<prompt> Human: Quick details: 31M FI-focused . Salary: 110k 401k: 80k Target Date 2055 Roth IRA: 11k Target Date 2055 Ally Bank: 400k 1.8 Interest No Debt CC, Student loans, car etc Monthly Expenses: 1400 rent, insurance, phone, misc My biggest challenge is I simply do not trust the markets, especially with the current occupant at the helm. I had two years of exposure with a financial advisor and exited in 2016 after the market declined lost 8k because I was driven by fear of having my nest egg for a future house disapear. Had I stayed the course and not attempted to time the market - as I readily admit Im doing now- I would be sitting pretty. I could use some advice here as simply saving and having low costs will not help me achieve my goal of financial freedom. Thank you in advance!  <response>: You cant really be FI focused if youre unwilling to invest the money. No matter what your withdraw rate, without prudent investment you will exhaust your savings through a combination of inflation and withdraws.Heres some harsh realities - presidents dont control the markets and there has never been a 30 year period of investing that posted negative returns if you just dumped money into the SP 500. Your current strategy cost you about 20 80k last year. 2016 it cost you about 10. You broke even in 2015, lost about 12 in 2014, and hemorrhaged roughly 30 in 2013. There is almost no possibility that your current holding strategy cost you about 1MM over the past decade.The answer is to use a basic three fund portfolio and to leave it alone If you sell every time the market drops, youll slaughter your returns. 