I'm not arguing about picking stocks as an investment option. I'm arguing that the "common knowledge" that younger people should pick risker investments is because they have the years to survive short-term bear markets. They don't need conservative parts of their portfolio to protect against short-term recessions.

I just feel like I'm starting to see more people throw around the "I'm young so I can make riskier investments" excuse when they put all of their investment money into a select few long shot stocks, and still make out worse than any simple fund.