Pod Insights The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway The Future of 401(k)s, Choosing Single Parenthood, and Caring for Aging Parents About this episode Scott answers listener questions on the future of 401(k)s and how to approach funding your retirement, the decision to pursue single parenthood, and how to balance career ambitions with caring for aging parents from a distance.
Want to be featured in a future episode? Send a voice recording to [email protected] , or drop your question in the r/ScottGalloway subreddit.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:01 Scott Galloway? Support for the show comes from Northwest Registered Agent. Your business identity is everything that makes your business legitimate and professional. With Northwest Registered Agent, you don't just form a business, you start a complete foundation built for privacy, credibility, and growth. That includes registered agent service, a business address, operating agreement, domain, website, professional email, phone number, and built-in privacy. In other words, your home address, personal email, and phone number stay private. Don't pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for what you can get from Northwest for free. Visit northwestregisteredagent.com/profgfree and start using free resources to build something amazing. Get more with Northwest Registered Agent at northwestregisteredagent.com/profgfree.
0:48 Speaker 01 Your heart can tell you a lot about your health. Apple Watch Series 12 measures your heart rate every five seconds with the most accurate heart rate sensing in wearable. So your vitals app, now with heart rate variability, can tell you when something is off. And your readiness score can let you know when to rest and when to push. Hear the story in every heartbeat with Apple Watch Series 12. The features described are for wellness purposes only and not for medical use. iPhone 11 or later required. Based on Apple conducted study of heart rate accuracy, August 2026. Visit apple.com/aplewatchseries12.
1:19 Speaker 02 This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends, like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an ultra. Because it's not just a superior light beer, it's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser-Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.
1:52 Scott Galloway? Welcome to Office Hours at Prof G. This is the part of the show where we answer your questions about business, big tech, entrepreneurship, and whatever else is on your mind. If you'd like to submit a question for next time, you can send a voice recording to [email protected] . Again, that's [email protected] . Or post a question on the Scott Galloway subreddit, and we just might feature it on our next episode. First question I have not seen or read these questions. Our first question comes from Agent Sanity5596 on Reddit. They say...
2:25 Scott Galloway? Hi Prof. What is your view on the success of 401ks as a way of building retirement savings in America? They've been a great tax-efficient way to build wealth. On the other hand, they seem to favor higher-income earners with steady employment. Not everyone has access to a 401k, including gig workers. Not everyone can afford to contribute, and life expectancy is increasingly longer. As Americans, we rely on our employers for good healthcare and retirement savings. I also know some people have saved well but have been laid off from their jobs mid-career and face ageism while trying to get back into the workforce. So my question is, what do you think about this and what might you suggest is an alternative way for Americans to fund their retirement other than social security, which is a whole other discussion? Okay. Seventy percent of private sector workers now have access to some sort of 401k-style plan, and that's up from 60% a decade ago. So it
3:08 Scott Galloway? is growing. The average savings rates are about 14% of income, and that's great, actually. One in seven dollars. That's close to the recommended 12% to 15%. As of early 2025, the average balance is $127,000, and the number of 401k millionaires is near record highs, around 600,000, thanks to stock market gains, compounding, and long-term saving habits. The drawbacks? As you mentioned, 30 to 60 million workers, especially low-wage, part-time, and gig workers, lack access to employer retirement plans. Gig workers are disproportionately undersaved. Roughly 30% have no retirement savings at all. And even though adoption has picked up recently, about 40% of the working population isn't saving enough to maintain their lifestyle throughout retirement. There is some risk here. 401k
3:52 Scott Galloway? accounts are more stock-heavy than ever. Workers in their late 30s now hold about nine in 10 of the assets in their 401k and equities. That's up from 82% a decade ago because the returns have been so exceptional that people are, you know, if you're under the age of 40, you don't believe that stocks go down more than one year in a row. They can. They can go flat for a decade or even down. Even early 60s savers have 60% in stocks, and total equity exposure in 401ks reached $9 trillion in 2024, driven by strong demand, and there kind of is no alternative mentality. Reliance on a few mega-stocks, including Nvidia, now 8% of the S&P, raises concentration risk. So, first off...
4:32 Scott Galloway? The first thing you do when you take any job is you want to find out what type of tax-deferred or tax-advantaged investments and matching programs there are and immediately max them out. Because, one, just a human nature, 90% of us will spend everything that comes into our hands. So you want to find saving mechanisms that keep the dollar out of your hand. You are going to be hit. The smartest people on the planet aren't trying to put a person on Mars or solve world hunger. They're trying to figure out a way to use technology to hit you on a screen at the exact right moment, when you're in the exact right move, so they can sell you a pair of Bomba socks with your own running shoes at the exact right moment, or get you to upgrade from economy to economy comfort. It is nearly fucking impossible not to spend as much or more money than you have in this environment.
