut costs. Microsoft has also published a list of 40 jobs it considers most vulnerable to AI, ranging from interpreters, historians, and mathematicians to proofreaders, coders, journalists, data scientists, geographers, and even radio DJs. The breadth of at-risk roles underscores the wide-reaching impact of AI across technical, creative, and analytical professions.Despite these uncertainties, Collins emphasized that the core principles of building wealth remain unchanged. Avoiding debt, living below your means, and consistently investing continue to be the foundation of financial independence, even as the labour market becomes increasingly unpredictable. Go to Source
