What If There Is No Future To Save For?

January 20, 2026

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As a reminder, friend of TFD and investing expert, Amanda Holden is taking over our newsletter this month in celebration of her new book, How To Be A Rich Old Lady. We’re excited to have Amanda share her expertise with our community, and even more excited that she’ll be hosting our next Society workshop on January 22nd.

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By Amanda Holden

Hello TFD readers!

I’m Amanda Holden, and I have been so lucky to teach many of TFD’s investing workshops and courses over the years. The following is an excerpt from my book on investing and financial independence, called HOW TO BE A RICH OLD LADY, which is available now! 

The chapter is titled Apocalypse, named for how many of us feel about our collective futures. Instead of being the type of teacher who denies that financial nihilism exists—and is an understandable response to the news cycle—I attempt to grapple with the feeling myself. I do so in the service of having better and more honest conversations about our money.

Here it is:

“The apocalypse is my retirement plan, a young woman exclaimed to her friend. The two, who appeared to be in their early twenties, sat one stool down from me at B&H Dairy, my favorite counter deli in Manhattan’s Ukrainian Village. Usually, I’m just there to eat my borscht and mind my business, but it’s a tight squeeze and what can I say, I’m nosy like that. I listened as the woman explained to her friend over a tuna melt that she had recently started a new job. I didn’t sign up for my 401(k), she said. I’m not saving money for the future. What future?

I didn’t speak up, and I hate to think I could have helped her avert a dangerous decision. But if I’m honest, I, too, was feeling dismal about the future that day. 

Financial nihilism is growing among young people. And I get it; we haven’t given them much to be hopeful about. There is an ever-growing distrust in the institutions that claim to support regular people but still allow billionaires to wreck the planet, destroy lives for profit, and buy off

politicians. Societies with the widest chasms between the rich and poor have the worst mental health outcomes. Wealth inequality breeds violence and makes everyone less safe. The US wages brutal, unnecessary wars in the name of peace but really it is for profit, imperial control, and

exploitation of resources that do not belong to us. How can we ever trust, let alone invest, in a society that would choose (and champion) a model where so many people suffer unnecessarily for the benefit of the few?

I don’t have a simple answer to this. I teach investing because I believe in using the tools we have to help people build lives of dignity and because women need to understand their money to live securely. But let me be clear: I would gladly give up all the stock market returns, every penny, for a world where everyone has what they need.

This really isn’t a contradiction; in either case, it’s just wanting what is best for humanity. I believe it’s possible—and necessary—to work within the system we have, caring for ourselves and those around us, while remaining fully prepared to leave it behind for an economic and political system built on care for all. Individual solutions like investing are not the final answer. Real change will come only from collective solutions that address the root causes of inequality

and climate breakdown. My wealth matters to me because it represents my ability to untether from the machine. But I hold it loosely, willing to let it go if that’s what it takes for the machine to crumble.

Many people have come to me without a drop of money in their retirement accounts because they believe that the financial system is destined to collapse. I don’t think this is outside the realm of possibility; if it happens, I can only hope it clears the way for something better.

But I tend to believe that our political system—heavily influenced, if not outright owned, by wealth and corporate power—will do whatever is necessary to preserve the financial status quo. There is no class in the United States more zealously protected than corporations, and no right more fiercely defended than the right to profit. I feel reasonably certain that, should it ever come to a true reckoning, the government will rescue the financial system at all costs, gladly sacrificing the environment and the functioning of society itself. As the recycled cardboard

sign at the climate protest says, “If the environment were a bank, we would have saved it already.”

Still, even with the future as uncertain as it may be, I choose to invest. The act implies a sort of optimism, I suppose. (Or perhaps it reflects that I genuinely don’t know what other choice we have.) We are worried about this possible, potential financial calamity, yet the only thing that guarantees calamity is doing nothing. If you choose to do nothing out of fear, you will self-fulfill your greatest fear of having nothing.

Occasionally, I indulge myself and imagine a postapocalyptic Mad Max: Fury Road future where there are no rules (and certainly no property laws or market regulators); you play chicken in armored tanks over natural resources, and all the women somehow still look like Charlize Theron. But if we can extract ourselves from the Warner Bros. Entertainment universe and attempt to paint a realistic picture of what the future may look like, we realize that we’ve already seen it before. I see my friend Ginny’s family, who lost a home in the Northern California wildfires in 2017 that killed forty-seven people and destroyed thousands of buildings. Life got harder, but life still remained worth living. And what Ginny, and her family, and every other person needed to keep living was money.

In every recovery effort I’ve witnessed, people needed more resources, not fewer. If Artificial Intelligence does indeed come for our jobs, I have a hunch we’ll look back on these years and be grateful for every dollar we set aside while we could. Because the best way to prepare for an unknown future—whether shaped by AI, climate change, or authoritarianism—is to build a foundation of resilience. And that includes not only cash and investments but also practical skills and a strong community network. 

And anyway, the best thing about having money invested for the future is not even that I get to use this money when I’m eighty. Investing provides a major psychological benefit to me right now, even though the money is earmarked for the tenuous long term. I find that there is major daily stress in living with zero fallback plan; in having no resources at all. To me, my money, community, resilience, and acceptance that all things are fragile are what allow me to feel protected, freeing me up to take risks and live life more fully—at least for today.”

Parts of this excerpt have been edited for length.

If your goal in 2026 is to learn to invest (and how to choose more ethical options), grow your wealth, and build TRUE confidence in yourself and your financial plan, consider using Amanda’s HOW TO BE A RICH OLD LADY as your guide. Available wherever books are sold. 

JANUARY 22: Join us this Thursday!! We’re hosting a live workshop, From Pay Gaps to Policy Shifts: Women & Money in 2026, designed to help you make sense of how political, labor, and market shifts actually impact your income, investing, and long-term security—and what to do about it. Hosted by investing expert Amanda Holden, this session focuses on building financial resilience and clarity in an uncertain year. This workshop is available to Society members at the $4.99 and $9.99 tiers, and the full replay and resources will be shared with members on Friday.

FEBRUARY 18: We’re hosting a free wealth-building workshop next month! Join Chelsea & licensed financial advisor, Kellen Thayer for How To Financially Prepare For An AI Driven Future. As AI, layoffs, and contract work make income feel more volatile, the old rules of “steady paycheck” investing don’t always apply. In this workshop, we’ll break down how investing strategy can adapt when income is uneven or uncertain—without panic, extreme risk-taking, or constant market timing. We’ll cover what still works, what needs updating, and how to build real resilience into your financial plan in a shifting labor market. Take our short quiz to register!

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