5:16 Scott Galloway? And the deepest, deepest, most talented companies in the world are basically there just to do that. And that's to figure out a way to grab you by the ankles, turn you upside down and shake you. So forced savings are a great way to build wealth. Housing or owning a home has been a great way to build wealth. Now, is that because it outperforms other asset classes? No. If you include maintenance and taxes, it's probably underperformed the stock market. But people don't like to have their home foreclosed on, so they generally make that mortgage payment. And slowly but surely, the value in their house should grow tax-deferred to kind of build wealth because of its forced savings mechanism that's built into it. And you want to, you want to implement the same type of thing for you. So for example, you want to download the Acorns app, which rounds up your purchases to the nearest dollar and then automatically invest it for you.
6:01 Scott Galloway? And people, one of the flaws in our species is we just don't recognize how fast time is going to go. And that is, when I was 22, I remember going to the beach with my friend Lee Lotus, and he was putting money, we'd scramble, I need to find $2,000 to put in my IRA or 401k. And I'm like, dude, if in 50 years, I needed $22,000 in my 401k, take me out and shoot me. Okay, so much to take me out and shoot me, because my friend Lee is now a multimillionaire, and he's made really good money his whole life, but he's never been like, he's never sold a huge business or anything. But because he started saving $2,000 a year, you save $100 a month from the age of 22, you're going to be a millionaire by the time you're 65. $100 bucks. Start now.
6:42 Scott Galloway? I moved to London yesterday. It's been over three years. I was applying to college yesterday. I drove my son to take the ACT on Saturday. Time is going to go fast. Do you want to have $100,000, $800,000, $2 million in a forced savings IRA 401k plan or not? If the answer is yeah, maybe I'd like that. Start now. Question number two also comes from Reddit. Morocco212 asks, hi Scott, you speak a lot about the joy of being a parent, but I would love to hear your thoughts about consciously, deliberately deciding to be a single parent. I live in New York City and I'm getting to the age where if I don't have a child soon, I will not be able to easily have one. I have yet to meet someone with whom I want to raise a child though, and I'd strongly consider
7:25 Scott Galloway? going through IVF and raising a child on my own. I would love to hear your thoughts, pro or con. Thanks. This is a very personal decision. So a lot of it, quite frankly, just comes down to a couple of things. One, do you have the money? If you don't, I just would take it off the table. I just don't think you want to create that kind of stress in your household. I was raised by a single immigrant mother who lived and died a secretary, lied in my life. It worked out. We had a nice life. She had a nice life. I had a nice life. But there's just no getting around it. It was stressful not having money. And two, do you have a support system in place? And it doesn't have to be a man. It can be friends, family,
8:10 Scott Galloway? good friends. But do you have either the economics or the support system to make sure that you're kind of playing not one-on-one coverage, but zone coverage? And that is you can have some semblance of time and a life yourself for working out, for your own health, to advance your own professional career, because kids require a ton of resources and time and attention. One of the wonderful things about having kids is that I'm a pretty selfish narcissistic person, which made it difficult when I had kids my first few years because I was pissed off I didn't get to go have brunch and be fabulous with my friends every weekend because of this little alien that I was charged with keeping alive on weekends. But The thing I really began to love about it was for the first time in my life,
8:55 Scott Galloway? I began to think about something other than me. And I found that quite liberating, actually. I found it sort of relaxing at a certain point, like, oh, no. How do I be more fabulous this weekend? Well, I don't need to worry about that because I'm going to soccer practice and then some lame birthday party on Sunday with the other dads who are all looking at each other like, Jesus, believe we have to put up with the shit of Chuck E. Cheese. But anyway, I like that women are having kids without necessarily having a romantic partner. I think it's a sign of progress, but there's just some reality. So I'm not going to sit here and say, yeah, go for it, girl. You know, these are difficult questions and they require really open, honest conversations around money and around the support system. Having said that, there is never the right time to have a kid.
9:38 Scott Galloway? It's especially tough on women because the reality is you face a you face a much more cruel or unfair clock than I do. So I understand the sense of urgency. I think if you're thinking this way, it means you want children. I don't, do you really want kids? Or is it society telling you to have kids? If you really want kids, then I would say, put yourself on some sort of financial plan and put in place the infrastructure such that you can do that. And I have friends who've had kids out of wedlock and said, that's it. I'm just going to take care of the kid on my own. Most of them had money and it's unfair. I'm not talking about the way the world should be, but the way the world is. Other countries have much more infrastructure. So let me finish where I started. Deeply personal decision.
