InCacheOnly

I totally agree with pretty much every point you make.

I also invest in US majority index funds so certainly agree they are the best bet. I do however think security and certainty are different in that one is 99% and one is 100%.

I'd say it depends on your personality and risk tolerance but when talking about life destroying events I'd say 1% is quite significant. For example a 1% chance of a car crash per journey would be unacceptably high.

Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed reply by the way, I'm thinking around this topic a lot at the moment so debating the details is very valuable to help reach a view I'm content with.

But what if you are sued due to something completely out of your control and lose your wealth?

Or face a medical problem that requires expensive treatment not covered by your insurance or government healthcare?

Or your investments fail, the USSR fell very quickly risking pensions people relied on, the roman empire fell. US investments could too; I mean they kinda did in the early 1900's, recovery from that took time.

I'm not saying any of these things are likely to happen (they really aren't and I'd be supprised if any did in the next 100 years). But they could so any amount of security money offers is limited and not certain.

I suppose it depends if you would equate security and certainty to the same thing? I certainly did but wouldn't now. I wager you don't since you said 99% not 100%.

I've had a very similar realisation recently. A lot of what I spent the last 5 years doing has largely been to reach a state of security where I feel I 'no longer need to worry'.

Due to a death in the family, an unfounded health scare and a rather paranoid money scare it's been made quite clear that this utopia of 'secure' does not exist no matter what I do.

It has lead to a reduction in stress in some ways since the pressure to maintain everything and keep it safe is less if 100% confidence can never be reached so chasing it is pointless.

I don't know if you've had a similar experience but I'm currently at the stage of re-evaluating what I value since if some things (like wealth and health) are unavoidably temporary then the sacrifices I'm willing to make to maintain them are less than if they were assured or permanant.

I'd be curious to know how this has effected your outlook on life as I'm just starting with this now and it has certainly left me a bit lost. Although I don't think that's a bad thing.

Sorry for the slight ramble, just been very much on my mind at them moment.