My retirement plan involves laying down in a ditch off a highway in Colorado with an amazing view of the Rockies during a freezing winter night and just falling asleep. Social Security will not exist when I reach retirement age. I have a pension through work, I contribute to a Thrift Savings Plan, none of it will be enough, and I refuse to contribute more to either (as my Boomer parents both (of course) suggest), because to me I am literally throwing that money away. I will never see that money, the markets will crash, I will be left with nothing anyway, there’s no point.

This is… An unhealthy mental stance to take. The markets have pretty consistently gone up for just about a century now, its about time in the market not timing it. Yeah it will go up and down, yeah we really might see a recession in the next few years, but 20-30 years from now, money you’ve invested will be worth considerably more and you’ll likely feel quite different when the time rolls around.

I worry about you, grasshopper_mouse. If you really feel this way, please talk to someone.