10:23 Scott Galloway? Having said that, having a kid has given me purpose. My purpose, or kids, I should say, my purpose at the beginning of my life was to be rich and awesome such that I could take care of my mom and attract, you know, and attract potential mates. That's what I wanted. I wanted to be more interesting to other people. I wanted to be more attractive to women and I wanted to take care of my mom. And then when I was fortunate enough to check those boxes, it was kids that now are my sense of purpose. My, my goal, my only goal right now and sense of purpose as I barrel towards the end. And I ask myself, what's this all about? It's simple. I'm here to raise good men. Full stop. That's why, that's why I'm here and it's been very rewarding. So I empathize and understand your desire to do it.
11:06 Scott Galloway? I think having kids is wonderful, but there's some practical realities that the world forces on us. Oh my God, what a word salad. I wish you the best around this important decision. Thanks for the question. We'll be right back after a quick break.
11:29 Scott Galloway? Support for the show comes from Superhuman. The pace of modern work can be relentless. You're getting a constant influx of messages from a ton of different apps. You haven't closed all your browser tabs in a year. Everything seems urgent and staying on top of it all feels like an impossible task. Superhuman Go is an AI chat that's always there when you need it, already aware of what you're doing and doesn't ask you to start from zero. Superhuman Go, from the makers of Grammarly, help you be the best version of yourself at work. It handles the repetitive stuff so you can focus on the work that only you can do. Whether you need to summarize an endless email thread or prep for a meeting that's happening in five minutes, Superhuman Go works inside the tools and sites you already use, your browser, inbox, docs, and your project tools. And its AI chat is available on the side of your browser and it's always ready.
12:14 Scott Galloway? No new tabs, no switching apps, no losing your place. This is AI that works with you, not on top of you, so that you have the time and brain space to solve the problems that matter. Check it out, find out more at superhuman.com.
12:31 Scott Galloway? Support for the show comes from Vanta. As AI adoption grows, so does your company's security risks and requirements. New frameworks, audits, and vendors keep piling on, but your team isn't getting any bigger. Most compliance tools promise automation, but you're really stuck doing all the work by hand, chasing screenshots, validating controls, and playing catch up when audit season comes around again. Vanta works differently. The regentic trust platform is built to scale with you, not slow you down. With over 1,400 automated tests across 400-plus integrations, Vanta collects evidence and monitors your controls year-round, cutting your audit prep by 82%. Plus, you can access the Vanta agent everywhere you work, whether your team is in Vanta every day or living in tools including Claude or Cursor. Want proof?
13:16 Scott Galloway? Over 16,000 fast-growing companies like Ramp, Ryder, and Harvey save time and resources while scaling fast with Vanta. Learn more at vanta.com/profg and get $1,000 off. That's spelled V-A-N-T-A dot com slash prof G for $1,000 off.
13:38 Scott Galloway? Support for the show comes from Vanta. As AI adoption grows, so does your company's security risks and requirements. New frameworks, audits, and vendors keep piling on, but your team isn't getting any bigger. Most compliance tools promise automation, but you're really stuck doing all the work by hand, chasing screenshots, validating controls, and playing catch-up when audit season comes around again. Vanta works differently. The regentic trust platform is built to scale with you, not slow you down. With over 1,400 automated tests across 400-plus integrations, Vanta collects evidence and monitors your controls year-round, cutting your audit prep by 82%. Plus, you can access the Vanta agent everywhere you work, whether your team is in Vanta every day or living in tools including Claude or Cursor. Want proof?
14:23 Scott Galloway? Over 16,000 fast-growing companies like Ramp, Ryder, and Harvey save time and resources while scaling fast with Vanta. Learn more at vanta.com/profg and get $1,000 off. That's spelled V-A-N-T-A dot com slash profg for $1,000 off.
14:47 Scott Galloway? Welcome back onto our final question.
14:51 Speaker 03 Hey Prof G, this is a question about balancing career and personal pursuits with the responsibilities of being a good son. My brother and I both live in major cities far away from our aging parents. While we've benefited from city living, I feel guilty about the distance, especially with my father's declining health. My parents would never ask us to move. They don't want that for us. Moreover, they seem committed for staying for financial and social reasons. But I don't see how this works as they age and as they need more support. What advice would you offer young men who have chosen to live far from aging parents but worry about responsibilities that they hold as sons? P.S. I'm sorry to hear about your father. It's clear in the way you've spoken about him that his life left a lasting impact for many. Thanks very much.
