Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited.

As a 22-year-old, how risky should I be with my 401(k) investments?
At 50 years old, and a dozen years or so from retirement, I am close to 100% in equities in my retirement accounts.  Most financial planners would say this is way too risky, which sort of addresses your question.  I seek high return rather than protection of principal.  If I was you at 22, I would mainly look at high returns rather than protection of principal. The short answer is, that even if your investments drop by half, you have plenty of time to recover.  But onto the long answer. You sort of have to imagine yourself close to retirement age, and what that would look like.  If you are contributing at 22, I would say that it is likely that you end up with 3 million (in today's dollars).  Will you have low or high monthly  expenses?  Will you have other sources of income such as rental properties?   Let's say you rental income that comes close to covering your monthly expenses, but is short about 12K per year.  You have a couple of options: So in the end let's say you are ready to retire with about 60K in cash above your emergency fund.  You have the ability to live off that cash for 5 years.  You can replenish that fund from equity investments at opportune times.  Its also likely you equity investments will grow a lot more than your expenses and any emergencies.  There really is no need to have a significant amount out of equities.  In the case cited, real estate serves as your cash investment. Now one can fret and say "how will I know I have all of that when I am ready to retire"?  The answer is simple: structure your life now so it looks that way in the future.  You are off to a good start.  Right now your job is to build your investments in your 401K (which you are doing) and get good at budgeting.  The rest will follow.  After that your next step is to buy your first home. Good work on looking to plan for your future.