I want to highlight this. I do probably a lot more "prep" than the average HNer is, but it's not out of panic. It's just a cold engineering assessment of costs

I want to highlight this. I do probably a lot more "prep" than the average HNer is, but it's not out of panic. It's just a cold engineering assessment of costs & benefits. A lot of prep is just moving forward purchases and storing easily stored things, so the real cost is minimal if you have the space anyhow. And not spending all your money is a good plan anyhow; it has been for a long time and will continue to be. Even if you knew 100% the economy is fine and will be fine for the rest of your life, there's still good reason to prepare because you may have problems, health problems, natural disasters, maybe just the desire to take three months off work to prevent burnout, any number of reasons you should try very hard not to live paycheck to paycheck no matter how little you make. And then, when you are prepared, you can be more calm about a lot more things. Yes, it's possible for the Zombie Apocalypse to hit and make a mockery of all my prep... but because I'm more-or-less ready for more realistic scenarios, I'm also more chill about the possibility of them happening. And they may not, in which case frankly I won't have wasted many resources anyhow, any more than it's a waste to buy an insurance policy that you never get to collect on.