The Myth of Security: Why the “Safe” Job Is the Riskiest Bet in 2025
The "safe" job and steady paycheck were never real. Here’s why job security is a myth and how to build true security for yourself.
For generations, we’ve been told the same story.
📚 Get good grades.
🎓 Go to a good school.
💼 Land a good job.
🐑 Stay loyal, follow the rules, and play it safe.
🪦 Retire … if you live that long.
Do all of this and you’ll be rewarded with stability (a steady paycheck, health insurance, maybe even a pension or gold watch when you retire).
This is the myth of security.
It’s the story that shaped the 20th century. It’s the story still shaping millions of lives today. It’s also the story that keeps people trapped in jobs they hate, terrified of taking risks, and clinging to an illusion that collapsed decades ago.
Because here’s the truth: the “safe” job, the “guaranteed” paycheck, the idea of corporate stability? It doesn’t exist anymore.
And thanks to the Internet, AI, and globalization, the house of cards is collapsing in plain sight.
But before we get to how it all fell apart, we need to talk about where the myth came from and why it was so believable in the first place.
The Birth of the Job Security Myth
For most of human history, security wasn’t even an option. You farmed, you hunted, you bartered. If the harvest failed, you starved. If you got sick, you hoped your family or community could carry you through.
The Industrial Revolution changed everything.
Factories didn’t just need workers; they needed obedient, predictable workers. People who would show up on time, perform repetitive tasks, and stay long enough to keep production stable.
And the only way to recruit those workers was to offer something new: security.
A wage you could count on.
A paycheck that arrived the same day every week.
Eventually, pensions, health insurance, and the idea that if you gave the company loyalty, the company would take care of you.
This was radical. For the first time, people could plan their lives decades in advance.
Why Job Security Doesn’t Exist Anymore
If the Industrial Revolution planted the seed of security, World War II and its aftermath watered it into a forest.
When soldiers returned home, governments were desperate to reintegrate millions of men into the workforce. They didn’t want another Great Depression or political unrest. So they doubled down on the promise of security.
In the United States, this came in the form of the GI Bill (1944). It offered:
Paid tuition for education.
Low-interest mortgages for homes.
Loans to start businesses.
Combine this with strong unions, rapid economic expansion, and America’s global dominance, and you got the “golden era” of job security.
Wages rose alongside productivity. If you worked hard, your paycheck grew.
Unions protected workers. Collective bargaining ensured pensions, healthcare, and workplace safety.
A single income could support an entire family. A house in the suburbs, two kids, a car in the driveway, maybe even a summer vacation.
This was the peak of the “social contract” between companies and employees: loyalty and obedience in exchange for stability.
In 1950, security wasn’t a myth. It was reality and that’s what made the lie so believable for every generation after.
The Culture of Security
This golden era didn’t just create wealth. It created culture.
The “company man” became a symbol of stability and respectability.
Career ladders were linear: you started at the bottom, moved up step by step, and retired after 30 or 40 years with the same company.
Retirement was guaranteed, not through personal hustle but through pensions.
Security wasn’t just financial. It became an identity.
Think about the stories we grew up with:
Teachers, parents, and grandparents preaching: “Get a good job, keep your head down, you’ll be fine.”
Movies and TV shows portraying stability as the dream: the steady 9–5, the suburban home, the predictable life.
Entire generations believing risk was dangerous, while conformity was noble.
The script was simple: follow directions, stay loyal, and everything will work out.
Why It Worked Then
Here’s the thing: the story wasn’t always a lie. In the 1950s, 60s, even into the 70s, it actually worked.
Companies were expanding, not downsizing.
Globalization hadn’t hollowed out industries yet.
Automation was limited.
Unions were powerful.
If you did what you were told, chances were good that you’d be rewarded.
That’s why the myth of security is so powerful. It worked once. People saw it. They lived it. They passed it down to their kids and grandkids as gospel.
And that’s why, even today, so many still cling to it — even though the foundation has crumbled.
The Hand-Me-Down Story
Fast-forward to today. Millennials and Gen Z grew up hearing the same lines their grandparents believed:
🎓 Go to college → 💼 Get a good job → 🐑 Play it safe → 🪦 Retire
But the world they inherited wasn’t the world of the 1950s.
By the time we hit the workforce, wages had stagnated, pensions had disappeared, and debt had exploded. But the myth was still sold to us as if nothing had changed.