15:36 Scott Galloway? Look, this is a tough one and my general sense is it sounds like your parents have each other, it sounds like they're doing pretty well, and it sounds like you are benefiting from living where you are. So my gut is that as you get older, they're gonna get, they're gonna get sicker. And at some point, you're probably, you and your brother are going to have to be pretty involved in their lives. And I'm not saying this is the right way, but this is my way. And it's two different sides of the coin. I was much closer to my mother than my father. My mother raised me on her own. I was her top priority. You know, it was me and her against the world. So when she got sick, I actually moved in with my
16:18 Scott Galloway? mom. I took, I took nine months leave of absence from NYU. I was fortunate. I had some money, some resources, and I had the ability and I moved into a seniors community, the, the Del Webb Active Living Community. True story. They sent a letter to my mom's house saying it's become clear you're cohabitating with a man under the age of 50 in violation of HOA Del Webb community rules. And I had to go down there and say, I'm her son. She's dying of cancer and I've moved in to help take care of her. And they said, we're sorry, no problem. Anyways, and during the day, let's get this back to me. During the day, I would manage my mom, it was her third time with cancer. She said, I said, all right, what do you want? What's your bucket list? She said, I only have one thing on my bucket list. I want to die at home. And I'm like, okay, I can think I can figure that out. So
17:00 Scott Galloway? during the day, I would manage her healthcare, a nurse. There's certain things I just can't do for my mom. And at night, I would head down to the strip. She lived in a suburb of Las Vegas called Summerlin, and I would party with entrepreneurs and strippers and get really shitty drunk and sometimes spend the night on the strip at a cheap hotel during the week for 49 bucks. And then the next day, I'd go back and hang out with my mom all day and watch Jeopardy and take her on walks and push her wheelchair and watch Everyone Loves Raymond and then go out again. Kind of a weird time in my life. Kind of a weird time. And then when those, that thing resolved, I then started my life again. And that is something. That I would treasure the rest of my life, that I had made enough money, had enough
17:44 Scott Galloway? flexibility to give my mom like a fraction of the love back she had given me. That was, I will treasure that for the rest of my life. You know, these are again, very personal questions, but some people, their reason for being, their center of gravity is family, and they want to be around their family. And if that's the case, okay, make those sacrifices. But if you're doing well, especially in a city, you mentioned the term city living. Two thirds of all economic growth is going to be in one of 20 super cities. And what I tell young people is if you want to be economically secure, you got to get to a city. Or you want to, if you want to be in the top 10%, much less the top 1% of economic security or influence, you got to be in a city. And if you're just an economic animal, with which I was in my twenties, thirties, and forties, get to the biggest city in your
18:29 Scott Galloway? country, get to a super city, and that's where you make your career, that's where you find opportunities. You're just in a, you're in a room of opportunities all the time when you're, when you're in a city. Long winded way of saying the following. My gut is your parents are doing well and they have each other. My gut is you are benefiting, based on what you said, from being in a city, which says to me, there's no reason you can't be close to your parents now and kill it professionally, personally, and emotionally, sticking where you are, knowing that at some point, you're going to have to be more involved in their lives, and that mental and economic wellness that you will accrete by that point will help you do a better job with a reduction in the amount of stress that is naturally
19:12 Scott Galloway? part of the process when they get really old. In sum, I'd probably stick where you are. And finally, I don't know all the nuance of the situation, so I'd have very open and honest conversations with your brother and friends, or people who understand the situation and can better advise you. Very much appreciate the question. And the fact that you're even thinking this way means you're a good son. It means your parents are good people or did a good job with you. That's all for this episode. If you'd like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to [email protected] . That's [email protected] . Or if you prefer to ask on Reddit, just post your question on the Scott Galloway subreddit,
19:56 Scott Galloway? and we just might feature it in an upcoming episode.
20:02 Scott Galloway? This episode was produced by Jennifer Sanchez. Drew Burrows is our technical director. Thanks for listening to the Prof G Pod from the Vox Media Podcast Network.
20:17 Speaker 04 We just moved into our new house and I didn't realize just how close we were to the neighbors. That's when my friend told me about blinds.com.
20:26 Speaker 05 Blinds.com isn't a medication, but it can improve how you feel about your home. Customers who shop at blinds.com experience excellent customer service from consultation to installation. Side effects include increased privacy and better sleep. Talk to your partner today and see if blinds.com is right for you. Visit blinds.com to order your free samples.
20:48 Speaker 06 They're running a Cover 2 defense, but you're running to get game day deals on Uber Eats. Keep everyone at tonight's watch party fed with deals from your go-to restaurants or stock up with deals on your favorite snacks and groceries. Whatever the occasion, get game day deals on Uber Eats all season long. It's not football without food. Uber Eats. Order now. Terms apply. Product availability varies by region. See app for details.
21:18 Speaker 07 When you shop pickup at Kroger, you can expect the savings you love and fresh groceries selected just for you. Our associates are committed to getting every detail right, carefully handpicking your items, checking for quality and freshness, and packing your order with care. Because bringing you fresh, quality groceries is what we do best. And right now, enjoy $20 off your first online order of $75 or more. Restrictions apply. See site for details. Kroger, fresh for everyone.
Previous No Mercy / No Malice: The End of the Blockbuster Next China Decode: How China Became a Tech Beacon Page updated October 26, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated
