Saving Is Not Enough

After two financial crises occurring almost back to back during the “lost decade,” investors have every right to be risk-averse, hesitant, angry, or distrustful. The problem with not investing at all, however, is that you may not have sufficient money to achieve your financial goals. An individual saving $100 per month, without investing, would have put away only $52,400 since 1970. By placing that money in five-year fixed-term investments, the investor would have been able to end up with almost five times that amount. And if invested in a diversified portfolio, our investor’s savings would have grown to $835,313. It’s true that any investment involves varying levels of risk. But, as the image illustrates, even if you have low risk tolerance, you can find a suitable investment for your needs that may still be much better than no investment at all.