We inherited the story of security but not the security itself.
Setting Up the Fall
By now, you can see the setup:
The Industrial Revolution created the concept of job security.
The postwar era made it real … for a while.
Culture embedded it into our DNA.
But myths only survive as long as reality supports them. And starting in the 1970s, reality stopped cooperating.
That’s where we turn next: the cracks in the bargain, the collapse of security, and how globalization, the 2008 crash, the pandemic, and now AI, pulled card after card from the house until it all came down.
When the Bargain Broke
If the postwar years were the golden era of security, the decades that followed were the slow-motion collapse. The myth didn’t shatter all at once — it eroded, piece by piece, until the foundation was gone and all that was left was a story people kept repeating because they didn’t know what else to believe.
Let’s walk through how the bargain broke.
1970s: Wages Flatline, Productivity Soars
For a long time, there was a direct link between productivity and pay. You worked harder, companies made more money, and you got a bigger paycheck.
That relationship broke in the mid-1970s.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, since 1979:
Productivity increased by over 60%.
Hourly wages increased by less than 15%.
Translation: workers kept producing more value, but the profits went to executives and shareholders, not employees.
The story still said, “Work hard, you’ll be rewarded.” The reality said, “Work hard, and someone else will get rewarded.”
The first crack in the myth: productivity no longer guaranteed prosperity.
1980s–1990s: Globalization & Outsourcing
The next crack came when companies realized they could chase cheaper labor overseas.
Factories that once anchored towns in the U.S. and Europe closed and moved production to Asia and Latin America. Middle-class manufacturing jobs evaporated.
Even “white-collar” work wasn’t immune. In the 1990s, outsourcing expanded to call centers, IT support, and back-office operations.
The script (Find a good company, stay loyal, you’ll be safe.) stopped working. Loyalty didn’t matter if your entire department was relocated to another continent.
The Pension Swap: 401(k)s Replace Security
Perhaps the clearest betrayal of the security myth happened in retirement.
For decades, pensions were the crown jewel of stability. Work 30 or 40 years, and you’d receive guaranteed income for life.
By the 1980s and 90s, companies began phasing pensions out. They were replaced by 401(k) plans — which shifted the burden from employers to employees.
Now your retirement depended not on company promises, but on your ability to invest wisely in the stock market. Suddenly, risk wasn’t managed by corporations — it was dumped onto workers.
The old deal: loyalty for security. The new deal: loyalty for nothing guaranteed.
2008: The Crash That Exposed It All
If the earlier decades weakened the story, the 2008 financial crisis obliterated it.
Millions of people who had followed every rule lost everything almost overnight.
Entire industries collapsed.
Retirement savings evaporated.
Lifelong employees were laid off without warning.
And the people who caused the crisis? Executives, banks, hedge funds? They walked away with bailouts.
It was a brutal reminder: the system didn’t care about your loyalty. The “safe” path wasn’t safe.
2020: The Pandemic Rips Off the Mask
The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t just strain the myth. It shredded it.
Entire industries froze. Hospitality, airlines, retail, live events: millions unemployed in weeks.
“Essential” workers were underpaid and overexposed, while many “white-collar” jobs revealed themselves to be… bullshit. People realized they could do their “full-time” roles in 3 hours a day, if at all.
Companies cut staff aggressively while bragging about record profits.
The pandemic revealed something we all suspected: many jobs exist not to produce value, but to create the appearance of value. Security wasn’t just fragile — it was fiction.
The pandemic wasn’t just a health crisis. It was a security crisis.
The House of Cards
By now, the myth of security looked less like a fortress and more like a fragile structure waiting to collapse.
🌍 Globalization pulled a card.
📉 Wage stagnation pulled a card.
💸 The pension swap pulled a card.
🏦 The 2008 crash pulled a card.
🦠 The pandemic pulled a card.
And today? AI is pulling another.
Jobs once considered untouchable like law, marketing, coding, and design, are being reshaped by machines. Even knowledge workers are realizing: their job security isn’t just fragile, it’s replaceable.
Security isn’t collapsing from one big blow. It’s collapsing one card at a time.
Why the Lie Persisted
At this point, you might be asking: If the bargain broke decades ago, why do so many people still believe in it?
Because myths die slowly.
Parents passed it down because it worked for them.
Schools still trained kids for obedience, not independence.
Corporations had every incentive to keep selling the story.
