Jason Zweig

Well, we know markets can go down and will go down.

Yeah, exactly.

So the 401k wasn't devised until about 1980, but it's been around and has grown to a multi-trillion dollar marketplace over the ensuing decades.

But just think about it for a minute.

You know, the market crashed between 2000 and 2002.

It crashed again between 2007 and 2009.

It crashed in 2020.

It crashed in 2022.

And 401k money was pouring in throughout all of those episodes.

So markets go up.

The stock market goes up when corporate earnings go up.

And how much money companies earn is not a function of how much money is going into 401k plans.

They just, there's no cause and effect relationship there.

Exactly.

I would say to people, be careful out there.

And one of the exercises that I love to have people do is at the beginning of the year,

Make a set of predictions.

What do you think is going to happen?

Instead of asking somebody at the Wall Street Journal what he thinks is going to happen, what do you think is going to happen?

What do you think the S&P 500 is going to return in 2026?