Investing vs medical uncertainty
Four years ago, when I was 33, I got a cancer diagnosis that is technically terminal. About 25% of people with this particular type of tumor respond so well to treatment that they are probably effectively cured (the drugs have not been around long enough for there to be any medical/scientific consensus on whether this cancer is actually “curable” for some people). My oncologist thinks I probably fall into that category, but obviously nothing is guaranteed. I am extremely fortunate in that I’m doing really well medically, and my treatment also doesn’t really interfere with my normal everyday life all that much. I also get a lot of comfort out of the conditional survival data (basically, the longer you have stayed alive, the more likely you are to still be alive in five years).
Now that it’s been a few years, I’m grappling with the question of how to square saving and investing/optimism for a long future with my sense that I should enjoy life now, because I might not be able to later (for context, if shit were to hit the fan medically, it would be a question of years, not months, of trying different drugs until each stops working, almost certainly with a progressively declining quality of life—barring the actually pretty plausible eventuality of a huge medical breakthrough).
I’m single and I don’t have kids. I contribute 5% to my employer-sponsored retirement plan. I kind of impulsively stopped contributing for a couple of years right after my diagnosis because it felt pointless (and I had medical bills to pay!) before I realized last year that obviously it was stupid not to get the 5% match (and also that I don’t actually need to retire to use the money). Otherwise I’ve been saving basically nothing, because YOLO and also medical bills :) I have a little over $100k in a CD ladder as more or less an emergency fund, and I’m debating whether to leave it there or invest some or all of it.
I would really appreciate any thoughts or insights!