Query: What are some well known or well regarded arguments against investing?

Relevant passages:
 <=SEP=> "I think you're confusing risk analysis (that is what you quoted as ""Taleb Distribution"") with arguments against taking risks altogether. You need to understand that not taking a risk - is by itself a risk. You can lose money by not investing it, because of the very same Taleb Distribution: an unpredictable catastrophic event. Take an example of keeping cash in your house and not investing it anywhere. In the 1998 default of the Russian Federation, people lost money by not investing it. Why? Because had they invested the money - they would have the investments/properties, but since they only had cash - it became worthless overnight. There's no argument for or against investing on its own. The arguments are always related to the investment goals and the risk analysis. You're looking for something that doesn't exist."

 <=SEP=> Oh, geez, well-regarded arguments against investing, hmm? Well, I have a couple. They're not against investing per se. They're asking about your priorities and whether you might have something better to do than inevesting: And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain   rich man brought forth plentifully: and he thought within himself,   saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my   fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and   build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And   I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many   years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be   required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast   provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not   rich toward God. -- Luke 12:16-21 Christian or otherwise, there may be better things for you to do with your excess cash - indeed, with your life - than simply invest it to bring yourself more money. Many people find charitable contributions more important than spending a little more money on themselves (immediately or in the future). Of course, you will need to decide what these things are that matter to you. Perhaps you would like to contribute to traditional charities. Perhaps you would like to fund education, or a religious organization, or the Democratic Party, or the Republican Party, or the Libertarian Party, or the Green Party, or the Tea Party, or Occupy Wall Street. Perhaps you'd like to fund research into something. Perhaps you simply have friends and family that you want to make happy. Perhaps a small vacation to spend time with family is worth more to you now than the investment returns will be worth later. Moreover, note that economic decisions like this are made on the margin - it's not so much a question of whether you invest at all, but whether you should invest more or less, and spend/donate more or less. I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards:      I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all   kind of fruits:    I made me pools of water, to water therewith the   wood that bringeth forth trees:    I got me servants and maidens, and   had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great   and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me:       I   gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings   and of the provinces: I got me men singers and women singers, and the   delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all   sorts. So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.     And whatsoever mine   eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any   joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor: and this was my portion of   all my labor.      Then I looked on all the works that my hands had   wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do: and, behold, all   was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the   sun. -- Ecclesiastes 2:4-11 Because in the long run, we're all dead. Anywho! It's all a matter of returns and risk analysis. Even spending on yourself and charitable giving can be thought in these terms (the returns are not 'more money', so they may be harder to analyze, but they're important too).