<prompt> Human: Generally speaking, I have qualms against maxing out my 401k and other retirement vehicles because I highly value having liquid cash now vs. way out in the future when tax rates will be uncertain and Im at retirement age.To that end, I just switched employers and wont receive any company matching until a year of service. Until then, I dont plan on contributing to my 401k. How stupid am I being? Heres my financial situation:28 years oldFrugal lifestyle with 65 savings rate150,000 salary 15 annual bonusBrokerage account: 207,000 84,000 invested and 123,000 sitting in cashCash: 15,000Roth IRA: 3,350 put 2,500 in this when I was 22 years old and never did anything else except invest it in a mutual fundRollover IRA: 82,000Current employers 401k: 0HSA: 850Car loan: 12,200Net worth excluding car loan car is worth more than I owe: 309,000The crux of my question is: how stupid am I being for not wanting to max out my tax advantaged vehicles? Im making a high enough salary and live a frugal enough lifestyle to where the diminished take home pay wouldnt impact anything.But I dunno. Ive always valued just knowing I could use whatever cash Ive paid taxes on already ready there for a downpayment, investments, etc. Even when my employer does begin to match 401k contributions, I only want to contribute up to the company match.Am I being ridiculously short-sighted in this approach? Its how Ive always treated my 401k contributions. I know the rule of thumb is to always max out your tax advantaged vehicles and Ive held off so long on asking this question because Ive been afraid that Ill be told youre being fucking stupid. But now Im finally asking.Im also banking on being able to retire early, so I dont want to have to wait until Im in my 60s to have access to my retirement funds. Like I said, I place a lot of value on having liquid capital.Assistant: Why the fuck do you have 123k sitting in a brokerage account in cash, depreciating? At least put it in bonds if you want a safer investment. Ouch.Human: Yeah, I know. I feel way worse about this than my lack of 401k contributions. I just dont feel comfortable putting more cash into the market right now and I feel like were also in a bond bubble so I dont want to be in bonds either.Im considering short-term CDs instead, though Im getting closer and closer to saying fuck it and just investing in some equities. Ive been waiting for a correction for over a year and I clearly lost out on some big gains in the market.  <response>: You cant time the market. People get PhDs studying the market and still fail. Invest now. You might lose in the short term, but over time you will almost certainly win. 