@crowbar I so agree with your retirement plan, especially factoring in no SS.
I have done the same thing. Planning for the worst with no SS, any SS I do collect will go for savings and extras.
Financial planners are good, but I am always careful as some try to get you to purchase certain products. If anyone tried to get you to purchase whole life or annuities, get skeptical very quickly! I also use a financial planner to review my retirement plan and current progress. I have an annual meeting with my planner. We discuss the financial markets, government regulations, etc. We both agree that it is better to not factor in SS. At first, my planner was amazed at my moving to a more rural area with a slant toward self-sufficiency (solar, well, gardening, etc), but my planner has been asking more questions as more of his clients have been making similar moves.
Putting 18% of your wages is great. Putting it into diversified investments is even better as so many people try to just chase the stock market and putting all their investments in equities. I classify certain of my prep supplies (solar, well, extra food bought on sale, wood stove, food dehydrator, canning supplies) as part of my retirement planning and investments. In my retirement plan and budget, I have a separate area for self-sufficiency.
Self-sufficiency is the key to many of my concerns on a potential crisis (financial, retirement, inflation, etc). I am trying to make myself less financially dependant as I see SS and other government programs being decreased with increasing retirement age, more adjustments for income and wealth, etc. I also see the out of pocket costs for Medicare increasing, Medicare deductibles increasing, less Medicare coverage, etc.