I've been sticking money into the market for the better part of 20 years now.
Initially it was how you got incredibly rich incredibly fast (my YHOO, for instance, went up 70% during the first three days that I held it). Then for a short period it transformed into a source of immense sorrow and despair. Then for several years it was just a convenient way to dispose of any excess salary that was left lying around at the end of the month.
Now it's back to being the way you turn the $XX,000 you put in today into the $YYY,000 you'll get back out in twenty years. Index funds (as discussed everywhere else in this thread) will pretty much do that for you without you ever having to think about it.
Initially it was how you got incredibly rich incredibly fast (my YHOO, for instance, went up 70% during the first three days that I held it). Then for a short period it transformed into a source of immense sorrow and despair. Then for several years it was just a convenient way to dispose of any excess salary that was left lying around at the end of the month.
Now it's back to being the way you turn the $XX,000 you put in today into the $YYY,000 you'll get back out in twenty years. Index funds (as discussed everywhere else in this thread) will pretty much do that for you without you ever having to think about it.