So even as pensions disappeared and layoffs mounted, the lie was kept alive. The message stayed the same: “Work hard, do what you’re told, you’ll be fine.”
But beneath the surface, millions were beginning to see the cracks.
They knew loyalty didn’t protect them.
They knew wages weren’t rising.
They knew companies weren’t going to take care of them.
And then came the Internet (aka the wrecking ball that exposed the truth once and for all).
The Internet + AI: The Wrecking Ball That Shattered the Myth
If globalization and financial crashes weakened the story of job security, the Internet finished it off. It wasn’t a scalpel. It was a wrecking ball.
The Internet did two things simultaneously:
It exposed how fragile “secure” jobs really were.
It created alternatives so powerful that millions realized they didn’t need those jobs anymore.
For the first time in history, the average person could see the collapse and the opportunity in real time.
Exposure: The Curtain Gets Pulled Back
In the past, people only saw layoffs in their own towns or industries. Job loss felt isolated — like bad luck. But with the rise of social media, the fragility of “secure” jobs was exposed at scale.
A single tweet about thousands of layoffs at Google, Amazon, or Meta spreads worldwide in minutes.
LinkedIn feeds filled with executives who once boasted about “family-like” corporate culture suddenly announcing “rightsizing.”
Viral TikToks of workers packing their desks or crying in cars pulled the curtain off the illusion.
If Google, one of the most profitable companies on earth, can lay off 12,000 employees with an email at 5 a.m., how secure is anyone else?
The Internet didn’t just show us jobs were fragile. It showed us everyone already knew.
The Disruption of Entire Industries
The Internet didn’t just expose insecurity — it actively dismantled the foundations of “stable” industries.
Craigslist killed classified ads, gutting newspaper revenues.
Amazon crushed retail, bankrupting department stores once seen as permanent fixtures.
Netflix ended Blockbuster overnight.
Spotify rewrote the music industry’s economics.
In each case, the jobs that had seemed stable weren’t just threatened — they were gone.
And the new opportunities weren’t at corporations. They were in the hands of individuals: bloggers, YouTubers, newsletter writers, indie developers.
Every time the Internet destroyed an old industry, it planted seeds for new creators to rise.
The Democratization of Tools
Here’s where the wrecking ball became a builder.
For decades, corporations controlled the tools of production and distribution. Want to publish? You needed a publishing house. Want to sell a product? You needed shelf space. Want to broadcast a message? You needed a TV network.
The Internet obliterated those barriers.
Substack made it possible for anyone to start a newsletter with global reach.
Shopify let anyone build an e-commerce business in a weekend.
YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram turned living rooms into global stages.
PayPal and Stripe made global payments instant.
The tools of the corporation became available to the individual and often, better and cheaper.
The Internet handed individuals the same leverage that corporations once hoarded.
Proof of Alternatives
Once the tools existed, the proof followed.
Workers started side hustles and discovered they were making more selling products online, writing newsletters, or consulting independently than at their “secure” jobs.
And they shared it.
Tweets about hitting $10K a month online went viral.
TikToks about quitting jobs for full-time content creation exploded.
Substack writers published earnings dashboards showing six figures in subscriber revenue.
The myth of security wasn’t just collapsing. It was being replaced by a new story: you can build your own.
The Internet killed the myth by showing us two truths: jobs aren’t safe — and we don’t need them to be.
Then Came AI: The Latest Card Pulled
If the Internet was the wrecking ball, AI is the aftershock.
Jobs once considered untouchable are being reshaped before our eyes:
Law firms experimenting with AI briefs.
Marketing teams using AI to generate entire campaigns.
Developers watching code autocomplete itself.
Designers seeing logos and graphics produced in seconds.
This isn’t science fiction. It’s happening now.
The house of cards was already unstable. AI just yanked another card from the base.
And if you’re still relying on “security” from a single employer? That’s like clinging to the last standing wall of a house that’s already collapsed.
AI didn’t create insecurity. It revealed how insecure we already were.
The Flip Side: The Greatest Opportunity in History
Here’s the paradox: the same forces that destroyed job security created the greatest opportunity for individual freedom in history.
The Internet broke the old bargain but it gave us leverage our grandparents couldn’t imagine:
Tools to publish globally at zero cost.
Platforms to sell products and services directly.
The ability to reach customers without middlemen.
And now, AI is multiplying that leverage. What corporations once used armies of employees to do, individuals can accomplish with a laptop and software.
