| Your biggest enemy is your present self. It’s also your biggest ally for recognizing your risk of self-defeat and asking for help. In addition to the advice to use accounts with penalties for early withdrawals, I’d consider if setting a fun money budget would give you a metered amount of “yeah, no one’s perfect” escape valve but then have other accounts that are harder to readily access. Consider splitting your direct deposit (after 401k deferral) into multiple accounts, some of which you don’t have ready access to. Put $100/check into an emergency fund account, $150/check into a travel or big fun account, $400/check into a house/car repairs account, $X/check to an after-tax Vanguard account, and the rest into your daily usage account. You’ll have setbacks over the years, just as your grandparents did. But over the long run, there’s never been a 15-year run of negative nominal returns on the broad based US stock averages. Bet with that trend to continue, including there being some 5-year losing periods ahead. You can do this, it won’t be easy but setting in place a few mechanisms to support, not letting the wheels come off the bus entirely if you skip up a little, and just committing to being better every year than the last probably has positive correlation with an ok outcome. |