It’s terrifying if you’re clinging to the myth. It’s liberating if you’ve let it go.
The end of job security isn’t a crisis. It’s an invitation.
From Wrecking Ball to Blueprint
The Internet shattered the illusion of security. AI is accelerating the collapse.
But they also gave us a new blueprint:
Don’t wait for permission.
Don’t rely on a single paycheck.
Don’t mistake employment for security.
Instead, own your skills, your systems, your audience. Build something nobody can take away.
That’s where true stability lives now.
What Real Security Looks Like Now
The Internet killed the myth of security but it didn’t leave us with nothing. It left us with something better.
Because here’s the real kicker: true security has never been about following orders or trusting companies. It’s about ownership.
When you own your skills, your systems, and your audience, you own your future. And in 2025, that’s the only kind of security that matters.
1. Multiple Streams > One Paycheck
A single paycheck is fragile. One layoff, one budget cut, one algorithm change, and it’s gone.
Multiple income streams are resilient. If you have:
A newsletter subscription business,
A digital product,
A consulting offer,
A small e-commerce store,
… you’re not at the mercy of any one thing. One stream dries up, others keep flowing.
$100K from a business you own is safer than $100K from a job because nobody can fire you from your own audience.
2. Skills You Own > Job Titles
Job titles vanish with layoffs. Skills compound forever.
Writing, storytelling, design, coding, marketing; these travel with you.
The more you publish and practice, the sharper they get.
Unlike titles, skills can’t be stripped from you by a company memo.
When you own rare, valuable skills, you’re never fragile.
3. Audiences You Control > Platforms That Control You
Think about this: companies spend billions to acquire customers because they know attention is the most valuable asset in the world.
You can do the same.
When you build an email list, a Substack, or a community, you’re building direct ownership of attention. No gatekeepers. No algorithms throttling your reach.
Your list is your insurance policy.
Your email list is your freedom list.
4. Systems That Compound > Hours Traded for Dollars
A salary is capped by your hours. Systems are not.
When you:
Write a newsletter post that keeps bringing in subscribers,
Launch a digital product that sells while you sleep,
Build a funnel that turns readers into customers,
… you create compounding returns. Work you did once keeps paying you back.
That’s real security: not being chained to the clock.
Leaving the Job Security Myth Behind
I know this shift is real because I lived it.
For years, I worked in traditional media. I did everything “right.” I climbed the ladder until I became a Director of Social Media at an online publisher, making $120,000 a year.
On paper, that was secure. In reality, it was a cage.
I was told the same thing everyone else is told: play it safe, stay loyal, don’t rock the boat. That’s the way to financial freedom.
Bullshit.
Because here’s what happened when I stopped believing the myth: I launched my own media and publishing company. I stopped building for someone else and started building for myself.
Now, I make seven figures a year.
The difference wasn’t luck. It wasn’t even working harder. It was recognizing that the “secure” $120K job was actually riskier than betting on myself.
The riskiest thing I ever did was trust the system. The safest thing I ever did was leave it.
A Playbook for Building True Financial Freedom
So what does building true security look like for you?
Start something small. A Substack. A digital product. A service.
Publish consistently. Weekly is enough.
Treat your job (if you have one) as a funding mechanism not your identity.
Stop waiting for permission. Nobody’s going to grant it.
Invest in compounding skills: writing, storytelling, audience-building.
That’s the playbook. Simple. Proven. Replicable.
And it’s exactly what I teach inside Substack Bestseller Academy.
This isn’t about hacks or overnight wins. It’s about systems:
Choosing a profitable niche,
Growing your audience,
Monetizing early,
Scaling into a six- or seven-figure business.
Not theory. Not fluff. The same systems I used to go from $120K “secure” employee to $1M entrepreneur.
If you’re serious about building real security, stop clinging to the myth. Start learning the systems that work.
Beyond the Mirage
The myth of security is a mirage. From a distance, it looks real: a steady paycheck, benefits, stability.
But when you finally reach it, there’s nothing there. Just layoffs, debt, and disappointment.
The Internet didn’t just reveal the mirage. It handed us the tools to dig our own well. To build true, lasting security — the kind that doesn’t vanish when someone higher up makes a spreadsheet decision.
Because real security isn’t in chasing illusions. It’s in ownership. It’s in compounding skills. It’s in building something that belongs to you.
Stop chasing the mirage. Start digging your well.